Ann Arbor honors local climate action heroes, awards grants to community groups

ANN ARBOR — Mayor Christopher Taylor and City Administrator Milton Dhoni led the A2Zero climate awards ceremony at the Michigan Theater, where the City of Ann Arbor recognized individual climate action "heroes," announced Sustaining Ann Arbor Together grant recipients and honored local businesses that completed the city's Green Business Challenge.

"Our A20 plan is our plan to accomplish communitywide carbon neutrality through just and equitable means," Taylor said, describing past and recent funding steps that enabled the city's climate work, including a 2017 resolution that allocated roughly $1 million per year for climate actions, a 2022 voter-approved climate mill that provides about $9 million a year for implementation, and a 2024 municipal sustainable energy utility pilot now active in the Bryant neighborhood.

The ceremony recognized a range of honorees. Individual climate action heroes included Annie Broadick, who teaches master composting classes; Ken Winter, who leads the SunZero initiative in the Sunward co-housing community; a Vaduba family team honored for neighborhood and school-based resilience work; Jeff Jackson of Happy Planet Running; Chris Olsen, long-time watershed and community advocate; and student leaders Zippy Meman and Sophia Taylor of the University of Michigan Zero Waste Club.

Jeff Jackson described his organization's zero-waste race model and shared detailed recent results: "Dexter and Arbor Run hosted just under 4,000 runners. We collected 1,768 pounds of waste, of which 1,758 pounds were recycled or composted and only one bag of 10 pounds went to the landfill," he said, adding that reusable cups kept an estimated 30,000 disposables out of the waste stream.

Dr. Missy Staltz, director of the Ann Arbor Office of Sustainability and Innovation, outlined the Sustaining Ann Arbor Together (SA2T) grant program and its purpose: providing up to $10,000 to neighborhood groups and nonprofits for community-scale sustainability projects. The city presented awards to multiple projects, including:

- SunBundle: $7,500 to refurbish and distribute athletic footwear and wellness "bundles" to under-resourced youth and communities.
- Ann Arbor Joy Rides / Walk Bike Washington: $10,000 to buy a specialized e-bike for the Cycling Without Age program to expand cycling access for older adults and people with limited mobility.
- Forest Brook Athletic Club: $10,000 to reinstall rain gardens to manage stormwater and protect the adjacent Swift Run Creek.
- The Neutral Zone: $10,000 to support youth climate leadership, a mural project and planned rain-garden installation at Homes Elementary.
- Freeman Environmental Center: $4,300 for a youth-led idling-reduction campaign in partnership with Ann Arbor Public Schools.
- House into Home: nearly $5,000 to expand its recycling and home-furnishing pipeline for households transitioning from homelessness; the presenter reported the organization assisted 432 homes (917 people) last year, celebrated furnishing its 2,000th home this year and collected 22 tons of goods during campus move-outs.

The ceremony also highlighted the Green Business Challenge, a city program with bronze-to-platinum certification across categories such as energy, water, circular economy and mobility. SmithGroup was recognized for its GBC certification, and Come On, Betty (founder Caitlyn Burr) received the first platinum certification under the A2 program, with Burr encouraging food-waste reduction and community participation in A2 events.

Speakers emphasized civic participation and practical actions: Chris Olsen urged residents to contact elected officials and join civic organizations to advance climate work, while student and business awardees described local programs that scale composting, reuse and event waste-diversion practices.

The ceremony closed with Mayor Taylor inviting awardees to return to the stage for a group photograph and brief acknowledgments from staff. The program underscored the city's combined approach of municipal funding, neighborhood grants and private-sector participation to advance its A20 carbon-neutrality goals.

Next steps: the sustainable energy utility pilot will expand citywide after its Bryant neighborhood launch; SA2T grantees will begin or continue projects in the coming months as outlined by their awardees.