TogetherGreen Innovation Grant
TogetherGreen is an alliance between Audubon and Toyota
The Audubon Society of Greater Denver received a 2010/2011 Innovation Grant award from TogetherGreen. The TogetherGreen Innovation Grants Program supports creative and ambitious projects that engage diverse communities and find innovative solutions to environmental challenges.
ASGD is parntering with Venture Prep charter school in Denver on a project called Audubon at Home Garden 
Grows Youth Conservation Corps. Venture Prep is a public charter school that uses an innovative college-prep curriculum to prepare its students to succeed in college and in life. Venture Prep serves students in grades 6 to 12 using a project-based learning approach to teach its students the academic content and 21st-century skills they need to become the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs.
The TogetherGreen project has two parts:
1. Enhancing the native plant gardens at the Audubon Center at Chatfield and invasive plants removal
2. Creating an Audubon-at-Home Wildlife Habitat Demonstration Garden on the Venture Prep campus as a model for the local community
On April 28 & 29, 2011, students from Venture Prep visited the Audubon Center to learn about the wildlife, plants, and habitats found around the center. They also visited the bird banding station. Then, they all assisted with planting native plants in our gardens, weeding, and removing invasive plants from around the center and the ponds. We focused on pulling the following non-native plants: common mullein, thistle, and knapweed. The students worked on over 5 acres to eliminate these species!
The students returned to the Venture Prep campus to begin working on their Audubon-at-Home Wildlife Habitat Demonstration Garden in the front of the school. They used the concepts and infromation they learned during their hands-on experience at the Audubon Center. A core group of students have been selected to care for the gardens through the summer.
