The parent-led BFEF Green Team was first established in 2010 when parents began hand watering the few trees that were on campus but not being irrigated. After fundraising, the Green Team was able to plant a few more trees on campus that also needed to be hand watered not only during the school year but also during the summer months. These tree plantings were followed by the successful creation of The Sprouts Learning Garden and the addition of a gardening program for all students led by a Master Gardener hired with funds raised by the newly-formed Benjamin Franklin Elementary Foundation (BFEF). Even with all these welcome additions to the campus, it was still difficult to mitigate the "heat island" effects on the school and community due to over 30,000 square feet of heat-absorbing black asphalt that covered the entire playground.

In 2010, parents Gillian Bonacci, Hilary Stern and Rebecca Gray heard about  Proposition 84 and decided to attend a seminar to see if a school could apply to receive an Urban Greening Grant . These three parents researched, wrote and submitted a grant application in close collaboration with GUSD, FASO, the City of Glendale, North East Trees and NAC Architecture.

Franklin Elementary was awarded a one million dollar greening grant in 2011!

After five years and countless hours of design and planning, ground was broken on the Urban Greening Grant project on the Franklin campus during the summer of 2017. Approximately 45,000 square feet of asphalt was replaced with permeable surfaces, bioswales and rain gardens to slow stormwater runoff, living fences, and bermed garden areas with over 70 California native trees and over 2,500 California Native plants.

Click here to view an architectural presentation on Franklin's campus upgrades and new building (built in 2016).

Franklin’s four-acre campus is now a thriving ecosystem with pollinator friendly plants, providing nectar, seeds and berries throughout the year for our butterflies, bees, hummingbirds and song birds. Franklin is even a wayfair station for the endangered Monarch butterfly! With huge patches of native California Showy Leaf Milkweed (Ascelepias speciosa) and Narrow Leaf Milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis) popping up throughout our campus each April for Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on and Monarch caterpillars to feast upon, and nectar sources throughout, we see Monarchs fluttering about campus for much of the year. The students love searching for caterpillars!

Today, under the terms of the grant, BFEF and GUSD are entrusted to care for this investment for the next 15 years.

BFEF is responsible for maintaining the native plants. This includes: mulching, reporting any issues (with watering, etc.), pruning, weeding, weaving vines into the fencing, replacing plants and continuing to develop the plantings. We work on flexible schedules - after drop-off, after school, on weekends. 

Whenever you want to help, we need you: we provide all tools and materials, plus nifty Green Team shirts!