The City of Roseville’s Environmental Utilities Department and reCREATE, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and promoting environmental awareness, recently received a $49,998 two-year grant from the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB). The grant was made through state’s Reuse Assistance Grant Program. The grant funding will allow reCREATE to hire a Teaching Aide and a Store/Volunteer Manager.  To take advantage of the state grant funding, the CIWMB would only accept grant applications from public agencies, like the city, working with non-profits as public-private partnerships.

”I’m delighted the City of Roseville received this grant with reCREATE,” said Roseville Mayor Gina Garbolino.  “It gives the city an opportunity to help establish a local nonprofit that works with our schools, encourages the arts and helps us creatively tackle the issue of reducing waste going to our landfill.”

reCREATE works with local businesses to collect unwanted materials, unwanted stock, and manufactured by-products for use in the reCREATE program which focuses on children’s art programs.

“This was a unique opportunity to use state funding to help educate children in our community about the importance of reuse, create two new jobs and create an alternative to landfilling perfectly reusable materials,” said Derrick Whitehead, Director of Environmental Utilities.  “Supporting this program helps the city become more sustainable.”

reCREATE has plans to open a reuse store, gallery, green gift shop and art studio in the coming months in Roseville. The Store/Volunteer Manager position will be responsible for overseeing of the store, as well as recruiting and coordinating the volunteer efforts to work with local businesses to collect materials for the program. 

Currently “Rolling reCREATE”, a box van, visits local schools, offering environmental lessons and hands-on art projects.   The presentation encourages environmental conservation and reuse, and the art project shows our students that they don’t need new materials to make art, that art can be made from common items in their every day lives.   The recently awarded grant allows reCREATE to offer this program at a reduced cost to Roseville Kindergarten through eighth grade classrooms.

Additional information about reCREATE, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, is available at www.recreate.org.