HUDSON — Partners for Climate Action (PCA), a local nonprofit, has announced a call for applications to a new training and support program called Funding Futures: Together We Decide. Funding Futures will provide technical assistance and grants for selected applicants to facilitate environmentally-focused community listening campaigns in their towns.
The goal is for each community to come to a consensus on priorities and establish reliable funding streams to safeguard their natural and ecological features. These features keep our communities healthy and underpin the economic prosperity of so many Hudson Valley towns. Four communities will be selected for grants of up to $22,000 each.
PCA supports ecological health and climate action across six counties in the Hudson River bioregion. All applicants must be based in Columbia, Greene, Dutchess, Ulster, Putnam, or Orange county and they must be from or have a willing partner at a tax-exempt organization able to receive the grant money (either a town local government or a school, library, community organization, faith-based organization, etc).
PCA will offer three online information sessions on March 21, April 17, and May 2 to help prospective applicants find out more about the program. Interested parties can learn more and apply at climateactionhv.org/fundingfutures. The application deadline is May 23.
Paige Ruane and Vanessa Bertozzi, co-leaders of the project at PCA, said the idea for the grant sprang from a desire to accelerate environmental protection efforts in Hudson Valley towns through building community.
“Technology, the pandemic, and a lack of traditional gathering spaces have eroded the social fabric," Bertozzi said. "Our society has lost muscle memory for how to have community conversations. People feel disconnected from each other and from nature."
Ruane noted the divisiveness of national politics, saying, “We want this program to focus on local needs, the power of knowing our neighbors, and understanding what we commonly value about our shared places.”
“When we find towns that have accomplished high-quality planning, those plans often sit on a shelf due to lack of capital. Funding Futures is also about introducing new financial models,” Bertozzi said. For example, PCA points to the Towns of Red Hook and Chatham that have passed Community Preservation Funds (financed by real estate transfer taxes), enabling them to preserve farmland.
The cohort of grantees will be privy to experts from groups like Working Power, a nonprofit that partners with towns to create revenue generating solar projects owned by the community.
“Through this process, we will likely discover that we share more values than we think. This understanding empowers communities to transform themselves for the good of all,” Bertozzi said.
Interested parties are encouraged to attend the optional info session or visit climateactionhv.org/fundingfutures for the application and more details.
