$10,000 in grants awarded to three Louisville schools for green projects

For Ballard and Assumption high schools, Farnsley Middle School

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (April 27, 2016) — Mayor Fischer announced today that Ballard High School, Assumption High School, and Farnsley Middle School have been awarded grants from the Knollenberg Foundation to go towards student projects combating the Urban Heat Island. The projects were proposed and judged after students from public and parochial schools participated in the Urban Heat Island Youth Summit hosted by Brightside and the Partnership for a Green City in December 2015.

“Seeing young people get involved in this cause that affects the entire community is very impressive,” Fischer said. “To reduce the Urban Heat Island, we will need a community-wide effort and it is admirable that students are joining early in that effort.”

The Knollenberg Foundation awarded a total of $10,000 to Ballard High School, Assumption High School, and Farnsley Middle School for the following projects:

• $5000 – to Ballard High School for a pilot project to paint a portion of the Ballard roof white and to monitor temperature in the classrooms to see how much the heat absorption is reduced in the area of the white roof.
• $3000 – to Assumption High School for a Green Wall demonstration project on a south wall of the school as well as the addition of trees on the property to mitigate the UHI Effect. They will also plant native trees in bare places on the Assumption campus.
• $2000 – to Farnsley Middle School to plant 30 – 45 native trees on the Farnsley property, comparing temperature in the shaded areas to the non-shaded areas.

The Partnership For A Green City represents a collaborative effort to improve sustainability internally and in the community by four of Louisville’s largest public entities: University of Louisville, Jefferson County Public Schools, Jefferson Community & Technical College, and Louisville Metro Government.