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Green Neighborhoods Grant Projects
The Green Neighborhoods Grant Program seeks to benefit low-income households and residents of color by bringing neighbors together to pursue projects which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create natural areas that are more resilient to the impacts of climate change, ultimately benefiting the entire community. Up to $25,000 is available for neighborhood teams seeking to implement sustainable projects that align with the goals of the Town of Carrboro Climate Action Plan.
Applications due February 18, 2026 at 5:00 PM
FY23-24
| Project Name | Location | Project Description |
|---|---|---|
| Strayhorn Community Garden | Strayhorn Home | Restore the Strayhorn homeplace to its historical botanical splendor by planting native pollinator gardens, native carbon-sequestering grasslands, and a community vegetable garden. A community project which will include neighbors in contributing to the selecting, planting, and maintaining the gardens while learning about the history of Black Carrboro and the contributions of the Strayhorn family. |
| Fairoaks HOA Composting | Fairoaks HOA | Pilot neighborhood composting program for neighborhood's 161 units (includes 12 duplex and multiple single-family rentals) |
| Native Plants, Invasives, LEDs and Leaves | Barred Owl Creek Neighborhood | Increase awareness and action in four areas: adding native plants, reducing invasives, switching outside lights to warm spectrum LEDs, and "Leaving the Leaves." Host on a kids event and workshops along with distribution of native plants. |
| Berryhill HOA Climate Action and Resilience | Berryhill HOA | Planting pollinator-friendly native trees and shrubs in communal area along with an neighborhood LED lightbulb replacement program. |
| Breakaway Café - One Pollinator at a Time | Breakaway Café | Expand and enhance the pollinator garden area outside of Breakaway Carrboro, install educational signs, hold free community educational talks, and provide a plant starter kit for participants. Partner with the North Carolina New Hope Audubon Society to conduct an educational workshop for children and to build and install bluebird houses around the community. |
| Pacifica Vermicomposting | Pacifica Cohousing | Promote vermicomposting (worm composting) for community gardens, intentional communities, and individuals through an introductory and follow-up workshop, providing materials to get started, and continuing consultation services. |
| Project Name | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Forest and Streambank Restoration in Bolin Forest | Phase II Bolin Creek HOA | Stabilize a path along Bolin Creek created by pedestrian traffic with coconut matting, remove invasives, and plant native trees and shrubs to capture the stormwater. |
| Dye Garden Project - My Muses: Growing Color | My Muses Card Shop | Educate and empower individuals to cultivate their own dye gardens while promoting eco-friendly practice through workshop and training sessions and educational materials. |
| Barred Owl Creek Composting Pilot | Barred Owl Creek Neighborhood | Pilot a composting program by establishing a community composting service through Compost Now. Host a neighborhood event at the compost collection site and educate all attendees about best practices for composting. To facilitate participation, we’ll also provide kitchen countertop compost bins and/or compostable bags to interested households. |
| Compost and Recycling at C&L McDougle Elementary School | C&L McDougle Elementary School | Maximize the use of currently dormant compost and recycling bins by educating students and staff about proper recycling and composting practices. Student volunteers will serve as compost/recycling monitors, or Eco Ambassadors, giving them ownership of the process. Work with Orange County to collect food waste from both McDougle Elementary and Middle School. Finished compost will be purchased and returned to the school garden and grounds. Additionally, we will purchase trees or other plants to help stabilize areas with erosion and water runoff challenges. |
| Rain Garden Investment Leveraging Chapel Hill Tennis Club Ecosystem Services | Chapel Hill Tennis Club | Install a rain garden at Chapel Hill Tennis Club by engaging club and community members and use the skills from building it to implement more. The rain garden will improve flood mitigation, create habitat for pollinators and other animals, and increase carbon sequestration. |
| Fairoaks Composting Program Year 2 | Fairoaks HOA | Fairoaks has been composting for ~8 months with the support of a previous Green Neighborhoods grant. With additional funding we will continue composting for another 11 months, making composting available to all Fairoaks residents regardless of income.
We will build on our success with outreach to other neighborhoods and use these neighborhood composting programs to advocate for curbside composting for the town and/or county. |
| Fork to Farm: Promoting Bokashi as a complement to Vermicomposting | Pacifica Cohousing | Promoting Bokashi composting through the Fork to Farm program by facilitating methods for sharing preserved kitchen scraps with neighbors, community gardens, farmers at the Carrboro Farmers Market, or Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) vendors. |
| Composting at Twin Magnolias | Twin Magnolias Condominium Association | Pilot a composting program by distributing kitchen countertop compost bins to interested households; these bins will be emptied into a central bin that will be picked up by CompostNow once per week. |
| Wexford Composting Program | The Wexford Property Owners' Association, Inc. | Distribute countertop compost bins and compost bags to interested households and encourage all neighbors to drop off compostables into central bins located at the neighborhood clubhouse. |
| Forest Court Stormwater Rain Garden | Forest Court | Build a rain garden to capture and reduce water runoff to Bolin Creek. |
| Project Name | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama Ave. Community Garden | Alabama Avenue | Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the health and resilience of ecosystems in Carrboro by creating a community garden with fruit trees and perennials. Hold planting and picking events with neighborhood residents. |
| Pollinator Paradise | Collins Crossings Apartments | Create a vibrant garden with native plants, a bee hotel, and educational signs to support pollinators. Residents will engage in planting, workshops, take-home kits, fostering biodiversity, eco-awareness, and a greener community. |
| Barred Owl Creek Composting Program | Barred Owl Creek Neighborhood | Extend the 2024 pilot composting program (also funded by the Green Neighborhoods Grant Program) into a second year. In 2025, we will sustain and expand our service to reach more homes by engaging with more residents, identify an additional collection site, and host another community engagement event where training materials will be distributed. We will provide kitchen countertop compost bins and/or compostable bags to interested households. |
| Environmental stewardship at McDougle Elementary through composting, tree & ground cover planting, and education. | McDougle Elementary and Middle Schools | Four initiatives aimed at promoting climate action and sustainability: planting 10 trees and ground cover like native clover or wild flowers; purchasing 3 ketchup dispensers for our shared cafeteria with McDougle Middle School; installing educational signage to encourage waste reduction, recycling, and composting; and continuing to purchase compost for our school trees and gardens. |
| Native Landscaping at Pee Wee Homes | Pee Wee Homes - Hill and Broad Streets | Implementation of a community-led native landscaping project - consult with a local vendor for design work and to source native plant materials from a local vendor while soliciting community feedback on species selection and for a maintenance plan to sustain the initiative. |
| Native Tree Planting along Pleasant Dr., Mulberry St., Hillview St., and Crest St. | Pleasant Drive, Mulberry Street, Hillview Street, and Crest Street | Plant native trees in the neighborhood to increase shade, decrease air temperatures, increase habitat, improve soil health, and mitigate stormwater runoff. |
| Composting at the Twin Magnolias Condominium Complex | Twin Magnolias Condominium Complex | Pilot a composting program by distributing kitchen countertop compost bins to interested households; these bins will be emptied into a central bin that will be picked up by CompostNow once per week. |
| Webbwood Neighborhood Compost Initiative | Webbwood Neighborhood | Webbwood will pilot a neighborhood composting program by distributing kitchen countertop compost bins to interested households and having those participants drop their compostables into central bins located in the neighborhood. Compost Now will pick up from those central bins once a week. In addition, we hope to further education on waste reduction, sustainability and environmental stewardship by engaging the students and families that attend The Morningside School, serving children ages 3-5 and located in our neighborhood. |
| Whispering Hills Pilot Composting Program | Whispering Hills | Whispering Hills will pilot a composting program by distributing kitchen countertop compost bins to households, then having participants drop-off their compostables into central bins within the neighborhood. |
| Establishing a Community Garden for the Wilson Park Townhouses | Wilson Park Townhouses Neighborhood | The Wilson Park community proposes to build a small garden in the common area between our townhouses. Building and maintaining a cooperative community garden provides an opportunity to engage both rental and homeowner residents in learning about local ecology, native food sources, and low-impact ways of eating. |
| Fairoaks Composting Program Year 3 | Fairoaks Neighborhood | Continue composting in Fairoaks for another 11 months and continue to reach out to new neighborhoods to encourage them to start their own programs. |
Additional Questions?
Please contact the Town of Carrboro's Office of Sustainability for additional information.
(919) 918 - 73456