I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2222 

To direct the Secretary of Commerce to make grants for programs promoting 

community greening initiatives, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 30, 2009 

Ms. SCHWARTZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined 

by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 

within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Commerce to make grants for 

programs promoting community greening initiatives, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Green Communities 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES; DEFINITIONS. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Landscaping adds to the economic value 

2 and sales appeal of commercial real estate and in3 creases office occupancy rates. 

4 (2) Greening can change people’s perceptions of 

5 their neighborhoods, reduce violence and crime, and 

6 increase neighborhood stability. 

7 (3) Planting new trees, improving streetscapes, 

8 and cleaning vacant lots increases property values. 

9 (4) People will stay longer and shop more in 

10 shopping districts that are well landscaped. 

11 (5) Improvements to neighborhood parks in12 crease the value of single-family homes in the sur13 rounding community. 

14 (6) Homes adjacent to vacant lots that are 

15 greened have a much higher property value than 

16 homes adjacent to vacant lots that have not been 

17 greened. 

18 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to— 

19 (1) promote investment in greening projects 

20 and programs as effective economic development 

21 tools; 

22 (2) connect urban economic development initia23 tives with environmental initiatives; 

24 (3) improve quality of life for city residents; 

25 and 


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1 (4) encourage public-private partnerships. 

2 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

3 (1) COMMUNITY GREENING INITIATIVES.—The 

4 term ‘‘community greening initiatives’’ means pro5 grams increasing economic development through en6 vironmental improvements. 

7 (2) ELIGIBLE NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.—The 

8 term ‘‘eligible nonprofit organization’’ means a non9 profit organization that receives a grant under sec10 tion 4. 

11 (3) ELIGIBLE PROGRAM PARTNER.—The term 

12 ‘‘eligible program partner’’ means a municipality 

13 that receives a grant under section 3. 

14 (4) GREEN ROOF.—The term ‘‘green roof’’ 

15 means a roof consisting of vegetation and soil or a 

16 growing medium planted over a waterproofing mem17 brane. 

18 (5) GREEN STORMWATER INFRASTRUCTURE.— 

19 The term ‘‘green stormwater infrastructure’’ means 

20 systems and practices that use or mimic natural 

21 processes to infiltrate, evapotranspirate, or reuse 

22 stormwater on the site where it occurs rather than 

23 transporting the water to a stream or treatment fa24 cility. 


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1 (6) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.—The term 

2 ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an organization that 

3 is described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Rev4 enue Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under sec5 tion 501(a) of such Code. 

6 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

7 the Secretary of Commerce. 

8 (8) URBAN FORESTRY.—The term ‘‘urban for9 estry’’ means an integrated citywide or neighbor10 hood-wide approach to the planting, care, and man11 agement of trees in the city or the neighborhood in 

12 order to ensure environmental and social benefits for 

13 residents. 

14 SEC. 3. INITIATIVES FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND 

15 GREENING. 

16 (a) GRANT AUTHORITY.—To the extent funds are 

17 available, the Secretary, through the Economic Develop18 ment Administration, shall make grants to municipalities 

19 for promoting community greening initiatives. 

20 (b) SELECTION OF ELIGIBLE PROGRAM PART21 NERS.—The Secretary, in consultation with the eligible 

22 nonprofit organizations, shall select 80 municipalities to 

23 receive grants under this section. The Secretary shall en24 sure that the municipalities meet— 


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1 (1) the criteria described by section 209(b) of 

2 the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 

3 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3149(b)); or 

4 (2) the circumstances described by section 

5 209(c) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 3149(c)). 

6 (c) COMMUNITY GREENING INITIATIVES.—An eligi7 ble program partner, with technical assistance and train8 ing from an eligible nonprofit organization as provided 

9 under section 4(b), shall develop and plan a community 

10 greening initiative. Such initiatives may include— 

11 (1) revitalizing municipal parks and public 

12 spaces; 

13 (2) landscaping community gateways and key 

14 corridors; 

15 (3) tree plantings and urban forestry projects; 

16 (4) comprehensive planning for open space 

17 preservation; 

18 (5) education, training, and volunteer manage19 ment concerning community green initiatives; 

20 (6) green roof construction; 

21 (7) green stormwater infrastructure; or 

22 (8) vacant lot management. 

23 (d) IMPLEMENTING INITIATIVES.— 

24 (1) COMPLETION OF DEVELOPING AND PLAN25 NING.—The Secretary may make a grant under this 


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1 section only to an eligible program partner that has 

2 successfully developed and planned a community 

3 greening initiative under subsection (c), as deter4 mined by the Secretary. 

5 (2) USE OF FUNDS.—Grants under this section 

6 shall be used by an eligible program partner to im7 plement the community greening initiative developed 

8 under subsection (c). An eligible program partner 

9 may not receive a grant under this section for a 

10 community greening initiative that takes more than 

11 2 years to complete. 

12 (3) GRANT AMOUNT.—The Secretary may not 

13 award a grant under this section in an amount that 

14 is more than $2,000,000. 

15 (4) MATCHING FUNDS.—An eligible program 

16 partner receiving a grant under this section shall 

17 provide, either directly or through private contribu18 tions, non-Federal matching funds equal to not less 

19 than 50 percent of the amount of the grant. Such 

20 matching funds shall be used for implementing a 

21 community greening initiative. 

22 (5) REPORT.—Not later than 60 days after an 

23 eligible program partner implements a community 

24 greening initiative, the eligible nonprofit organiza25 tion that assisted the eligible program partner under 


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1 subsection (c) shall submit to the Secretary a report 

2 assessing the implementation of the initiative. 

3 SEC. 4. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING BY ELIGI4 BLE NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS. 

5 (a) SELECTION OF ELIGIBLE NONPROFIT ORGANIZA6 TIONS.—To the extent funds are available, the Secretary 

7 shall make grants to, or enter into contracts with, 5 non8 profit organizations to provide technical assistance and 

9 training to eligible program partners. The Secretary shall 

10 select nonprofit organizations that have experience with— 

11 (1) planning and implementing projects con12 cerning urban open space, landscape management, 

13 and community greening initiatives; 

14 (2) land and water conservation; 

15 (3) working on the community level; 

16 (4) forming partnerships or regional consor17 tiums; 

18 (5) urban ecology; and 

19 (6) other activities the Secretary considers ap20 propriate. 

21 (b) TECHNICAL TRAINING AND ASSISTANCE.—In ac22 cordance with section 3(c), eligible nonprofit organizations 

23 shall provide eligible program partners with technical as24 sistance and training for the following activities: 


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1 (1) Developing, planning, implementing, and as2 sessing community greening initiatives. 

3 (2) Developing and implementing training and 

4 workshops for municipal agencies and local partners. 

5 (3) Evaluating the community greening initia6 tive. 

7 (c) PERIOD.—A grant or agreement under this sec8 tion shall be for a period of 5 years. 

9 (d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 90 days 

10 after the end of each fiscal year for which amounts are 

11 made available for grants under this section, the Secretary 

12 shall submit to Congress a report on the technical assist13 ance and training provided under this section. Each report 

14 shall describe the actions taken by the Secretary to ensure 

15 that technical assistance and training is responsive to the 

16 needs of eligible program partners. 

17 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro19 priated to carry out this Act— 

20 (1) $30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010, 

21 2013, and 2014; and 

22 (2) $90,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 

23 and 2012. 

24 (b) RESERVATION OF FUNDS.— 

25 (1) ELIGIBLE NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.— 


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1 (A) Not less than 85 percent of the 

2 amounts made available to carry out this Act 

3 for each of fiscal years 2010, 2013, and 2014 

4 shall be made available for technical assistance 

5 and training by eligible nonprofit organizations 

6 under section 4. 

7 (B) Not less than 28 percent of the 

8 amounts made available to carry out this Act 

9 for each of fiscal years 2011 and 2012 shall be 

10 made available for technical assistance and 

11 training by eligible nonprofit organizations 

12 under section 4. 

13 (2) ELIGIBLE PROGRAM PARTNERS.—Not less 

14 than 66 percent of the amounts made available to 

15 carry out this Act for each of fiscal years 2011 and 

16 2012 shall be made available for the planning, devel17 oping, and implementing of community greening ini18 tiatives by eligible program partners under section 3. 

19 (c) AVAILABILITY OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Funds 

20 made available under this Act shall remain available until 

21 expended. 

Æ 


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