Town of Caledon updating, renaming its Green Fund

June 30, 2022 · 0 Comments

Fund allows community groups to apply for money to put towards climate change projects

By Zachary Roman

Caledon residents have shown they care about the environment.

The Town of Caledon has a fund that community groups can apply for a grant from: the Green Fund. According to a June 21 Town staff report, $354,085 has been dispersed from the fund since its inception in 2006, helping fund 136 environmental projects across the Town.

One example of a project funded by Caledon’s Green Fund is the Inglewood Pollinator Garden featured on the front page of last week’s Citizen. Other examples of funded projects include: tree planting events; community education workshops; salmon hatchery projects; invasive species removal; the building of outdoor classrooms; the installation of water refill stations in schools; and the installation of rain gardens.

Since 2006, the Green Fund has invited registered non-profit and charitable organizations to apply for up to $5,000; or, participate in a “fast track” stream for grant requests of

$1,000 or less. In 2012, a School Green Fund was created to provide up to $2,000 for projects at schools in Caledon. The Town’s energy and environment staff pre-screen applications to ensure applicants are eligible for the grant. Then, an application is passed on to an internal environment committee for scoring that determines how much funding is recommended. That recommendation is then brought to Town Council and, if approved, funds are dispersed to grant recipients.

As part of the Town’s “Resilient Caledon Community Climate Change Action Plan”, Town staff were instructed to review and enhance the Green Fund program in order to better help the Caledon community combat climate change. As a result of the review — which included consultations with past fund applicants, the Town’s internal environment committee, The Peel District School Board, and scans of similar programs in other municipalities — proposed updates to the Green Fund program include the following: changing its name to the Climate Action Fund, increasing the amount of available funding for each individual project, enhancements to the application form, and more.

Staff recommended the name change to “Climate Action Fund” to provide clarity on the intended use of grant funds and place a larger emphasis on climate change. They also recommended creating a single grant stream window that opens annually in the fall, as opposed to separate grant streams for community groups and schools.

The fund is also becoming more inclusive, and the following groups will soon be able to apply to the fund in addition to those already able to: Neighbourhood associations and other unincorporated community-based groups; faith and church groups for a non-religious purpose; Indigenous groups; schools with a Caledon address in a publicly funded school board; school groups, clubs, and parent councils applying on behalf of a school in a publicly funded school board with a Caledon address; publicly funded school boards for a project in schools with a Caledon address; and individuals or students with a documented collaborative agreement with an eligible applicant.

The application to the fund has been streamlined by Town staff so as to reduce the administrative burden on applicants, and the maximum amount one applicant can receive will now be $8,000 instead of $5,000. This is to account for rising project costs, since the maximum funding amount for any one project had not changed since 2006.

Town of Caledon Council approved updates to the Green Fund on consent at its June 21 General Committee meeting, then gave it final approval at its June 28 Council meeting. The new Climate Action Fund will launch this fall and the first successful applicants to the refreshed fund can expect to see their projects come to council in the first quarter of 2023. A total of $35,000 will be available to applicants to start, but Town staff are working on setting up an online process for public donations to bolster the fund. This is because requested grant funds usually exceed fund availability.