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Have an Idea to Green Your Community? Ford & Green Festival Could Make it Happen.

posted by AskPatty - Auto Advice
Thursday, May 12, 2011 at 3:25pm CDT

If you've been thinking green lately, you're in good company here on the AskPatty Blog, but your thinking could pay off for you to the tune of $5000. Ford and the Green Festival have teamed up to help improve five US cities, and they're asking you for your ideas. They'll be choosing the most innovative green schemes to receive a $5000 grant to make the plan happen. The Community Green Grant program asks individuals and organization to think ahead, and come up with new and amazing ideas that would improve the environment in their local communities prior to the start of a local Green Festival. Attendees at the Green Festival in each city will vote to select the project proposal that will receive the $5,000 Community Green Grant.

Green Festivals are slated to take place in Chicago, Seattle, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco this year. Before each event opening, a panel from Green Festival and Ford will select a group of Community Green Grant finalists from among the proposals submitted. During the Green Festival, the finalists’ project proposals will be presented in the Ford Pavilion, with the winner of the Community Green Grant chosen by a vote of festival attendees. So go forth, Ask Patty nation, and start writing those proposals! Contest details follow:

Sustainable ideas
The first $5,000 Community Green Grant will be awarded during the Chicago Green Festival, May 14-15. Later in 2011, the Green Festival and Community Green Grant will travel to Seattle, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Entries for each festival must be received by the following dates:

Chicago, May 7
Seattle, May 14
New York, Sept. 24
Los Angeles, Oct. 22
San Francisco, Nov. 5

Ideas can be submitted to communitygreengrant@actionpartners.com or mailed to:

Attn: Community Green Grant
3020 Carbon Place, Suite 300
Boulder, CO 80301

Blueprint for Sustainability
Ford’s corporate sustainability strategy encompasses a wide range of efforts, such as the improved energy efficiency of its facilities around the world, the reduction of CO2 emissions of its vehicles, and accelerated development of more fuel-efficient and alternative-fuel vehicles. For additional information, see Ford’s Blueprint for Sustainability at http://www.ford.com/about-ford/company-information/corporate-sustainability.