Youth Roots photo 1, 2014The Board and staff of Sustainable Tompkins invite you to join us in building a more sustainable community – one small project at a time.

We are thrilled to announce our new campaign for our wonderful Neighborhood Mini-Grants Program. Since 2008, the Neighborhood Mini-grants program has awarded more than $55,000 to support 140+ innovative, grassroots projects throughout Tompkins County. Our goal is to support and stimulate resident-based, “bottom-up” initiatives that improve the quality of life of residents by building capacity, resilience, and leadership through collaborative projects.

It’s a wonderful program and with your help, we can continue to help local residents build a more resilient and connected community!  Sustainable Tompkins is working with the good folks at GiveGab to raise funds to support the Mini-Grants Program in 2015.  Please visit our Campaign Page today to see some of the cool projects from our most recent batch of applications that you can help support.

Eligible applicants are residents of Tompkins County, including neighborhood or community organizations, newly formed groups of neighbors with a specific project in mind, or civic-minded individuals who can show community support for their project. Grants are for small, relatively simple projects that in some way support, or “seed”, greater equity, self-sufficiency, and lasting social, economic and environmental health.  Applications are reviewed quarterly by the Mini-Grant Council, comprised of local citizens and members of Sustainable Tompkins’ board and staff.

If you have been active in our local sustainability movement, you probably know somebody who benefitted from a Neighborhood Mini-Grant.  For example, here’s a sampling from our December grant round:

  • Eco-Defense Radio, a locally-based program airing on WRFI Community Radio, purchased equipment for producing field documentaries on environmental protection and sustainability.
  • Hot Potato Press will train three citizen journalists to write for a new website on food news and networking, to be launched in 2015.
  • West Village Gone Green will purchase new fencing for the West Village Apartments community garden.
  • Black Locust Initiative will buy supplies to launch their new gardening program serving pre-Kindergarten students in Trumansburg.
We want to keep the program going to make sure that good ideas don’t falter for lack of a small amount of funds, so that young people get the support they need, and to make sure that engaged residents at all income levels can participate in building a better future.  Thanks for helping this great program thrive!