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February 22nd 2010

Vote for Project Sprout to help transform blighted lots in New Orleans to beautiful urban gardens

Project Sprout, has an opportunity to win $25,000 that would go towards removing blight in New Orleans neighborhoods. GTECH Strategies, a partner in Project Sprout, is involved in the Pepsi Refresh project, an online voting platform whereby Pepsi is giving away $1.3 million per month to social enterprises. Right now, GTECH stands to win $50,000 in February if they can move up at least 4 spots in the rankings (they are currently ranked 14th and the top 10 get funding), and half of this money would come to New Orleans in support of Project Sprout.

Project Sprout is a joint-venture between two Echoing Green fellows from the class of 2008, Green Coast Enterprises (GCE), a New Orleans-based green real estate company, and GTECH Strategies (GTECH), a vacant land management social enterprise based in Pittsburgh, PA. Project Sprout has adapted GTECH’s innovative and successful model to the unique circumstances of New Orleans, by emphasizing vacant land reclamation and green jobs development. This model is coupled with GCE’s innovative real estate practice to create a joint venture that provides unique solutions for community revitalization.

GTECH’s bioenergy gardens grow sunflowers on local vacant lots to reduce blight, engage community, phytoremediate contaminants, and create a biofuel feedstock. This transitional strategy provides a platform for more productive vacant land use such as parks, urban food gardens, and building development. Project Sprout projects will use this premise to transition vacant land into opportunities for redevelopment in communities devastated by lack of investment.

Help us to transform blighted property throughout NOLA! Your vote can help us get over the edge. Go to the link below (up to once a day through February 28th) and please tell your networks about this project and ask them to vote as well. With your help, we can bring much needed resources to blight removal in New Orleans! Want to vote, just go to the link below.

http://www.refresheverything.com/gtech

http://www.refresheverything.com