Toyota and the National Audubon Society share the belief that true environmental change starts at the grassroots level.

That’s why Toyota partnered with Audubon to launch TogetherGreen in 2008. TogetherGreen is a joint initiative that supports hands-on conservation projects, trains environmental leaders, and creates volunteer opportunities in communities all across the US.

An important part of TogetherGreen’s mission is engaging audiences and groups that have traditionally been under-represented in the conservation movement—and providing Innovation Grants to projects that share this goal.

For example, a North Carolina organization named Wild South is using a TogetherGreen Innovation Grant to help preserve the ecological heritage of the 17,000-acre Linville Gorge Wilderness, one of the most ruggedly beautiful areas in America.

Wild South has trained a wonderfully diverse group of volunteers – inner-city high school students, military servicemen and women, wilderness therapy groups, local Asheville residents – and has transformed them into environmental leaders and ambassadors for this project.

For more information on the 2012 Audubon & Toyota TogetherGreen Innovation Grants projects, visit www.togethergreen.org/grants.