achieving change through enterprising solutions

Green Shoots

 

What is Green Shoots?

A partnership of locally based organisations, led by Middlesbrough Environment City, has been successful in receiving support through the Green Recovery Challenge Fund.  The fourteen-month project will engage local people in practical action to improve our green environment, through volunteering and training opportunities.

The partnership includes Actes, The Linx Project and The Other Perspective, and will work particularly with young people, BAME communities and refugees and asylum seekers.  Focussing on Middlesbrough’s local wildlife sites, the volunteering and training opportunities will help improve and manage habitats, making them even better for wildlife.  Through involvement, participants will also develop practical nature conservation skills and employability skills, as well as having a positive impact on their local area.

The project builds on previous projects including One Planet Pioneers, part of the National Lottery Community Fund Our Bright Future project, which has been helping young people into further training and jobs for over five years.  The project will also help support other communities in Middlesbrough to make a positive difference, building on projects such as the Albert Park Community Allotment.

The Green Recovery Challenge Fund is supported by Defra, who have announced grants between £62,000 and £3.8 million, to help create and retain thousands of green jobs. The projects, spread across England, will see trees planted – 800,000 in total – and protected landscapes and damaged habitats such as moorlands, wetlands and forests restored, alongside wider conservation work. The projects will also support environmental education and connecting people with green spaces.  The Green Recovery Challenge Fund is a key part of Prime Minister’s 10 Point Plan to kick-start nature recovery and tackle climate change.  The fund is being delivered by the National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with Natural England and the Environment Agency.

 

Environment Minister, Rebecca Pow, said:

“These projects will drive forward work across England to restore and transform our landscapes, boost nature and create green jobs, and will be a vital part of helping us to build back greener from coronavirus.

“I look forward to working with environmental organisations as these projects help address the twin challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change, while creating and retaining jobs as part of the green recovery.”

 

Ros Kerslake, Chief Executive, National Lottery Heritage Fund, said:

“Supporting our natural environment is one of the most valuable things we can do right now. All these projects are of huge benefit to our beautiful countryside and wildlife, but will also support jobs, health and wellbeing, which are vitally important as we begin to emerge from the coronavirus crisis.”