Clean River Partners Receives Grant Funding from Red Wing Shoe Company Foundation
This story was featured in the Republican Eagle
Red Wing, Minnesota—Clean River Partners, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and improving the health of the Cannon River Watershed, is thrilled to announce that it received a $2,500 grant from the Red Wing Shoe Company Foundation. This grant funding will support their ongoing efforts to promote clean water initiatives in Southeast Minnesota.
View of Red Wing from the top of He Mni Can-Barn Bluff—taken by Felicia Hokenstad.
"We are grateful for the generous support from the Red Wing Shoe Company Foundation and their commitment to our work in Red Wing and the surrounding area," said Jennifer Tonko, Executive Director of Clean River Partners. "This funding will allow us to continue connecting people to the river and each other through impactful events and initiatives, such as the Downstream Environmental Film Festival in early 2025."
The Downstream Environmental Film Festival is part of CRP’s community engagement program and an effort to raise awareness about water quality concerns using the arts. The 8th Downstream Environmental Film Festival, themed "Resilience," will take place throughout the Cannon River watershed in February and March 2025. CRP is hopeful that Red Wing will be one of those locations. This festival features local, national, and international short films that address environmental issues and bring communities together for discussion and action.
Clean River Partners hosted the 2023 Downstream Environmental Film Festival at Hobgoblin Stoney End in Red Wing—taken by Felicia Hokenstad.
As part of the film festival, CRP is seeking proposals for a short film project funded by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency as part of We Are Water MN. They hope to commission up to three non-English language short films about the Cannon River Watershed that explore one or more of the following themes: water quality and quantity, humans’ relationships to place, or other water, land, or climate health themes. They are particularly interested in films that utilize languages relevant to local communities, such as Spanish, Hmong, Dakota, and Somali. Proposals are due by Thursday, October 31 and more information is available here: https://www.cleanriverpartners.org/downstream-environmental-film-festival.
In addition to the film festival, in 2024-2025, CRP will host a watershed cleanup, several agricultural field days, and ongoing volunteer activities to protect water and land. For more information about Clean River Partners and their initiatives, please visit https://www.cleanriverpartners.org/.
About Clean River Partners
Clean River Partners (CRP) is a nonprofit organization that works with people and organizations to value, protect, and improve the Cannon River Watershed's land and water. CRP's vision is to create a community that collaboratively protects a watershed with healthy soils, drinkable groundwater, and clean, fishable, and swimmable rivers, lakes, and streams.
