Deadline: 13-Mar-25
The Laura Jane Musser Fund is pleased to announce the Environmental Initiative to assist public or not-for-profit entities to initiate or implement projects that enhance the ecological integrity of publicly owned open spaces, while encouraging compatible human activities.
The Fund’s goal is to promote public use of open space that improves a community’s quality of life and public health, while also ensuring the protection of healthy, viable and sustainable ecosystems by protecting or restoring habitat for a diversity of plant and animal species.
A Community-Based approach with broad and active local stakeholder participation in both planning and implementation stages of projects concerning the environmental preservation and sustainable use of public open spaces. It has been the experience that projects designed through this process have a greater chance of acceptance and lasting success.
Funding Information
- Funds will be available for:
- Planning (up to $8,000) Planning grant applications must demonstrate commitment to a broad-based, active community process for the design and use of local publicly-owned open spaces.
- Implementation (Up to $35,000) Implementation grant applications must demonstrate clear evidence of local community active participation and support.
- Projects will be eligible for either planning or implementation funds during any one grant period.
Eligible Projects
- Priority is placed on projects that:
- Focus both on protecting/restoring a sustainable ecosystem and promoting public access to and use of the defined open space
- Involve active participation of local community members, with a particular appreciation for volunteer and youth engagement
- Take Place in a defined public open space
- Contain measurable outcomes within the first 12-18 months.
Geographic Focus
- Only programs in Colorado, Hawaii, Minnesota, Wyoming, and limited counties in New York, North Carolina, and Texas may apply.
- Eligible counties in New York include: Delaware, Greene, Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan, and Ulster.
- Eligible counties in North Carolina are located in the Mountains Region: Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Clay, Cherokee, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey.
- Eligible counties in Texas are located in the Rio Grande River Valley (Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, and Willacy counties), Deep East Texas (Angelina, Houston, Jasper, Nacogdoches, Newton, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Trinity, and Tyler counties), and the Brazos Valley (Brazos, Burleson, Grimes, Leon, Madison, Robertson, and Washington counties).
Eligibility Criteria
- Nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations (organizations with fiscal sponsors are not eligible)
- Local units of Government
Ineligibility Criteria
- They will not fund:
- Building or repair of parking lots, driveways, or other facilities for auto use.
- Designing, constructing or repairing buildings located in public open spaces.
- Projects requesting funds for land acquisition costs.
- Advocacy
For more information, visit Laura Jane Musser Fund.