History: The Green Partners Environmental Education grants provide funding to organizations to implement projects that engage and empower residents to protect and improve the environment. Funding for the Green Partners Environmental Education grants comes from the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund.

Since the program was established in 2012, 122 grants totaling more than $1.1 million have been awarded.  The county released a request for proposals in April 2017 and 26 proposals were received.

Current Request: This request is to authorize the County Administrator to negotiate 11 Green Partners environmental education grant agreements for projects with the following organizations:    

• PR00000026 - Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy (Minneapolis, Edina, Hopkins, Eden Prairie), $20,000. Climate Generation will engage 1,000 youth from high school green teams in projects about waste reduction, school recycling and composting, air quality, energy conservation, and pollinators protections.

• PR00000030 - Congregations Caring for Creation, dba Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light (Brooklyn Park, Minneapolis, Minnetonka, Plymouth, Osseo), $20,000. Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light will engage 700 youth and congregants in faith-based activities to encourage waste reduction, recycling, energy conservation, and water protection.

• PR00000027 - Freshwater Society (northern and western Hennepin County), $20,000. Freshwater Society will engage 160 residents in protecting water by training and supporting Master Water Stewards in four Hennepin County watersheds that are not currently involved in the Master Water Stewards program.

• PR00000028 - Lao Assistance Center of Minnesota (Minneapolis and suburbs), $19,900. Lao Assistance Center will engage 150 southeast Asian immigrants, refugees, and youth in recycling and reducing household hazardous waste through a train-the-trainer program to reach Hmong and southeast Asian residents.

• PR00000029 - Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (Bloomington, Maple Grove, Minneapolis, Plymouth), $20,000. The Minneapolis Area Synod will engage 200 middle and high school youth, college students, and congregation members to learn about environmental issues including waste reduction, recycling, composting, air quality, energy conservation, and water and pollinator protection.

• PR00000023 - Minneapolis Public Schools (Minneapolis), $7,100. Roosevelt High School will 150 engage students in waste reduction, water protection, and pollinator protection topics through the Urban Farming program.

• PR00000024 - Move Minneapolis (Minneapolis), $7,800. Move Minneapolis will engage 150 employees of a medium-to-large downtown Minneapolis workplace in protecting air quality and conserving energy by mentoring downtown commuters in making changes to their routine by using transit, bicycling, and walking.

• PR00000022 - Orono ISD 278 (Orono), $4,700. Orono Public Schools will engage 285 sixth grade math students, their families, and 35 high school environmental science students in researching, analyzing, and improving recycling and reducing waste at school and at home.

• PR00000031 - Robbinsdale ISD 281 (Robbinsdale, Crystal, New Hope, Brooklyn Center), $8,000. The Robbinsdale early childhood family education program will engage 600 families in waste reduction, recycling, and household hazardous waste reduction activities.

• PR00000032 - Spark Youth (Minneapolis), $18,000. Spark Y will engage 210 youth from Northeast Middle School in Minneapolis in waste reduction, recycling, composting, and water and pollinator protection activities.

• PR00000025 - Twin Cities Public Television, Inc. (Minneapolis), $8,000. Twin Cities Public Television will engage 150 educators and eight to twelve year old youth from Minneapolis in waste reduction, recycling, and environmental education through a pilot summer Sci-Girls program hosted at Hennepin County libraries.

Impact/Outcomes: The recommended Green Partners environmental education projects support the county’s goals of promoting environmental stewardship, engaging communities, enhancing quality of life and protecting the environment for current and future generations. Groups will engage 3,755 residents in taking action to protect the environment by reducing waste, recycling, composting organic waste, conserving energy, improving air and water quality, and protecting pollinators. Projects engage residents throughout the county. Six projects engage underserved and hard-to-reach communities, and seven of the projects engage youth. Organizations are required to administer evaluations developed by the county to assess changes in participants’ environmental behaviors. Previous evaluations have shown that this model of environmental education is effective in motivating participants to make behavior changes that have a positive impact on the environment.

APEX contract description: PW-EE environmental education grants, fall 2017