Weaver Community Project
Chapel Hill-Carrboro, NC; June 1, 2024: Urban Sustainability Solutions announced the 501c3 nonprofit organization’s establishment and the dedication of their Sustainable Stormwater Management Project at the Weaver Community in Orange County, NC, on Saturday, June 1, 2024 at 102 Crest St. Carrboro.
Urban Sustainability Solutions Inc. (USS) was formed in 2022 to expand the sustainable stormwater management curriculum that was developed for the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in 2013. This program uses stormwater STEM principals to educate youth and provides them with paid apprenticeships while job shadowing with Environmental Contractors. USS currently has funding for programs in Orange and Wake Counties, with the long-term goal of developing a workforce that can design and install resilient and sustainable stormwater management throughout the Triangle. USS’s program, entitled “Growing More than Rain Gardens” focuses on educating, training, and hiring traditionally underserved high-school students to design and install Stormwater Control Measures (SCMs) prioritizing underserved properties in impaired watersheds.
In February 2024, USS was awarded $220,000 in funding to cover 60% of the costs of SCM installations in the Bolin Creek watershed of Carrboro, Orange County, NC. This project was funded by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality through Section 319 of the Federal Clean Water Act, administered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
USS was simultaneously awarded $69,156 from the Orange County Community Climate Action Grant (OCCCAG) program to supplement the EPA funding, providing 100% funding to install sustainable stormwater infrastructure on underserved properties. The OCCCAG funds will also help create after-school internship opportunities for Orange County high-school students to be trained and then paid to design and install rain gardens and/or cisterns on Orange County properties. USS is currently recruiting teachers in Orange County, and they can register on the urbanss.org website.
The Carrboro Stormwater Manager of Public Works has assisted USS with Education and Outreach events to connect with property owners in the Bolin Creek Watershed. This enabled USS to contract with nearby Weaver Community Association, a Co-Op community within the DEQ mapped area for underserved, to treat 75% of roof-top runoff from 10 apartments with cisterns, grass swales and a regenerative stream conveyance (RSC).
Dedication of the Weaver Community sustainable stormwater management project was held on Saturday, June 1, 2024 at 102 Crest St. Carrboro. The neighborhood and the public were invited, as well as numerous local and state government and organizational representatives who have been contacted independently.
Urban Sustainability Solutions social media:
https://www.facebook.com/UrbanSustainabilitySolutions
https://www.instagram.com/urbanss_org/
To set up an interview or for information regarding Urban Sustainability Solutions and the Weaver Community Project please contact USS Chairman Michael Dupree at (336)-266-4841 or michaelgdupree@gmail.com.
