Silver City -- Silver City will be ever more clean and beautiful, thanks to an innovative collaboration between town government and three local non-profit organizations, which was awarded $30,520 in grant funds from the New Mexico Department of Tourism's Clean and Beautiful Grant program. The funding will be used for litter clean-up, waste reduction, youth training initiatives and landscaping efforts in the historic downtown area including Big Ditch Park, as well as at the Waterworks Building on Little Walnut Road, just north of Jose Barrios Elementary School. Given that the grant program requires a dollar-for-dollar match which is met through donated staff time, supplies and volunteer hours, the total value of the initiative is more than $100,000.

The non-profit organizations that will carry out the work of the grant reward in collaboration with town staff are swnmACT, Silver City MainStreet and GRIP (Gila Resources Information Project) which manages Silver City's Pick-it-Up and Toss No Mas litter clean-up initiative.  Just over $4,000 will be used by Silver City MainStreet for the planting of native plants at Lions Park, at the north end of Main Street Plaza behind the former Lions Club building, and at the Bullard Street Parklet, located between 704 and 714 N. Bullard Street. Lions Park connects Main Street Plaza to the walking trail leading to Gough Park.

 
Award monies will also be used to support costs related to the Pick-it-Up and Toss No Mas litter reduction effort, which was started in 2018 by the Town of Silver City at the request of Mayor Ken Ladner. Funds awarded for this effort will also be used to provide additional waste disposal bins at two town parks, address graffiti and native plant maintenance in Big Ditch Park, support GRIP's efforts to coordinate eight local trash clean-up efforts and continue recruitment of local businesses to participate in the program.  This "business pledge program" which began earlier this year, asks business owners and managers to agree to regularly clean-up trash around their businesses, as well as along frontage roads and public rights-of-way.  So far several businesses have joined the effort, including Mountain Ridge Ace Hardware, Kneeling Nun Mercantile, W&N Enterprises, In-and-Out Lube and Wash, Jon Saari State Farm Insurance and Billings Enterprises.

 
Some $16,000 will support swnmACT's efforts to complete the landscaping along the northern fence line at the historic Waterworks Building, where native plants and drought-tolerant species are being planted, particularly to encourage the regeneration of pollinator species such as the Monarch butterfly. Planting is done in collaboration with the Gila Native Plant Society, which manages the Silva Creek Botanical Gardens, located just across Silva Creek on the west side of the Waterworks property.

 
"I'm thrilled by the news of this grant award," said Mayor Ladner. "It's so important to keep our local streets, parks and other public spaces clean and beautiful, not only for our residents, but for visitors to our town as well. I'm so grateful to our non-profit partners for their hard work and dedication to this effort, and to all of the volunteers who join them. Our community benefits tremendously as a result."

 
For more information about the New Mexico Clean and Beautiful grant award, please contact Allyson Siwik, GRIP executive director, at (575) 538-8078. For more information about the Town of Silver City, please visit townofsilvercity.org.