On September 14, $526,000 was granted to the Kentucky Association for Environmental Education (KAEE) to promote tree planting and maintenance. Officials said the funds will be used to plant urban tree canopies, develop a Green Pathways website, expand the Kentucky Green School Program, and provide subgrants to green schools in communities that the government has identified as disadvantaged.
Ashley Hoffman is the Executive Director for KAEE. She said communities will need to apply for the subgrants and the goal is to dedicate 100% of the funding to those communities. Eligibility is decided by using the climate and economic justice screening tool, developed by the Council of Environmental quality.
“It’s a mapping tool that the government has provided to identify communities that are marginalized and overburdened by pollution and underinvestment. It was basically developed to ensure that certain federal investments reach the communities that need it most. So, when schools and communities apply for funding from us, we will use that tool to determine if they fall in one of these communities,” said Hoffman.
Hoffman added that grants for schools will be up to $2,500 and grants to communities will be up to $5,000. Schools and communities will be able to apply for grants in 2024.
Another program the KAEE plans to fund is the Kentucky Green School Program. Hoffman said this program works in partnership with the Kentucky Environmental Council to allow students to do investigations on different environmental topics such as energy, waste, or water audits.
“Basically, what that means is, if they’re doing an energy audit they’ll go around and see where energy is being used on their school and things like that, and they’ll come up with a student project to determine how they could reduce their energy use and be more sustainable,” said Hoffman.
These projects can be funded by the KAEE.
The $526,000 are a part of a bigger grant of $1.13 billion for various funding projects across the country given by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. All projects are aimed at planting and maintaining trees in marginalized communities.