OPPD awards newest round of ‘Greener Together’ grant recipients

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Omaha Public Power District’s Greener Together program is awarding funds to two new projects.

The recipients are The Urban Bird & Nature Alliance and Free Farm Syndicate.

The Greener Together program connects community members and long-term sustainability initiatives.

OPPD customers who opt into the program pay a small monthly fee. Then they get a voice in where that money goes, by voting on which projects they would like to see supported.

The Urban Bird and Nature Alliance was awarded $50,000. Executive Director Diana Failla says the money will help plant more than 150 trees in Habitat for Humanity’s Bluestem Prairie development near 51st and Sorensen Parkway.

Failla said, “We’re hoping that every single home will have a tree. One or even two.”

Failla appreciates that the Greener Together program includes community involvement.

“Just having members being able to vote on projects like solar or tree planting, what have you. It’s just a great program,” she said.

Failla says the Urban Nature Alliance has put down about five thousand trees throughout Omaha in about 10 years, especially since the emerald ash borer destroyed thousands of ash trees in the city.

Failla said, “There are neighborhoods that have just, like regency, different neighborhoods throughout the city that have lost their entire tree canopy.”

Failla says the trees will be put in the Bluestem Prairie development this April or May.

Free Farm Syndicate, which was awarded $80,000, is a non-profit that works to reduce food insecurity in Omaha.

Copyright 2024 WOWT. All rights reserved.