Scotts Miracle-Gro, U.S. mayors partner for more urban green space

Green spaces have enormous benefits for cities: preventing stormwater runoff, beautifying cities, and helping the economy.

Scotts Miracle-Gro and the U.S. Conference of Mayors have partnered to bring more green spaces to cities to help them reap these benefits.

It's part of a larger initiative by Scotts Miracle-Gro to partner with organizations that are working on water quality and supply issues. Scotts Miracle-Gro will award grants to cities to help them develop public gardens and green space, in addition to creating materials to help educate communities on water quality and conservation issues.

"There are benefits that only gardens can provide, and we are honored to partner with mayors across the nation to improve their communities and enhance our environment," said Scotts Miracle-Gro CEO Jim Hagedorn. "There are more than one million community gardens in America, and participation in this activity grows every year. For more than a decade, we have partnered with national organizations to help increase community access to gardens and green spaces. We look forward to now joining with the USCM to develop model green space initiatives and gardens that bring communities together."

It's a timely partnership as cities around the country, like Philadelphia, Milwaukee and others, are looking for ways to clean up their water supply and prevent the contamination of rivers and lakes through stromwater runoff.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors, the official organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more, recently adopted a number of resolution that call the 1,210 mayors that represent the conference to develop, grow and maintain edible gardens in parks, city hall land, and municipal community gardens.

Photo: WanderingtheWorld/Flickr

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com