Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Giving back
Clearinghouse
The Community Services Clearinghouse is being awarded a $25,000 grant from the State Farm Neighborhood Assist Program. This was a nationwide program that started out with 2,000 applicants narrowed down to 200 chosen and from there they had to be voted into the top 40 to receive the $25,000 grant.
This grant will benefit the Meals For Kids/Backpack Program, which is currently serving more than 2,700 school children each week in the seven county coverage area.
S.T.O.P.
The Shade Trees on Playgrounds (S.T.O.P.) program was organized to lower adult skin cancer risk by reducing childhood exposure to direct sunlight where children play, like school playgrounds. Ten playgrounds were chosen in 2017 as S.T.O.P. program tree recipients. Schools will host tree planting ceremonies and begin long term tree maintenance with students through Nov. 1.
Five large shade trees will be planted at Lavaca (Sebastian County) and Clarksville Primary School (Johnson County).
Each May, Arkansas schools are invited to submit S.T.O.P. applications. To qualify, participating schools must lack shade, agree to use Arkansas Forestry Commission (AFC) curriculum to emphasize the importance of trees and forestry in Arkansas at a ceremony before the tree planting, hold a tree planting ceremony with students, and agree to long term maintenance of the shade trees planted. AFC personnel assist with the transport and planting of shade trees.
Watershed Alliance
On Oct. 1, the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded a grant totaling $499,783 to the Beaver Watershed Alliance (BWA) to build green infrastructure to improve water quality. The green infrastructure projects will advance components of the Beaver Lake Watershed Protection Strategy, and serve as educational demonstration sites for regional engineers and municipal staff, and will take place over the next three years.
The goals for this grant are to reduce sediment and nutrient loads into the Beaver Lake watershed by establishing best management practices, and working with municipal staff and regional engineers in building and management of green infrastructure features, and educate the public about the benefits. Three Rain Ready workshops will be held annually to assist homeowners, developers and designers in preparing for and managing wet weather through proactive property design. Beaver Watershed Alliance will also work with a local project steering committee on project goals.
Some stream reaches and an upper portion of Beaver Lake are listed as impaired on what is known as the 303(d) list of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). Projects such as this are designed to slow “non-point source” urban and rural runoff and improve water quality in streams.
Chatrathi Endowment
The Chatrathi family of Clarksville, Md., has made a $50,000 gift to establish the Chatrathi Endowment for Innovations in Community Health at the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus. The endowment will be used to support the Office of Community Health and Research at UAMS and to further its health disparities programs in northwest Arkansas.
Members of the Chatrathi family have been engaging in research and volunteer work in public and community health for many years. During a Fayetteville trip, they toured the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus, visiting the North Street Clinic to learn more about diabetes education and prevention within the local Marshallese community.
While meeting with the Community Health and Research team, the Chatrathi family learned about work being done to reduce sodium and sugar in school lunches, utilizing culturally competent approaches to education and treatment.
The program’s research is largely funded by grants, and professional development and community outreach are not typically supported by research grants.