The Rhode Island State Conservation Committee has secured a $40,000 grant through the Rhode Island Foundation to continue its work on soil, land and water conservation. But the conservation committee is still looking for money to keep the lights on.
Earlier this year, the General Assembly eliminated several community service grants that the conservation committee relied on to pay for rent, insurance and electricity. Sara Churgin, the committee’s project coordinator, said this new grant doesn’t cover those expenses.
“It shows the value that we have to the state” said Churgin. “The grant is for the state committee and the state districts, for the work that we do, so we’re very encouraged by that. But we still have a fight ahead of us to find permanent funding.”
Churgin said this new grant supports programming.
“But we still need to find something that will sustain and we will be working very hard with people in the General Assembly to find us permanent funding.”
Churgin said during the next legislative session, she will work with re-elected and newly elected state representatives to find a permanent source of money. Churgin said the state has a duty to fund the conservation committee, which was created through a state statute in the 1940s.