Ford Motor Company and Green Festival to Award Community Green Grant in Los Angeles, San Francisco

Part One of the Green Festival Series

By: Jonathan Mariano

Do you live in or near Los Angeles or San Francisco? Do you have a great sustainable idea? Do you need a grant to possibly make it happen? Can you articulate that idea in 500 or less words? Well, the Ford Motor Company and Green Festival have teamed up to award a grant to a sustainable idea. That idea could very well be yours.

The partnership will award a $5,000 Community Green Grant during the up and coming  Los Angeles and San Francisco Green Festivals. That’s a $5,000 Grant for an idea at each of the cities Green Festivals.

The idea can be almost anything, from almost anybody. Recipients could be a non-profit or an individual. The idea can be really big, or really small. The idea just has to be “original, innovative and capable of being implemented in your local community.”

The deadline for consideration is coming fast, as the Green Festivals are right around the corner. To be in the running for Los Angeles, you must submit your sustainable idea proposal before the deadline of October 22, 2011. For San Francisco, you must submit your proposal before the deadline of November 5, 2011.

Prior to the commencement of each of the Green Festivals, finalists for the Community Green Grant will be selected by a panel. This panel is made up of folks from both the Green Festival and the Ford Motor Company. The proposals will be presented at the respective Green Festival.

Then comes the fun part. The judges don't make the final decision. You have a voice (assuming you attend). You have a chance to be involved, if not as grant participant or finalist, as a voter and attendee. Attendees at each of the Green Festivals will vote for their favorite proposed sustainable idea. The proposal with the most votes will receive the Community Green Grant.

In other Green Festival cities earlier this year, the Community Green Grant has already been awarded to some of these great ideas: in Chicago to the ScienceFIST Foundation, and in Seattle, to the Homestead Community Land Trust.

So, what’s your sustainable idea that will benefit your community?

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Green Festival, the nation's premier sustainability event,  features renowned authors, leaders, educators, eco-friendly businesses, workshops, social justice films and kids’ activities to celebrate sustainable topics and ideas at the Los Angeles Convention Center October 29-30 and at the San Francisco Concourse Exhibition Center November 12-13. A project of Global Exchange and Green America, Green Festival hosts over 300 local, regional and national green businesses who model their products, services and practices on an ethical responsibility of sustainability, minimal environmental impact, and Fair Trade. Green Festival also provides hundreds of speakers with a platform for education, debate and conversation, featuring many presentations on living a healthier, more impactful and sustainable life and making a difference in one’s community.