Green Bay accepts $1,000 Cellcom grant to fund native-plant giveaway

The council voted Tuesday to accept a $1,000 Cellcom Green Gifts grant to support a free native-plant kit giveaway run by the Green Bay Conservation Corps. Director (name not stated) told the council the grant award notification arrived recently and that the funds will primarily pay for yard signs to promote the program.

The director said the city previously secured $3,850 from the Natural Resources Foundation (listed in the packet as CD, Bessecony Conservation Fund), and that the two grants together total $4,850, which will fund the entire giveaway initiative. "We were recently notified that we were awarded that $1,000 grant," the director said.

Councilmembers moved and seconded acceptance of the Cellcom award; the motion passed by voice vote. The council did not identify additional fundraising needs for the program during the discussion and did not attach conditions to the acceptance.

The program is presented as a civic outreach and conservation effort to distribute native-plant kits to residents; the director said the funds are targeted to promotion (yard signs) and that packet materials include program graphics and logistics. The council did not set an implementation date during the meeting.

The council moved on after the vote to other agenda items; staff will complete any required grant-acceptance paperwork and process the funds through city grant procedures.