LCCC Receives Lehigh Valley Greenways Grant to Support Environmental Education

Schnecksville, Pa., June 19, 2023 – A grant awarded by Lehigh Valley Greenways Conservation Landscape will enable Lehigh Carbon Community College to expand its campus ecosystem project and include the community in environmental education. The grant, “Partnership for Change: Community Building for a Greener Lehigh Valley,” was awarded through the Lehigh Valley Greenways mini-grant program and will create a partnership between LCCC and Promise Neighborhoods to develop an environmental program in summer 2024 for at-risk members of the community.

The $6,900 grant will support coordination between LCCC and Promise Neighborhoods to plan activities; adapt the BIO 115 Field Biology course to increase environmental justice, conservation and climate change topics; and support volunteer activities to increase awareness of the benefits of the natural world and the importance of conservation. Participants in the course will be those engaged in Promise Neighborhoods’ PromiseCorps program.

The college also received a grant from the National Heritage Corridor in the spring 2022 to plant an arboretum on the Schnecksville campus and in the spring 2018 to create pollinator gardens. The campus ecosystem also includes the conversion of turf to meadows and the use of native trees and plants in the landscape.

This grant is part of a total of $86,500 in new mini grants from the Lehigh Valley Greenways that advance the goals of land conservation and restoration, as well as environmental education. The LVG mini-grant program is a reimbursement grant program funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and administered by the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor.

Pictured: Rob Neitz, PA Department of Conservation; John Loughman, LCCC; Dr. Hasshan Batts, Promise Neighborhoods, Leo Rooney, Promise Neighborhoods; and Brit Condravy, Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor.