Sustainable Sandhills

“The governing body was afforded the opportunity to review the 990 prior to filing.”

“Written policy is reviewed annually”

“The public is able to view the tax return in the office of sustainable sandhills.”

“Air quality program (fampo) $1755 earthfest $15277 energy resilience program $1235 general program expense $339 registration fees $52 giving tuesday expense $375 go green initiative (cumberland county schools) $267 internship program $3657”

“Sustainable sandhills continued its six-year partnership with nc state university (ncsu) and its work on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (pfas) and other emerging contaminants that cause water pollution in the cape fear river. Sustainable sandhills remains the mid-cape fear river basin point-of-contact for outreach efforts regarding emerging contaminants. The organization assisted ncsu and its partners statewide with education and awareness in communities affected by water contamination and assisted ncsus genx exposure study in collecting water samples as well as publicizing study results throughout the sandhills area of interest. Sustainable sandhills executive director and board chair also served on the studys community science advisory panel. Sustainable sandhills also continued its role as manager of the regional air quality program for the fayetteville area metropolitan planning organization (fampo). One of the programs highlights in fy24 was the fifth annual sandhills drive electric car show. Over 25 electric vehicle owners, between 150-200 event attendees and several community agencies including local utility providers and fampo participated. Sustainable sandhills collaborated with the nc department of health and human services (nc dhhs) on their building resilience against climate effects (brace) program and served as a member on the climate resilience task force. The organization worked with vulnerable populations in four counties to increase awareness about and to mitigate the adverse public health impacts of heat and wildfire/prescribed burn smoke. Sustainable sandhills increased program capacity in the region by providing cooling stations during the extreme high heat days. Sustainable sandhills conducted community outreach and awareness campaigns on heat, smoke and flood mitigation in the sandhills area of operation throughout the year. Sustainable sandhills provided direct support to the city of fayetteville to address litter, illegal dumping, and recycling in the city in fy23. The organizations dedicated team member working directly with, the city developed and implemented numerous projects to combat waste management issues including a reverse litter campaign, a series of volunteer-based litter collection events, an electronic waste drive and a recycling education plan. Efforts have resulted in a marked decrease in the litter index in the city of fayetteville. Over the year, sustainable sandhills maintained its community partnerships to increase and expand support to the city of fayetteville waste management goals and objectives throughout the sandhills region. This effort resulted in removing 30 tons of trash from the from the local community that did not enter creeks, and rivers as storm debris. Sustainable sandhills continued the go green initiative partnership with cumberland county schools to evaluate energy use, identify strategies to decrease waste, and incorporating sustainable principles in educational programs. The go green initiative director provided by sustainable sandhills facilitates conserving natural and fiscal resources and serves as a resource for each schools green team leader and green teams. Sustainable sandhills also provided support to several regional projects including community engagement, attending neighborhood watch meetings, assisting and writing grant proposals for the city of fayetteville, cumberland county schools, and the fayetteville area metropolitan planning organization.”