Park City Community Foundation Announces Second Round of Park City Climate Fund Grantees 

Eight local climate change projects receive grants to move Summit County toward a more sustainable future 

Park City, UT – November 20, 2020 – Park City Community Foundation is excited to announce the second round of grants from its Park City Climate Fund. Eight local climate change projects are being funded with grants totaling over $210,000. The grant recipients are Ecology Bridge, EATS Park City, Mountain Towns 2030, Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, Recycle Utah, Summit Land Conservancy, the Sorenson Impact Center, and a partnership between Wild Utah Project and Swaner Preserve and EcoCenter.  

The Park City Climate Fund was established by Park City Community Foundation in October 2019 to provide seed capital to innovative projects that help address climate change. The fund engages people and entities in greater Park City to implement local climate solutions that are proven to have a great impact on greenhouse gas emissions and/or carbon sequestration and have the potential to be effective in other mountain communities. The second call for grant proposals to the Park City Climate Fund was announced in June of 2020 and 28 applications were received. 

 “This year’s proposals presented to the Climate Fund Grants Committee showed a wide range of creative response to the imminent danger that is climate change,” says committee member Dr. Daniel Mendoza, Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Utah.  

“This problem is not on the horizon, it is right here in front of us,” continued Mendoza. “We need to work together to protect our world and our most vulnerable communities and the awardees have demonstrated they have the tools and skillset to make a difference in Park City and beyond.” 

The projects proposed by the grantees cover an array of issues involving the establishment of a “green bank,” youth environmental justice, food consumption habits, Mountain Towns 2030 net zero carbon emission goals, carbon sequestration via wetlands expansion, regenerative agriculture, and removal of noxious weeds.  

“We were presented with creative perspectives on tackling imminent climate change issues in our community,” said Park City Community Foundation Executive Director, Katie Wright. “We are confident that these funded projects will push Park City towards our ambitious goal of net zero by 2030 and set an example for other mountain towns invested in this work.” 

“The Park City Climate Fund is a superb example of nonprofits’ ingenuity”, said Lisa Yoder, Sustainability Director of Summit County. “The generous support of our residents to ensure that collective action is being made toward Summit County Council’s environmental sustainability goals. Congratulations to all of the grant awardees.” 

Park City Climate Fund 2020 Grantees 

With its $50,000 grant, Mountain Towns 2030 will accelerate progress toward a carbon neutral 2030 by implementing full-time oversight for the impactful climate solutions specific to Park City and help translate the results into easily digestible information for other mountain towns. 

With its $48,0000 grant, the partnership between Wild Utah Project and Swaner Preserve and EcoCenter will increase carbon sequestration in Park City’s open spaces by restoring degraded streams and wetlands and install one-hundred, volunteer-constructed dams modeled after beaver dams.  

With its $25,000 grant, Recycle Utah will broaden its community engagement program with the goal of listening, learning, and better serving Park City’s Latinx community members and eco-champions.   

With its $25,000 grant, Summit Land Conservancy will continue its McPolin Farmlands pilot project. The project will measure carbon sequestration levels resulting from regenerative agriculture techniques, known to be effective at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

With its $18,000 grant, Planned Parenthood of Utah will create an Environmental Justice Fellow position that will design a framework for a Youth Environmental Justice Coalition, whose efforts will align with the 2022 Net Zero Summit.   

With its $15,000 grant, the Sorenson Impact Center will be better positioned this upcoming legislative session to lobby for the passage of a state chartered, nonprofit financial institution that utilizes its capital to invest in clean energy projects. It would operate similar to Clean Energy Fund models successfully pioneered in other states, including Colorado & Washington.

With its $15,000 grant, Ecology Bridge will gain more traction with a unique, community wide competition to remove large areas of garlic mustard weed, a noxious weed that renders toxic conditions in the soil. By eliminating the plant, local soils can return to healthier levels of microbial activity, leading to higher levels of water retention and carbon sequestration.   

With its $14,000 grant, EATS Park City will undertake it’s One Meal A Day Challenge. The goal of the initiative is to collect data on our community’s food consumption habits. This data can demonstrate relative progress toward benchmark goals of thoughtful, climate friendly consumption behaviors and practices throughout the community. 

For more information about Park City Climate Fund, please visit https://parkcitycf.org/climatefund/. 

About Park City Community Foundation: Park City Community Foundation plays a vital role in solving the most challenging problems in Park City. We care for and invest in our people, place, and culture by bringing together local nonprofits, donors, and community leaders to contribute financial resources and innovative ideas to benefit all the people of Park City—now and in the future. As the home of Live PC Give PC, Women’s Giving Fund, Solomon Fund, and other important initiatives, the Community Foundation has brought millions of dollars to the greater Park City community and Summit County. Learn more about donating, volunteering, fundraising and getting involved in the generosity of Park City at parkcitycf.org. 

Media Contact: Christine Coleman, Communications and Marketing Director, christine@parkcitycf.org or 415-209-8506.