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D25. If you are proposing to
<br />collaborate with other
<br />organizations on this project,
<br />please describe their
<br />relevant experience to the
<br />project and/or the target
<br />population. (150 word limit)
<br />In addition to USS funding from Burt’s Bees Foundation, Triangle Community Foundation, and the EPA, USS collaborates
<br />with the following contractors:
<br />1) ) Jeanette O’Connor (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanette-o-connor-8b617251/), manager of Lands and Waters South (a
<br />sustainable landscape non-profit company in Carrboro
<br />(https://www.landsandwaterssouth.org/#:~:text=Lands%20and%20W aters%20South%20(located,with%20hands%2Don%20conservation%20projects),
<br />is USS's landscape contractor and oversees plantings by USS teachers and children.
<br />2) Fernando Guzman, the Hispanic owner of Aguilar’s Lawn & Landscape company, is a site preparation contractor in
<br />Orange and Durham Counties (https://www.yelp.com/biz/aguilars-lawnand-landscape-durham) whom USS hires for site
<br />preparation.
<br />3) Frank Brown, owner of CFB Contracting LLC, Selma, NC (https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-brown-b3801210/), is a site-
<br />preparation contractor with over 10 years of experience in the Durham County pilot program, whom USS also hires.
<br />4) Demetrius Thompson is the owner of Triangle Outdoor Living and Landscaping (https://www.linkedin.com/in/demetrius-
<br />thompson-87a3a766/) in Durham, N.C., and is often hired by USS for project implementation.
<br />D26. Have your
<br />collaborators/partners
<br />completed projects of this
<br />type in the past?
<br />Yes
<br />If so, what funds were used?
<br />(100 word limit)
<br />For 2023-2025, USS implemented $220,000 from the NC DEQ/EPA, $30,000 from Burts Bees, and crucial matching funding
<br />from OCCCA to train and hire Orange County teachers and students to install small green stormwater infrastructure
<br />practices (rain gardens, cisterns, etc.) on residential properties in the Bolin Creek watershed. USS hired the above
<br />contractors to implement these installations, trained and employed Orange County teachers and students to assist, and
<br />successfully and effectively spent all of our 2023-25 funding toward this end.
<br />D27. Please describe any
<br />other relevant expertise or
<br />capacity to carry out the
<br />project in your application.
<br />(250 word limit)
<br />USS Chairman Mike Dupree has been developing & administering STEM curricula since 1992 and has been a licensed &
<br />bonded NC Landscape & Irrigation Contractor since 1989, servicing thousands of NC customers and teaching in secondary
<br />and post-secondary schools for >10 years. From 2010 to 2022, as Durham County’s Agribusiness & Environmental
<br />Services Manager, Dupree secured funding for, designed, and oversaw > 260 SCM installations for more than 200
<br />landowners.
<br />USS Board member Kevin Boyer served ten years as Water Quality Manager for Raleigh Stormwater, overseeing surface
<br />water monitoring, compliance with stormwater regulations, and design and installation of stormwater control measures and
<br />stream restorations. He served for six years on NC W ater Resources Research Institute’s Advisory Committee; eight years
<br />as Raleigh’s voting member on the Stormwater Consortium; seven years administering stream restoration and stormwater
<br />water quality grant projects for NC Clean Water Management Trust Fund; and five years teaching high school environmental
<br />science, physics, and math.
<br />Project manager Alex Shanklin has worked in the landscaping industry in central North Carolina and as a farm maintenance
<br />and land manager in Kauai, Hawaii; an educator in Hongan-ji and BDK Hawaii; a Career and Technical Education teacher in
<br />Hawaii; and an English teacher in the public school system in Japan.
<br />Grants Manager Melissa Rooney served >10 years as Associate Supervisor with Durham County’s Soil and W ater
<br />Conservation District, and > 10 years conducting STEM- and sustainability-related workshops with the Durham Arts
<br />Council’s Creative Arts in the Public and Private Schools (CAPS) program.
<br />D28. Please describe any
<br />prior challenges you have
<br />encountered in past grants
<br />and how you have worked
<br />through them. How may this
<br />impact this proposed project?
<br />(150 word limit)
<br />W e have found it challenging to connect with Orange County administrators to implement our Green Infrastructure training
<br />program on high-school campuses as an after-school program. Although we have the support of several Orange County
<br />school board members and commissioners, only one Orange County school has hosted an after-school apprenticeship
<br />program. Because of this, we recruit and hire students and teachers from outside the school system and train them via
<br />online classes. After completing the Zoom training, students then participate in field and work days at installation sites. USS
<br />trained 44 students from 8 high schools and 2 middle schools this May.
<br />D29. Please describe one to
<br />three key partnerships/
<br />collaborations that add the
<br />most value to the success of
<br />the proposed project. (250
<br />word limit)
<br />1. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a federal government organization whose interest in successfully
<br />supporting green infrastructure practices throughout NC and the United States is legally required:
<br />https://www.epa.gov/climate-change-water-sector/green-infrastructure-program. In addition to projects already completed
<br />using awarded EPA funding, multiple USS projects are planned for this Fall and next Spring. 2026-27 funding from the EPA
<br />will pay 60% of the costs for green infrastructure installations in the Bolin Creek W atershed.
<br />2. The founder of Burt’s Bees Foundation, Matt Kopac, has supported USS’s pilot program in Durham throughout its
<br />existence; and Burt’s Bees Foundation was the first to provide funding to our organization. Since then, Burt’s Bees has
<br />doubled its funding and encouraged us to apply for more. Burt’s Bees Foundation funding will help cover organizational
<br />operating costs and train educators.
<br />3. Funding from our 2023 OCCCA grant award was vital to completing USS’s signature projects in Orange County in 2024
<br />and 2025. The 2025-26 OCCCA funding we are requesting will cover 1) student and teacher stipends, which fund the
<br />planting of trees and other native vegetation in the riparian buffers installed by USS in Orange County; and 2) direct costs
<br />for USS to carry out the project described here, including recruiting students, teachers, and landowners, holding community
<br />meetings, scheduling and supervising installations and field days, among other activities.
<br />D30. If this project is not
<br />selected for funding in this
<br />round, what other funding
<br />might be used to support it
<br />within the next 5 years?
<br />Unknown (please describe)
<br />Docusign Envelope ID: FE98AD8C-2A26-4FC1-9B3F-6DEB6E3A41EE
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