In honor and recognition of this year’s World Environment Day on June 5^th, the Paso del Norte Community Foundation is pleased to spotlight the work of one of our environmentally focused funds: the Green Hope Project Fund.

The Green Hope Project Fund was established in 2019 to raise funds to promote environmentalism through community partnerships, the arts, and education.  Most recently, the Green Hope Project hosted its inaugural Environmental Summit and Trash to Treasure Awards Ceremony. The Summit featured a variety of live workshops including topics such as “Environmental Justice in El Paso” presented by Veronica Carbajal, resources on “How to Incorporate Outdoor Education into the Classroom,” presented by the Franklin Mountains State Park, and many more.

“We believe that we can make a positive change by uniting in our efforts, identifying the problems, and not stopping until we come up with the solutions,” says President of the Green Hope Project, Candace Printz.

Moreover, the Green Hope Project received over 300 submissions for its Trash to Treasure contest, in which participants created works of art from recycled materials. Special remarks were presented by United States Congresswoman Veronica Escobar and Ellen Smyth, the Managing Director of El Paso Environmental Services Department (ESD).

“We have such great talent in our region and were so impressed with the work we received,” adds Printz.

Building on the success of these events, the Green Hope Project will soon begin working with local schools to bring more awareness of the environmental issues present in the community, as well as collaborating with ESD to bring world-renowned environmental artist Bordalo ll to El Paso.

The new projects will bring awareness to the need for change in how we treat our environment and how it affects our ecosystem.

For more information about the Green Hope Project, please visit https://www.greenhopeproject.org/ and to make a donation, please visit https://pdnfoundation.org/give-to-a-fund/green-hope-project-fund.