Deadline: 23-Oct-2024
The River Network is excited to announce a funding opportunity for community-based nonprofit organizations for planning and implementing small community forestry projects in disadvantaged communities.
River Network will serve as a national pass-through partner of the Forest Service, providing funding and technical assistance for community-based nonprofit organizations to plan and carry out forestry projects that build the community’s abilities and resilience.
Priorities
- The Rooting Resilience program will prioritize:
- Work rooted in community. This includes work proposed by and with support from Tribal or disadvantaged community members who understand, based on lived experience, what approaches will work best for their area.
- Entities or organizations that are seeking federal pass-through funding for the first time and/or have limited experience receiving charitable funds or grants.
- Projects that clearly demonstrate the benefits of their proposed activities to their community and their local trees.
- The Rooting Resilience Program will fund small-scale forestry projects that support equitable climate resilience in disadvantaged communities that are often the most impacted by climate change. River Network will prioritize community-led projects that improve the condition of the tree canopy in order to address the challenges of flooding and erosion, extreme heat, community health concerns (such as asthma or heart disease), and/or increase access to green jobs through forestry. Program funding is meant to provide support for organizations and communities that are on the frontlines of climate change impacts and may not have received federal funding before.
Funding levels
- Grant funding is available at two levels:
- Seedling Projects
- Awards of $75,000
- Support for the planning and implementation of smaller-scale urban and community forestry projects for 1-3 years.
- Projects at this scale will likely be most effective proposing work at a single site or several small sites. Projects should also include activities that build people’s skills and abilities to lay the foundation for future forestry work.
- Sapling Projects
- Awards of $75,000-$200,000
- Support for the planning and implementation of slightly larger-scale projects for 1-3 years. Grant requests at this level can support planning activities, such as completing engineering or designs, securing necessary permits, conducting community engagement, or developing a workforce development curriculum. Projects could also focus on the implementation of tree planting activities, tree maintenance, or the deployment of a workforce development program.
- Seedling Projects
Duration
- 1–3-year period.
Eligible Projects
- Eligible projects, at both funding levels, include but are not limited to the following examples:
- Urban and Community Forestry Planning and Implementation
- Planning and carrying out tree plantings as stand-alone projects or as part of larger green infrastructure projects;
- Integration of tree planting and/or tree care into watershed, climate resilience or other planning efforts;
- Community or volunteer-based tree inventories or programs to monitor tree/forest health;
- Incorporating tree plantings into existing greenways, parks and water trails, projects that support community health;
- Initiating partnerships with public health professionals and organizations to assess and mitigate extreme heat or air quality concerns in a neighborhood through trees;
- Tree care and maintenance including the removal of invasive species or hazardous tree removal, tree watering or the installation of tree protection;
- Urban and Community Forestry Education and Outreach
- Projects that build community support for trees, forests and green spaces through public programming, education campaigns, and volunteer opportunities;
- Support for the creation of grassroots, volunteer-led tree distribution and care program;
- Projects that provide educational activities for youth on the many benefits of trees and foster the next generation of tree stewards;
- Projects that increase languages that educational materials are provided in and American with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility of educational materials related to trees and urban forestry;
- Projects that build trust with disadvantaged communities by engaging residents in all steps of a tree-planting project, from selecting priority areas of where to plant trees to ways of measuring success.
- Urban and Community Forestry Workforce Development
- Projects that establish or expand existing workforce development, job training, and youth training programs to include tree planting and maintenance activities.
- Support for expanded recruitment and access to workforce development programs by increasing language options and ADA accessibility for programs providing career pathways to urban and community forestry related jobs.
- Urban and Community Forestry Planning and Implementation
Eligibility Criteria
- Community-based nonprofit organizations that have 501(c)3 status or a fiscal sponsor are eligible.
- This is defined as a nonprofit organization that supports a community or certain populations within a community through engagement, education, and other related services provided to individual community residents and community stakeholders.
- A “community” can be characterized by a particular geographic area (such as a neighborhood) or by the relationships among members with similar interests. Communities can also be characterized as part of a broader national or regional community where organizations can be focused on the needs of urban, rural and/or Tribal areas.
For more information, visit River Network.
