Annual Awards To Improve The Health and Enjoyment Of The Quinnipiac River Top $117,000

Grants Support Research into the Sources and Effects of River Contaminants an Anti-Pollution Public Education Campaign, and the Continued Development of a Recreational Trail along the River's Edge.

New Haven, CT (March 28, 2016) – The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven is pleased to announce that $117,700 in grants has been awarded from the Quinnipiac River Fund to support 8 programs that study and restore the river and surrounding ecosystem, provide education and improve recreational access.

The Quinnipiac River is home to an array of aquatic plants and animals, as well as waterfowl like the white heron. Learn more about The Quinnipiac River at www.thequinnipiacriver.com

The River flows 40 miles from west of New Britain southward to Plainville, Southington, west of Meriden, Cheshire, through Wallingford, Yalesville, North Haven and into New Haven Harbor.

"The Quinnipiac River historically had many industries on its banks that discharged their waste, metals and chemicals into it, so it is now taking much effort to get the river clean once again," said Nancy Alderman, chair of the Quinnipiac River Fund's advisory committee. "The grants for this year will once again contribute to the ongoing work of restoring the river's health."

Grants and distributions from the Quinnipiac River Fund are recommended each Spring by the advisory committee consisting of Alderman, President of Environment and Human Health, Inc., Gordon Geballe, Associate Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and Roman Zajac, Professor, Department Chair of the University of New Haven's Department of Biology & Environmental Science. Committee recommendations are brought to The Community Foundation's Board of Directors for approval. Since being established in 1990, the Fund has distributed $2 million in grants.

Learn more about the Quinnipiac River and projects supported by the Quinnipiac River Fund, along with the history of the river and recreational opportunities at www.thequinnipiacriver.com.

The Quinnipiac River Fund is a component fund of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. It was established in 1990 by a court settlement of litigation between the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, the Natural Resource Defense Council and the Upjohn Company concerning wastewater discharges from Upjohn's plant in North Haven. The settling parties agreed that distributions from the Fund were to be used "to improve the environmental quality of the Quinnipiac River and the New Haven Harbor and the watersheds of these water bodies, and otherwise to benefit the environment of these resources."

Thanks to the generosity of three generations of donors, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven awarded over $30 million in grants and distributions in 2015 from charitable assets of more than $500 million and composed of hundreds of individually named funds. In addition to its grantmaking, The Community Foundation helps build a stronger community by taking measures to improve student achievement, create healthy families in New Haven, promote local philanthropy through www.giveGreater.org® and The Great Give®, and encourage better understanding of the region. The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven's 20 town service area includes: Ansonia, Bethany, Branford, Cheshire, Derby, East Haven, Guilford, Hamden, Madison, Milford, New Haven, North Branford, North Haven, Orange, Oxford, Seymour, Shelton, Wallingford, West Haven and Woodbridge. For more information, visit www.cfgnh.org or follow The Foundation on Facebook (www.facebook.org/cfgnh) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/cfgnh).