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<br /> <br />P.O. Box 8181 * Hillsborough, North Carolina 27278  <br />Telephone: (919)245‐2625   <br />Attachment 1 <br />Date:     January 20, 2026  <br />To:     Board of Orange County Commissioners  <br />From:    Amy Eckberg, Sustainability Programs Manager  <br />RE: Orange County Community Climate Action Grant – Project Descriptions, Scoring, and Comments for  <br />General Applicants  <br />For the 2025‐26 funding cycle of the Orange County Community Climate Action Grant program, $267,750 was  <br />budgeted to support climate action projects that benefit Orange County residents both socially and financially.   <br />In response to feedback from the Board in previous years, the Sustainability team continues its outreach efforts to  <br />publicize the grant opportunity to broaden the applicant pool and increase community awareness of this impactful  <br />climate action program. Staff conducted targeted outreach to local businesses, community groups, and nonprofits  <br />through email campaigns, social media, newsletters, and other promotional media. Our applicant pool continues to  <br />grow and diversify every year as a result of these efforts.  The Community Climate Action grant program received a  <br />total of 16 applications in this round whose total requests added up to $619,095.   <br />Following the scoring and eligibility guidelines established by the Board of Orange County Commissioners (BOCC), the  <br />applications were reviewed and scored by the Commission for the Environment (CFE) and the Human Relations  <br />Commission (HRC). The BOCC asked the Human Relations Commission to score the applications on the Social Justice  <br />and Racial Equity criterion, as this pertains to their expertise and because the racial representation of the CFE as a  <br />whole does not reflect the racial diversity of Orange County.   <br />The following is a rank‐order summary table of the combined project scoring and funding recommendations. A full  <br />table showing the scores for each project on each of the 7 scoring elements is included in the Appendix.  <br />Rank Applicant <br />Name Project Name Project Summary Amount <br />Requested <br />Recommended <br />Funding <br />Total <br />Score <br />(out of <br />26) <br />1 Table <br />Ministries, Inc. <br />Twin Creeks <br />Farm Expansion <br />A partnership between <br />Wildflower Lane Farm and <br />Table to use unused land at <br />an undeveloped Orange <br />County Park (Twin Creeks) to <br />increase locally sourced, <br />nutritious food to feed children <br />served by Table. <br />$50,000 $30,000 21.57 <br />2 <br />Urban <br />Sustainability <br />Solutions, Inc. <br />High-School <br />Students <br />Installing Riparian <br />Buffers <br />Installation of sustainable <br />stormwater management <br />measures in historically <br />underserved communities <br />utilizing public HS teachers <br />and students in a certified <br />green infrastructure training <br />program to implement these <br />measures, especially in areas <br />affected by tropical storm <br />Chantal. <br />$52,000 $38,000 21.35 <br />5Docusign Envelope ID: FE98AD8C-2A26-4FC1-9B3F-6DEB6E3A41EE