- Program seeks new applicants as it celebrates 10 years of community impact
The Syngenta RTP Community Grant Program is celebrating 10 years of providing valuable support that has helped address important needs in the community pertaining to agriculture and STEM (Science Technology Engineering & Math) including education, hunger relief, nutrition, and water and land conservation.
Over the past 10 years, the RTP Community Grant Program has distributed approximately $222,500 in funding to local organizations engaged in initiatives such as community gardens, food pantries, STEM programs, lake cleanup, land conservation, and agriculture education programs
As the program begins receiving applications from organizations for grants to support projects for the coming year, Fisher Stines, chairman of the RTP Community Grant Program, says it’s exciting to look back at the impact the program has had, and the potential for it to continue to provide critical support for charitable and civic causes.
“The Syngenta RTP Community Grant Program strives to provide meaningful funding to not-for-profit programs in our communities that help further the understanding and advancement of agriculture and its role in feeding a growing population while protecting the environment,” says Stines, Syngenta Scientist in Reproductive Biology. “Our vision is to reach out to and support as many community organizations as possible to achieve this worthwhile goal.”
A Lunch-and-Learn meeting was held at the Syngenta RTP Innovation Center on May 15 to celebrate the program’s 10th anniversary and kick off the new application year. The event also provided an opportunity to recognize 6 grant winners from the previous year and how their project funding impacted the community.
Among last year’s grant winners recognized were:
- Holly Springs Food Cupboard – Community gardens that consists of approximately 4,200 square feet of vegetable, fruit and herb production. The grant helped address production losses stemming from changing weather patterns by providing an efficient and flexible irrigation system to reduce thenegative impacts of hand watering, reduce volunteer work time and increase total garden production.
- Urban Community AgriNomics (UCAN) – Funds helped expand the YouthCan Garden and Outdoor Classroom for the program, which addresses the knowledge, skills, and engagement of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous People of Color) middle schoolers, ages 12 through 15, who traditionally have experienced limited opportunities to participate in the field of agriculture, conservation and gardening.
- Piedmont Conservation Council – Funds supported two STEM workshops in Orange and Chatham counties that engaged diverse groups of youth from under resourced communities in water quality and stream health assessment projects, as well as education and conservation efforts.
Last year, over 40 organizations completed applications for Syngenta RTP Community Grants. The 2025 grant cycle for the Syngenta RTP Community Grant Program closes on May 31, and decisions regarding the grants will be announced on July 1.
“At Syngenta, we are proud of the 12 team members at our RTP facility who serve on the RTP Community Grant Committee and we welcome the opportunity that we have as an organization to help meet the increasing demand for food and science education, both globally and locally,” says Charlie Baxter, Head Global Seeds R&D Traits and Syngenta RTP Innovation Center Site Lead.
Information about the Community Grant Program and the application to submit a proposal is available at https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/dc7e68e5fc7c4aaa8378ac08d644dd55
Syngenta RTP Community Grant Program committee members and previous grant recipients who attended arecent Lunch-and-Learn meeting celebrating the program’s 10th year.Media Contacts
Linda Arnold Whaley
Linda.arnoldwhaley@syngenta.com
Scott Mcclure
Scott.mcclure@brightonagency.com
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