Youth Climate Action Fund Winners Announced in Hastings-on-Hudson
Youth Climate Action Fund Winners Announced in Hastings-on-Hudson
$50,000 in microgrants are being distributed to young Hastings residents
by Janine Annett
Hastings-on-Hudson — In April, Hastings-on-Hudson Mayor Nicola Armacost announced that Hastings had been selected to join Bloomberg Philanthropies’ new Youth Climate Action Fund, which provides funding and technical assistance for 100 mayors to encourage young people (ages 15-24 years old) to design and produce climate solutions.
As part of the program, Hastings received a grant of $50,000 to be redistributed as microgrants to youth-led climate initiatives. Of the 100 municipalities that received the grant, 30 are in the U.S., and 2 are in New York State.
Now, Mayor Armacost has announced the winners of the microgrants.
The winners and their projects are:
Sophia Ballard — Zinsser Renewal
Jack Maney, Lola Berlin, and Mila Sultan — Garden Club Upgrades
Chloe Smith — Educational Garden at Zinsser
Eden Greenberg and Sasha Fueller — Growing Green
Frieda Belasco and Sofia Eliasi — Hastings KIDS x Hastings Senior Council Intergenerational Club Sustainability Nights
Erik Ghalib — Kiosks
Oona Spaeth — HHS Climate Conference
Hazel Kuniholm and Katie Strutton (mentor) — Environmentally Friendly Eating in Local Restaurants
Tobias Navarette and Marcus Galland — Laternfly TrapForce
Reuben Belasco and Nickola Horozov — Hastings Invasive Plant Removal Initiative
Lena Hobby — Eco Seeds
Kai Ghalib — Micro-Forest
Emma Gelman — Pollinator Mural
Hanna Lambert, Akansha Muthikrushnan, Siri Lambert, Niamh Lynch, Emma Boudrias, Annika Lambert, Carol Duvall and Luisa Scioscia (mentor) — The Pollinators
Cassie Probst-Huertas, Tessa Rooney, Eva Yangarber, and Samira Ghorban — Hillside Butterfly Garden
Victoria Lugomer-Pomper and Sully Griffin — Kids Take on the Environment
Marcus Gelman and Will Andrus — Wildflower Garden at Zinsser
Sawyer Dolgins and Denim McNeil — Pollinator Restoration
Ella Tadmor — The TILI Signage Project
Christian Pinero — Hastings Forest Waste Control (HFWC)
Hajeong Lee, Megan Roe and Ella Cajigao — Kids Upcycling PWR (Plastic Waste Reduction)
The Selection Committee for the grants included Dan Lemons, Clara Miller, and Seth Godin.
“I’m thrilled Hastings-on-Hudson was selected to participate in this important initiative. Young people have the most at stake in the fight against climate change, and I’m confident that their ideas and projects will make a difference and inspire all of us to collective action,” Mayor Armacost said.
The announcement was made at a solar panel ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday at the Farragut Complex (Farragut Middle School and Hastings High School). The Hastings-on-Hudson Community Solar Project involves the installation of solar panels at Hastings High School and Hillside Elementary School. The project is a collaborative effort between the district, the village, and G&S Solar. According to G&S Solar, “All the solar energy goes into the local grid system and is sold at a discount to subscribers of the project, saving them money on their electricity bills.”
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