UPS Foundation Awards $30,000 to Mayor Kasim Reed's 'Love Your Block' Program
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- Category: Atlanta
- Published on Thursday, 24 January 2013 21:39
- Written by The Atlanta Daily World
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- Post 24 January 2013
- By Special to the Daily World
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Mayor Kasim Reed announced today that the city of Atlanta has been awarded a $30,000 grant from The UPS Foundation to support its Love Your Block program.
The program drives Atlanta's volunteer spirit toward neighborhood revitalization, sustainability and beautification. The grant will be used to mobilize citizens to help plant roughly 350 trees in neighborhoods citywide. Planting trees is a key component of The UPS Foundation's sustainability volunteer and grant-giving initiatives, with an overall mission of planting one million trees globally.
"The UPS Foundation has generously stepped up to help us beautify our great city," said Mayor Reed. "The city is committed to becoming a top tier sustainable city and these public-private partnerships play a critical role in not only revitalizing our city, but helping to ensure that Atlanta's green spaces can be enjoyed by future generations."
Love Your Block is a key initiative of the Mayor's Forward Together strategic service plan, which was launched in March 2011. Through The UPS Foundation's $30,000 grant, neighborhoods will be able to propose and request up to $5,000 to plant trees in their neighborhoods. Previous Love Your Block projects included: beautifying entrance ways, cleaning up and creating sidewalk paths, planting trees and flower beds and removing graffiti. In 2012, the Love Your Block program organized 27 projects across each Council district, mobilized 5,442 volunteer hours, collected over 22,000 lbs of litter, removed 1,175 feet of graffiti, grew 736 flowers and shrubs, and planted 160 trees.
"We are proud to support the city's Love Your Block program to continue its success and high impact to the beautification and sustainability of Atlanta," said Eduardo Martinez, president of The UPS Foundation. "Leaving the world better than we found it is a key mission of UPS, which is why we've launched a goal to help plant one million trees globally. We are excited to benefit our hometown of Atlanta and partner on Mayor Reed's vision to be a top tier sustainable city."
Applications for the Love Your Block program are accepted on a rolling basis, with grants awarded twice a year. A special call for tree planting proposals will also be released. The deadline for the second round of mini grant applications is May 1, 2013. Applications are available at http://iamatlanta.org/. For more information regarding Love Your Block, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 404-330-6385.
