Mayor’s Sustainability Award Winners Announced

Leaders in Sustainability to be Recognized on November 9^th

 Santa Fe, NM – The City of Santa Fe and the Mayor’s Sustainability Commission are pleased to announce the winners of the 2017 Mayor’s Sustainability Awards.  Five outstanding first-place winners, and four runners-up, will be recognized for their work contributing to sustainability principles and practices in the community at the annual awards ceremony.

The event takes place on Thursday, November 9, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the New Mexico Room at the La Fonda Hotel. The event is free and open to press and public.

Mayor Javier M. Gonzales said, “As we push to increase our use of renewable energy, eliminate our carbon footprint, and ensure Santa Fe’s sustainability for generations of our children, we’re counting on partners like these to help us shoulder the load. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners, and keep up the great work!”

The winners and runners-up by category are:

ENVIRONMENTAL RESILIENCE

WINNER: Santa Fe Conservation Trust, for effectively harnessing nature as an ally through their conservation easement program.  This programs aims to enhance our natural environment and make it more resilient to climate change and increase the sequestration of carbon.

RUNNER UP: Santa Fe Watershed Association, for engaging the community to enhance our watershed as means of protecting our water resources.

SOCIAL/QUALITY OF LIFE

WINNER: Homewise, for its Sol Fund, through which solar is made more affordable to low income households.

RUNNER UP: Architecture for Everybody + Archinia, for Rachel Preston Prinz’s holistic approach to architecture and historic preservation for underserved communities, and architecture education for all.

ECONOMIC VITALITY

WINNER: AMENERGY for its innovative AMPower Unit, a unique application of solar energy and battery technologies to provide packaged solutions for disaster areas without power.

SUSTAINABILITY LEADERSHIP

WINNER: Randy Grissom, former president, Santa Fe Community College, for creating the School of Trades, Technology, Sustainability & Professional Studies that advances sustainability-related technology education, training, and deployment; providing stimulus to the local economy.

RUNNER UP: Rose Tourje, founder and president of ANEW, and the L.A. to Santa Fe Project, supporting underserved communities with furniture that would otherwise go into the waste stream.

TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE

WINNER: Santa Fe Public Schools, for its solar project at Santa Fe High School that provides energy cost savings for the community, and for providing education in clean energy solutions for students and the community.

RUNNER UP: Verde Community Project, for creating a unique set of partnerships to address triple bottom line issues at the intersection of climate change and poverty alleviation, as administered by Youthworks and Homewise.