The Orange County Board of Commissioners approved eight projects to receive $564,085 in funding from the county’s Community Climate Action Grant program for 2023-24. These projects will benefit Orange County residents both socially and financially by accelerating climate change mitigation actions within the county.
For this grant cycle, the BOCC reserved half of the total funding ($282,042.50) to be awarded to projects submitted by either of Orange County's two public school districts. The remaining half was to be made available to all other eligible applicants for this round.
“The Community Climate Action Grant (CCAG) program offers exciting opportunities to make inroads on climate action and to help Orange County achieve its climate goals,” said Amy Eckberg, Orange County Sustainability Coordinator. “We are pleased to be able to provide funding support to these community projects that will not only help lower our greenhouse gas emissions, but also provide valuable education, inspiration and motivation to others looking to implement climate action projects of their own. A whole community approach to tackling climate change is something the CCAG program aims to help facilitate, and we are thrilled to continue to build upon the impactful climate work being done through this grant program with our latest round of grant recipients.”
The program received 11 applications for $614,540 in funding from a variety of general applicants representing non-profit and public organizations. Two projects totaling $557,959 were submitted from the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools and Orange County Schools districts.
The following projects received funding:
- Habitat for Humanity ($55,000) for supplemental weatherization.
- Urban Sustainability Solutions ($69,156) for Growing More than Rain Gardens program
- Hillsborough United Church of Christ ($10,000) for Rooftop Solar Installation
- Binkley Baptist Church ($49,036) to install 50 solar panels
- EMPOWERment ($61,623) for Rooftop solar on PEACH apartments
- Club Nova $37,227) to support the installation of a garden, greenhouse and terrace.
- Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools ($94,014) for LED campus lighting changeover
- Orange County Schools ($188,029) for 54-panel solar pedestal with battery storage
Following the direction of the Board of Orange County Commissioners (BOCC), the process for soliciting and selecting projects to receive funding was conducted through a formal Community Climate Action Grant (CCAG) program.