Simsbury Grange raises $4,300 for Hartford community garden
Willimantic, CT (05/22/2020) — After a $2,150 match from the Sustainable CT Community Match Fund, The Simsbury Grange now has $4,300 for repairing raised garden beds and supporting the community garden at Broad Street in Hartford.
The Community Garden at Trinfo Café, 1300 Broad St., offers free garden plots to registered gardeners, a small park with picnic tables and a "Read and Seed" little free library that is open to the public. The "Read and Seed" lends books and gives out seeds supported by a collaboration between the Simsbury Grange and the Trinity College Neuroscience Program.
"We are thrilled with the support of Sustainable CT's matching fund. This garden is a real oasis and it desperately needed repairs," said Susan Masino, vice president of Simsbury Grange and neuroscience professor.
The project was supported by a crowdfunding campaign that received a dollar-for-dollar match from the Sustainable CT Community Match Fund, which is an initiative of the Institute for Sustainable Energy at Eastern Connecticut State University that is funded by the Smart Seed Fund, Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation and Connecticut Green Bank.
About Sustainable CT and the Community Match Fund
The Sustainable CT Community Match Fund is an innovative funding resource that provides a dollar-for-dollar match to all donations raised from the community, doubling local investment. The program is helping to bring projects across the state to life by providing fast, accessible funding as well as fundraising coaching and support to residents and organizations with great ideas to make their communities more sustainable.
Anyone in a Sustainable CT-registered municipality (more than 50 percent of the state) is eligible to receive this funding, meaning that schools, nonprofits, community groups and individual residents can all propose projects and access the matching funds.
To start a Community Match Fund project, visit WWW.ioby.org/sustainablect or contact Sustainable CT's Abe Hilding-Salorio at hildingsalorioa@easternct.edu or 860-465-0256.
"Through the Community Match Fund, we aim to put residents at the forefront of creating positive, impactful change," said Hilding-Salorio, community outreach manager for Sustainable CT. "Match Fund projects are community led and community funded, demonstrating the power of people working together to make change in their communities."
Sustainable CT, an initiative by the Institute for Sustainable Energy at Eastern Connecticut State University, provides a roadmap of sustainability best practices for towns, technical assistance, funding and recognition through certification. Forty-seven towns and cities across Connecticut have earned the prestigious Sustainable CT certification, demonstrating accomplishments in nine impact categories including inclusive and equitable communities, cleaner transportation, vibrant arts and culture, natural resource stewardship and affordable housing. Sustainable CT is funded by the Hampshire Foundation, Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation and Connecticut Green Bank. Find more information at www.sustainablect.org.
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Eastern Connecticut State University is the state of Connecticut's public liberal arts university, serving 5,000 students annually at its Willimantic campus and satellite locations. In addition to attracting students from 162 of Connecticut's 169 towns, Eastern also draws students from 34 other states and 19 countries. A residential campus offering 41 majors and 65 minors, Eastern offers students a strong liberal art foundation grounded in an array of applied learning opportunities. Ranked among the top 30 public universities in the North Region by U.S. News and World Report in its 2019 Best Colleges ratings, Eastern has also been awarded 'Green Campus' status by the Princeton Review 10 years in a row. For more information, visit www.easternct.edu.