Two youth STEM efforts get $20k+ from environmental fund

The Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund [GCEF] has made its first 18 small grants public, and they include two programs with STEM education at their center.

Most of the programs are driven by environmental or green space restoration, but the two aim to help young people in Brooklyn better understand science and nature.

GCEF is a $19.5 million fund established in 2011 from a settlement between the city and Exxon-Mobil, following an oil spill in Greenpoint, in which somewhere between 17 and 30 million gallons were lost. The slow spill was first discovered in 1978. The company ceased operations in Greenpoint in 1993.

The two STEM relevant awardees are:

• Solar One will receive $24,954 (and contribute $3,000 in matching funds) to implemen the Green Design Lab at MS 126 and PS 110, a program that helps students envision and implement ways to make buildings more energy efficient, use water more effectively and green. The idea of the program is to empower students to see ways to make the world around them more sustainable.
• Greenpoint Branch of the YMCA will receive $22,750 (and contribute $12,000 in matching funds) to support their “Green Beans” afterschool program at the Lentol Garden, which will teach children about gardening, nature, biology, rainwater harvesting and environmental monitoring. Approximately 200 children per year go through the program, according to the announcement of the award.

The process to undertake “Large” and “Legacy” grants from the fund will get underway in April.