Ford Environmental Grants program assigns $40K to 4 projects in Puerto Rico
In a special 2020 edition, the Ford Environmental Grants program assigned $40,000 among four winning projects in Puerto Rico, as part of its goal of empowering communities toward a more sustainable future by encouraging the proliferation of collective efforts to achieve a better planet.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year the program opened a call for organizations with winning projects from the 2014 to 2018 editions that are currently active, to show how their initiatives have evolved and how they have been reinvented to continue contributing to the environment facing the present global situation.
In Puerto Rico, the winners of the 2020 Ford Environmental Grants program are: “Composting starts at home” by Puerto Rico Composta Inc.; “Water gives life,” by Sociedad Ambiente Marino; “Siembra Boricua,” submitted by the entity of the same name; and the “Educational Program of Theoretical-Practical Workshops for members of coastal communities,” an initiative of the Centro de Microempresas y Tecnologías Agrícolas Sustentables Inc. (CMTAS, in Spanish).
“The commitment of so many people and organizations dedicated to empowering their communities is impressive, not only for helping to protect the environment, but also for contributing to progress and social mobility,” said Vivian T. Dávila, public affairs and communications manager for Ford in Puerto Rico, Central America and the Caribbean, who added that through this initiative, the company has contributed more than $1.7 million to hundreds of environmental projects during the 19 years in which it has been carried out continuously in the region.
“This initiative has a positive impact because it promotes the development of community efforts focused on environmental education, rescue and preservation, so we are satisfied to have managed to give it continuity under a new strategy, while maintaining its essence,” she said.
“Sustainability continues to be a priority issue, even within the global situation we are facing,” she added.
