More than $1M awarded to Austin schools for sustainability projects over past decade

AUSTIN (KXAN) — More than a decade after its founding in 2012, the City of Austin's Office of Sustainability surpassed its $1 million grant funding milestone to support sustainability initiatives in local schools.

The funding has been made available through the Bright Green Future Grants Program. Since the program's creation, it has provided grants up to $3,000 to 96 schools within the greater Austin area.

This year, 43 schools and 51 student-based sustainability projects received funding, with an anticipated 12,000 students set to be serviced through these initiatives.

"Our office has some really aggressive climate goals, and we need everybody's help. And as a former teacher, and a parent, I know that kids can be just great little disseminators of information," said Mary K. Priddy, manager of the Bright Green Future Grants Program. "By getting the kids involved and providing these opportunities to teachers, we've just been amazed at the projects that have come in and the projects that they're developing."

Projects slated as part of this year's round of funding include outdoor classrooms, bicycle clubs, rain, school and wildlife gardens as well as recycling and composting programs. More than half of the schools named recipients of this year's funding are classified as Title I schools, offering sustainability programming for children from lower-income families.

Priddy said it's critical, from an accessibility and equity standpoint, to prioritize and champion projects that benefit children from a wide range of backgrounds and socio-economic statuses.

"We took a step back when we first launched the program and we were noticing we were getting a lot of applications, but they were primarily from schools that have a very robust, very successful, very involved PTAs," she said. "As the City of Austin, we need to reach everybody. And so we made a conscious effort to knock on doors of the Title 1 schools and let them know that this program is here."

This year's funding recipients include 57 schools across Austin, Leander and Del Valle ISDs along with several private schools, with campuses representing elementary, middle and high school-aged students. Starting young is foundational, Priddy said, in encouraging robust conversations on climate change and mitigation measures at an early age.

"The elementary school-level students, they're just little sponges with this, and they have the great ideas," she said, adding: "And then of course, they're gonna take that information home and ask their parents, why aren't we recycling? Why are we composting? So they're doing our job for us."

More details on the Bright Green Future Grants Program is available online.