2012-2013 Maathai Award for Civic Participation in Sustainability

The Maathai Award for Civic Participation in Sustainability, inaugurated by The Rockefeller Foundation, The Bette Midler Family Trust, and MillionTreesNYC, is an annual $10,000 cash award granted to one female and one male New York City public high school senior. The award was established in honor of Dr. Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize (2004), a visionary environmentalist, and founder of the Green Belt Movement, a tree-planting campaign to promote sustainable development, woman's empowerment, and democracy in Kenya.

Application Criteria and Eligibility*

Applicants must:

• Be a senior in NYC public school intending to attend college in fall 2013
• Demonstrate commitment to and activity in civic engagement
• Demonstrate commitment to and activity in sustainability projects
• Provide evidence of having completed a sustainability project in high school that shows evidence of leadership, commitment to sustainability, mobilization of others

The award is intended to be used by the student for their first year of college.

The Maathai Award for Civic Participation in Sustainability is administered by The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS). Applications can be submitted starting September, 2012. Deadline for submissions is January 4, 2013 (5pm). Visit MAS to view the complete application form and requirements. If you have any questions, please email maathai@mas.org.

*Please see application for full list of eligibility criteria.

We encourage you to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity and wish you all the best with the application process. To continue to honor Dr. Maathai’s legacy, you can participate in the Wangari Maathai Volunteer Planting Day. To learn more and to register, please visit our planting day page.

Learn About Dr. Maathai and The Green Belt Movement

For over 30 years, Dr. Wangari Maathai has inspired the work of The Green Belt Movement, which has had a profound impact on the populations and ecology of Kenya. Get a taste for Dr. Maathai's work by viewing the exerpt below from the documentary "Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai" by Lisa Merton and Alan Dater.