Sustainable Kanawha Valley Initiative to Host
Town Meeting March 31

The Sustainable Kanawha Valley Initiative (SKVI), a community grant program, will hold a town meeting March 31 at the Schoenbaum Family Enrichment Center in Charleston to advise interested parties on the highly collaborative grant process and to generate project ideas. The Initiative supports projects which simultaneously achieve economic, environmental, and social goals. The geographic service area served by the Initiative is Kanawha and Putnam Counties.

The Sustainable Kanawha Valley Initiative was created in 2005 by thirteen local funders. Since the initiative began in 2005, 41 projects throughout the Kanawha Valley have received over $379,000 in grant funding. Some previously funded SKVI projects include bike racks placed on KRT buses, Music Mentors – one on one group music lessons for children on Charleston’s East End and West Side and the upcoming Kanawha Valley Sustainability Fair to be held on May 30 at the Habit for Humanity ReStore in Charleston.

This year approximately $120,000 in total project funding is available for the 2009 grant cycle. The maximum grant size per project is $10,000.

Community members are encouraged to attend this open meeting which will kick-off the Sustainable Kanawha Valley Initiative 2009 grant cycle. The meeting will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at the Schoenbaum Family Enrichment Center located at 1701 4th Avenue on the West Side of Charleston. For more information please contact Bev Davis at the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation (304) 346-3620.