By Tom McClimon
February 6, 2006

A new awards program to recognize outstanding local initiatives on community tree programs was announced during the Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting. The announcement was made by Kelly Caffarelli, Executive Director of the Home Depot Foundation, the Conference’s partner on this program.

Awards will be presented to a winner and runner up in two population categories: cities with fewer than 100,000 people and cities with 100,000 or more. Within each category two grant awards will be made: $75,000 to the winning project and $25,000 to the second most competitive project. The awards will be given at the Conference of Mayors 74th Annual Meeting in Las Vegas June 2-6.

Project winners will be selected by an independent Advisory Committee comprised of experts in the field of urban forestry, environmental and sustainable community development.

Applications are available on-line by accessing the Conference of Mayors website (usmayors.org) under Grants and Awards for Cities. The application deadline is February 24th.

Additional information can be obtained by contacting DeAnn Fordham, Home Depot Foundation at 770-384-5389 or send e-mail to DeAnn_Fordham@homedepot.com or Tom McClimon on the Conference staff at 202-861-6729 or mcclimon@usmayors.org.