The city of Wichita, Kansas is seeking a sustainability coordinator to help identify sustainability issues and help find grants to unlock resources.
Wichita’s sustainability integration board voted to implement this new position which will bring on a part-time sustainability coordinator. The new hire’s immediate focus will be water conservation as the area deals with an ongoing drought.
The move to hire someone is getting support from tree-planting advocates as they say this move is long overdue. Wichita, according to a 2022 report, 5,000 trees are removed from the city each year while only 1,600 are planted. This, plus the ongoing drought, is making for rough conditions for trees.
“The drought is hard on them,” said Elizabeth Bishop, chairman of the board for nonprofit ICT Trees. “It makes them more susceptible to disease.”
Bishop mentions that the new sustainability coordinator position will help the city look for grants and opportunities for sustainability projects.
“There is funding that is out there and available,” she said. “We’re not going after it. We’re not making the case that we need to provide that funding for our community.”