Lloyd Center for the Environment Receives $20,000 Grant from Massachusetts Environmental Trust for Climate Science Learning Project

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The Lloyd Center for the Environment received a financial boost with a $20,000 grant from the Massachusetts Environmental Trust (the Trust, MET). This funding will enable the Lloyd Center to expand and enhance their Climate Science Learning Project (CSLP), the Center’s interactive elementary school science teaching model.

“We are so grateful to MET for this grant support. The funding we receive from MET will go a long way to educate students and community members alike,” commented Lloyd Center Executive Director, Rachel Stronach.

According to Trust Program Director, Kim Tilas, the Trust will provide roughly $500,000 in grants to 15 organizations this year, thanks to motorists who choose to purchase one of the Trust’s specialty license plates. “Trust plates, including our signature Whale Plate, are the only specialty plates that exclusively fund environmental initiatives,” said Tilas. “When you purchase a specialty plate for $100 from the Registry of Motor Vehicles, the $40 specialty plate fee is donated to the Trust to fund water-focused environmental programs.”

Last year, the Lloyd Center for the Environment reached over 80 classrooms serving high-need schools in Fall River and New Bedford, schools whose students would not have been able to participate without external support; almost 60 fifth-grade classes and 35 third-grade classes benefitted last year. This grant will help introduce interactive, web-based learning tools that will provide access to information about the effects of climate change on biodiversity in all CSLP classrooms (currently over 100). A further goal of the Lloyd Center’s CLSP is to provide these tools to town planners, local residents, and teachers statewide and nationally, through professional development programs, media and targeted outreach.

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Supporting the environmental programs funded by the Trust in your community is easy: choose one of three environmental plates, the Right Whale & Roseate Terns, The Leaping Brook Trout, or the Blackstone Valley Mill when you purchase a new car or renew your registration with the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

The standard registration fee for a Massachusetts plate is $60. The special plate fee is an additional $40 (tax-deductible every two years) for a total cost of $100. Every time you renew your registration, the $40 goes to the Trust.

Visit your local Registry of Motor Vehicles or order a plate online at www.massrmv.com or www.whaleplate.org. You can also visit www.mass.gov/eea/met to learn more about the Trust, the programs it supports, and the specialty license plate offerings.