Trim Grant 2014 Awarded

This year the City of Cool Valley was one of 12, 24:1 Area Municipalities to receive An award of up to $10,000 from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) through its Tree Resource Improvement Resource and Maintenance (TRIM) cost-share grant program.  Beyond Housing responsible for writing grants collaborating with 10 of the 12 municipalities.

As a result, up to $70,000 is available to be invested in the following communities 10 municipalities -  Bellerive Acres, Cool Valley, Glen Echo Park, Hanley Hills, Pagedale, Pine Lawn, Upland Park, Velda Village Hills, Vinita Park, and Vinita Terrace.  MDC funds are matched with recipient funds improve trees in the community, resulting in a total investment of close to $100,000.  This is a competitive grant that helps communities provide safe and healthy trees. Investments in trees provide lasting improvements in cleaning the air, soil and water.

This is the second year that these 10 communities have received such a grant.  Last year, Beyond Housing received a collaborative Tree Trim grant of $25,000 that paid for professional tree inventories for all 10 of these communities.  By contracting the work together, the group estimated close to 40% in savings compared to what similar municipalities paid in recent years.  The participating municipalities anticipate jointly bidding the work to make their dollars go farther.