Applications opened this month for two sustainability grants offered by the city of Durango, with awards totaling up to $10,000 depending on the project.
One grant is the Durango Impact and Resiliency Grant, which according to the city encourages “community-driven efforts that enhance resilience, advance sustainability goals, and strengthen Durango and La Plata County as a socially and environmentally responsible place to live and visit.”
City Sustainability Manager Marty Pool said at a City Council study session earlier this month that the grant replaces the city’s former Green Durango Grant and Visit Durango’s Destination Management Grant, which were combined into one program when the city merged Visit Durango into its operations.
Another grant open to applications is the Level-1 Workplace EV Charging Grant, which provides funding for a standard electrical outlet at a parking space for drivers to charge their electric vehicles.
Applications for the Impact and Resiliency Grant close April 6, according to the city. Applications for the EV Charging Grant close April 13.
Eligible applicants for the Impact and Resiliency Grant include nonprofits, businesses and community organizations. Projects must support destination stewardship and sustainable tourism, or reduce material and food waste through recycling, composting or other landfill diversion, according to the city.
The grant is open to funding requests from $5,000 to $10,000, although applications above that amount might be considered “where applicants provide strong justification for the higher level of funding,” according to the program description.
Likewise, the Workplace EV Charging Grant is open to funding requests of up to $10,000 per site, and applicants may apply for up to two separate sites. The grant requires a minimum 10% funding match that can be waived for sites meeting certain criteria, the program description said.
Pool said an electric vehicle won’t charge especially fast on a standard electrical outlet, but over the course of an average workday an electric vehicle will have added about 30 miles – or a gallon of gas – to its range.
“If you think about it, that’s a gallon of gas. It costs the business about a dollar of electricity,” he said.
He said the grant program accomplishes several things:
“If you don’t have a place for that electricity to go, that solar power is essentially just wasted,” Pool said. “If you are charging at night, a lot of times – especially in our community – you are relying on natural gas-fired electricity, sometimes coal or other sources.”
He said incentivizing daytime use of solar-produced electrical energy is important.
Applications for each grant can be submitted online via the city’s online grants portal at cityofdurango.submittable.com/submit.