KITCHENER - Go green -- to get green! The city's Community Environmental Improvement Grant (CEIG) program is now accepting applications from organizations, associations and groups working towards building a cleaner, healthier more environmentally sustainable Kitchener.

The deadline to submit applications is 4:30 p.m., Aug. 24.

The CEIG program was created to foster a sense of environmental stewardship throughout the city. The objectives of the program are to:

* Increase awareness of how we view and treat air, water and land resources, and encourage solutions to improve the quality of these resources;
* Promote healthy lifestyle practices;
* Foster a sense of environmental stewardship;
* Promote and initiate the development of short-term, intermediate and long-term community-based environmental programs;
* Support environmental research.

Applications will be accepted from non-profit groups, neighbourhood associations and communities of interest. A ''community of interest'' is a group of individuals who voluntarily associate with each other because they have identified common environmental concerns that impact the city. A limit may be placed on the number of grant applications considered from schools or school related entities in a given year.

The maximum grant available to any one organization is $3,000.

The 2009 CEIG applications will be presented at the environmental committee meeting on Oct. 15. Successful applicants will be notified following council ratification on Nov. 2.

Application criteria and forms are available at www.kitchener.ca/ceig