The City of Vancouver and Vancouver Foundation today announced the 17 recipients of the 2012 Community Grants from the Greenest City Fund, who will receive a total of $391,500 in funding.

Co-funded by the City and the Foundation, the Community Grants are part of the Greenest City Fund — a four-year, $2 million fund that supports community-led green projects in Vancouver.

“We invited local organizations to come up with their best ideas on how to help make Vancouver the greenest city in the world by 2020,” said Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. “These grants are designed to support community-based organizations that are working towards Greenest City goals.

“And today, at Vancouver Technical Secondary School, along with Fresh Roots Urban Farm Society, we are kicking off one of 17 such projects around the city. With a grant of $35,000, students at ‘Van Tech’ and David Thompson Secondary will develop schoolyard market gardens that will serve as outdoor classrooms for students and teachers, and provide produce to go into school cafeterias to provide healthy, nutritious lunches for fellow students.

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Statement from Mayor Robertson on TED Conference coming to Vancouver:

The world-renowned TED Conference moving to Vancouver is great news for our tourism industry and validation of our work to make our city a world leader in sustainability and innovation.

TED talks are known around the world for being a source of inspiration, innovation and an opportunity to rethink some of our most pressing challenges. Millions of people watch the talks in person and online. Having the TED organizers choose Vancouver as their new home is a big vote of confidence in the creative entrepreneurs, social innovators and community leaders who make Vancouver a leading-edge city.

The City is proud to have excellent partners in the Canadian Tourism Commission, Tourism Vancouver and the Vancouver Convention Centre that worked hard to support the TED Conference coming to Vancouver. We will work with TED and our sponsors to ensure the conference is a success and that we enable a variety of spin-off events to capitalize on being the host city. We look forward to welcoming TED here in 2014 and showing them everything Vancouver has to offer.

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 The City of Vancouver today launched an $800,000 city-wide pilot project that will bring electric vehicle charging stations to diverse locations around Vancouver, thanks to investments from the Governments of Canada and British Columbia, BC Hydro, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the City itself.

The Charge and Go Vancouver Trial will see the installation of up to 67 Level I (110V) and Level II(240V) electric vehicle (EV) charging stations throughout the city by the end of 2013, helping to accelerate the use of plug-in EVs in Vancouver. These will provide motorists with significantly more charging options than currently exist and will enhance the local EV charging network.

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 Good morning, and welcome. And a very special welcome to those of you coming here from beyond Metro Vancouver.

 We’re all grateful to the Coast Salish First Nations, in whose traditional territory we’re gathered today, for their generous hospitality.

I want to thank Chancellor Taylor and Chris Gailus for presiding over our Summit today.

Most of all, I want to thank each of you for joining us for two very busy days and for taking on the challenge of city-building.

And I want to take just a few minutes this morning to talk with you about that challenge. Because we’re only now coming to realize just how enormous it is.

City-building — sustainable, long-term city-building — is one of the most significant challenges we’ve ever faced. I don’t just mean in this generation. But ever.

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