Deadline: 7-Mar-24
The Chesapeake Bay Trust is seeking grant proposals from a wide range of applicants to plant trees in urban, underserved communities.
The Urban Trees Grant Program, called for by the Maryland General Assembly as a component of a 5,000,000-tree goal by 2031, welcomes requests for tree planting projects in urban, underserved communities.
The goal of the Urban Trees Grant Program is to green communities; enhance quality of life, human health, and community livability by improving air quality and reducing urban heat island effect; and mitigate some of the effects of climate change. Improving tree quantity and quality in urban areas is a cost-effective way to improve the health of local waterways, strengthen the health of the Chesapeake Bay, provide urban wildlife habitat, help mitigate flooding issues in certain cases, and stimulate local green jobs markets and enable families to work where they live and play. This initiative will empower communities that have felt disenfranchised to gain better access to resources that support local improvements.
Increasing urban tree canopy can also strengthen communities by bringing residents together to create and maintain community green space and walkable neighborhoods.
Funding Information
- There is no maximum request; however, requests will generally be at the following scales:
- Up to $15,000 for projects serving a single small neighborhood (on the order of 25 to 100 trees)
- Up to $45,000 for projects serving multiple neighborhoods within a community (on the order of 75 to 300 trees)
- Up to $200,000 for projects serving multiple communities (on the order of 300 to 1,000 trees)
- Up to $1,000,000 for projects serving communities across an entire county-scale (on the order of 2,000 to 6,000 trees)
Duration
- In most cases, the implementation phase of projects (tree project phase) will be completed within 12 months upon receipt of the award, with 2 years of maintenance required beyond the implementation, leading to 3- year award durations. They recommend (but do not require) fall planting, when possible, to maximize survivorship.
Eligible Project Property Types
- Tree planting projects can occur on sites including, but not limited to:
- Streets and Right of Way projects – Street Tree Projects
- Vacant Lots – Greening Vacant Lots by planting trees
- Institutional Grounds, such as, but not limited to, faith, education, or health institutions
- Other types of public or private property – Open Space
- Proposed trees to be planted must not be required as mitigation for new or re-development, regulatory offset, or for any other regulatory reason.
Eligibility Criteria
- Funding Partners and the Trust welcome requests from non-profit organizations, schools, community associations; service, youth, and civic groups; institutions of higher education; counties; municipalities; and forest conservancy district boards and neighborhood/community associations (as per statute).
- Also as per statute, grant applications from qualified organizations located in the underserved areas where the proposed tree planting projects will be implemented will be prioritized.
For more information, visit Chesapeake Bay Trust.