Nonprofit receives $200,000 to promote green spaces in San Antonio
Staff Writer
San Antonio Business Journal
Oct 21, 2008
The Bank of America Charitable Foundation awarded Green Spaces Alliance of South Texas, formerly Bexar Land Trust, a $200,000 grant to help beautify San Antonio.
The Bank of America Charitable Foundation provided the grant as part of its Neighborhood Excellence Initiative. Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), which operates more than 20 bank branches in San Antonio, funds the foundation.
Green Spaces Alliance is a nonprofit organization based in downtown San Antonio. The group’s mission is to promote green spaces throughout the city through investments in community gardening, community education and land conservation in Bexar County.
“Funding from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation will support our three key initiatives and allow us to keep growing,” says Julie Koppenheffer, executive director of Green Spaces Alliance of South Texas.
Local organizers with the alliance have been working since 2005 to expand the group’s community gardens program to more neighborhoods in San Antonio. The goal is to encourage neighborhoods to preserve green spaces to help beautify the urban landscape.
The organization also works with private land owners and government entities to help preserve land over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone. Since 2000, Green Spaces has worked with the City of San Antonio to preserve almost 30,000 acres over the aquifer recharge zone.