Deadline: 30-Jul-21
The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation is seeking applications for the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program to provide new or significantly improve recreation opportunities for economically disadvantaged communities in densely populated urban areas that are under-served in terms of parks and other outdoor recreation resources.
Purposes
The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to advise local units of government, and federally-recognized Indian Tribes of the availability of funds for grants from the Land and Water Conservation Fund’s (LWCF) Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP) Program. The purpose of the LWCF ORLP Program is to provide grants to acquire and/or develop public lands for outdoor recreation purposes consistent with the purposes of the LWCF, but with the further specific goals of funding projects that:
- are located within or serve an Urbanized Area (population of 50,000 or more) as designated by the Census Bureau from the 2010 Census (note that American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands do not have any such areas), and
- are located in or are directly accessible to neighborhoods or communities that are underserved in terms of parks and recreation resources and where there are significant populations of people who are economically disadvantaged.
Priorities
The competition will prioritize the selection of projects that will directly connect people to outdoor places, and that:
- serve communities that are underserved in terms of number of parks and other outdoor recreation areas and have significant numbers of individuals who are economically disadvantaged;
- create short-term and/or permanent jobs;
- help stimulate local economic development;
- engage and empower members of the affected community in the development of the project;
- create or expand public-private partnerships;
- benefit from a high degree of coordination among the public, multiple levels of government, and the private sector, to improve recreation opportunities for all; and
- advance goals of, or meet, priority recreation needs identified in the state’s SCORP and other local, regional, state plans and/or initiatives.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Funding: $ 150,000,000
- Maximum Award: $ 5,000,000
- Minimum Award: $ 300,000
- Expected Number of Awards: 75
Eligibility Criteria
- State governments
- Each state has a lead agency designated by the State’s Governor or by state legislation for the purposes of implementing LWCF in that state, and only the lead agency can be an applicants for an LWCF grant. Therefore, only the state lead agencies are eligible to submit applications for ORLP grants. The lead agency may submit on behalf of themselves or another eligible subrecipient. For the purposes of this competition, “states” includes only the 50 U.S. States plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, although eligible for LWCF grants generally, do not have any Census-designated Urbanized Areas).
- Applications submitted directly by entities other than the State lead agency, will be eliminated without consideration. Individuals, nonprofit organizations, and other private entities are not eligible as applicants or sub-recipients.
- Eligible sub-recipients (aka project sponsors) include state agencies, local units of government (state political subdivisions such as cities, counties, and special purpose districts such as park districts), and federally-recognized Indian Tribes.
For more information, visit https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/recreational-planning/lwcf