Lloyd Center Receives $20,000 Grant from Massachusetts Environmental Trust
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The Lloyd Center received a financial boost with a $20,000 grant from the Massachusetts Environmental Trust (the Trust). 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 thrilled to receive this grant from the Massachusetts Environmental Trust (MET). 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 Bill Hinkley, the Trust will provide roughly $500,000 in grants to 12 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 Hinkley. “When you purchase a specialty plate 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 81 classrooms serving low-income children and families in Fall River and New Bedford, schools whose students would not have been able to participate without external support; 57 fifth-grade classes and 24 third-grade classes benefitted last year. This number will increase in fiscal year 2017 particularly as the Lloyd Center expands in New Bedford to increase coverage. Year two of a two-year pilot program will 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.
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 ($28 is tax-deductible; $12 is to manufacture the plate). The total first-time cost of a Specialty Plate is $100. There is a renewal fee of $100 every two years.
Visit your local Registry of Motor Vehicles or order a plate online at www.massrmv.com or log onto www.mass.gov/eea/met where you can learn more about the Trust, the programs it supports, and the specialty license plate offerings.
