Chanler Group 2014 Grantees

The Chanler Group’s partnerships with the Alliance for the Great Lakes, Center for Creative Land Recycling, and Sea Research Foundation advances our mission by further enhancing and improving the health and safety of our planet. We are proud to work with these worthy organizations to promote a clean environment and educate consumers about harmful chemicals in our environment.

Center for Creative Land Recycling

San Francisco, California

The Center for Creative Land Recycling received $12,500 to support the redevelopment of Miraflores, a 14-acre site in Richmond, California.  CCLR’s mission is to clean and redevelop environmentally-distressed properties, otherwise known as land recycling.  By restoring underutilized sites to productive use, CCLR preserves open space and protects natural resources while reducing the carbon footprint of development.

Miraflores has significant soil and groundwater contamination from pesticides, motor oil and diesel as well as lead and asbestos from dilapidated greenhouses.  Under the current redevelopment plan, CCLR will help restore the creek that runs through Miraflores and surround it with parks and recreational trails, while preserving the existing historic structures and redeveloping affordable housing for seniors and families.

Since its founding in 1999, the CCLR has worked with stakeholders from all sectors in creative partnerships to foster collaboration and innovation in sustainable development.   In California alone, the CCLR has worked with communities to obtain nearly $73 million in forgiveable loans and grants to assess the extent of damage to environmentally distressed properties.  

In addition to those funds, the CCLR led two innovative funding programs in California that allocated nearly $90 million to clean up and redevelop brownfields, with priority funding earmarked for under-resourced communities.

 

Alliance for the Great Lakes

Chicago, Illinois  

The Alliance for the Great Lakes received $7,500 to support the Keep Our Great Lakes Bead-Free program.  

The mission of the Alliance is to conserve and restore the Great Lakes using policy, education, and local efforts.

  The Alliance works with local governments and other advocacy groups to promote environmental issues, including reducing invasive species, conserving water, and protecting coastlines.

The Keep Our Great Lakes Bead-Free program seeks to reduce the number of microbeads in the lakes, which are commonly found in personal care products such as facial cleansers and exfoliants; the beads absorb chemical contaminants in the water and may introduce a new source of contamination into the food web, impacting ecological processes governing nutrient dynamics.  The Alliance will use the grant to develop an education and engagement campaign to encourage locals to stop using these products and take a public stance against them, with the eventual goal of strengthening regulations to address microbeads and other emerging chemicals of concern.

 

Sea Research Foundation

Mystic, Connecticut

The Sea Research Foundation, based in Mystic, Connecticut, received $5,000 to support building a research and education center at its partner location, Mystic Aquarium.   The Aquarium includes more than 300 species and introduces over 700,000 visitors each year to the wonders of the aquatic world.

The Sea Research Foundation inspires people to care for and protect the ocean through education, research, and exploration.  Since its founding in 1977, the Sea Research Foundation has promoted deep-water marine archaeology, conducted research to advance aquatic husbandry and health, trained aquatic veterinarians, and advanced conservation and marine science discoveries.

The Research and Education Center will include a prestigious research laboratory for investigating issues related to aquatic animal and ecosystem health, a library, wetlabs and classrooms to instruct children about marine conservation issues.  The Sea Research Foundation is currently involved in several research and conservation projects, such as developing conservation plans for arctic beluga whales and wild African penguins, investigating the beluga whale immune system and examining the impact of a bacterial pathogen on marine mammals.