Sarah Lawrence College‘s Center for the Urban River at Beczak (CURB) was recently awarded $40,000 in grants by the Westchester Community Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts to fund water quality research and environmental education programs.
Officials said this month that the Westchester Community Foundation awarded $30,000 to complete water quality research that would help community and government agencies find solutions to water contamination, while the National Endowment for the Arts provided another $10,000 to fund “Hudson River: Through the Arts,” a free arts series offered by CURB for underserved families in Yonkers. The series features literary, music, dance and theater performances as well as art activities and environmental education programs.
“The Center for the Urban River is unique because it uses scientific research, education and community outreach to achieve positive change toward a cleaner environment,” CURB Director Ryan Palmer said. “We are grateful to the Westchester Community Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts for recognizing the importance of the work we do, and that we can make a difference.”
CURB, which began in 2013 as a partnership between Sarah Lawrence College and the Hudson River Valley Environmental Education Institute, created a research field station on the Hudson River in Yonkers and offers environmental education programming for school and community groups.
The organization works with partners such as Riverkeeper to fight sewage and other contamination of river water.
Westchester Community Foundation’s funding comes as one of 21 grants the organization announced it would be providing to 21 community and environmental nonprofits earlier this month. In a statement, Executive Director Laura Rossi said the organization believes in “maintaining our commitment to protect our natural resources and address climate change.”
