Community Grant Enhancement projects pay dividends for Thousand Oaks and for worthy organizations
Civic-minded groups clean up the environment while getting much needed revenue to support their programs
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

The city of Thousand Oaks recently awarded 14 Community Grant Enhancement Awards to local nonprofit organizations who will use their funds to help keep the community beautiful and environmentally responsible. The awards totaled $45,000.

Aspen Elementary School students will use their $3,000 grant to purchase campus recycling containers and environmental books.

Boy Scout Troop No. 716 will remove litter and weeds and provide wood chipping, using $2,000. Boy Scout Troop No. 765 will also remove litter, weed and wood chip, and members will participate in Arbor Earth Day, Coastal Clean-Up Day, Trail Work Day and distribute city environmental and waste reduction literature with the $5,000 they were awarded.

The Conejo Valley Botanic Garden will use their $6,000 grant to eradicate nonnative plant species and to groom or remove large trees.

Las Flores Community Gardens will spend $1,400 for such things as composting equipment and community outreach.

New trees will be planted on campus at Maple Elementary School using a $1,200 award.

Newbury Park High School Choral Boosters will perform litter removal, weeding, wood chipping and pineneedle raking using a $2,900 grant. They will be joined in those beautification tasks at the school by the Newbury High School Panther Band Parents, who received $4,500.

Thousand Oaks High School groups also were awarded grants: $3,000 for the Cross Country Boosters Club, $4,500 for the Lancer Band Parents, $2,000 for the Link Crew and $3,000 for the Track and Field Booster Club. All the groups will participate in litter removal, weeding, wood chipping and pine-needle raking.

Those same beautification projects brought money to Westlake High School Band Boosters, who were awarded $4,500.

According to a city staff report, the money for the grants comes from interest earned from the Solid Waste Management Enterprise Fund Reserves, established in 1998 by the City Council. The Community Funding Review Committee considered 16 grant applications asking for a total of $82,000.

Grantees were approved with a 5-0 vote by the City Council and will now contract with the city to complete the work by Oct. 31, 2007.