National Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost-Share Grant Program
Grant: National Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost-Share Grant Program
Agency: Department of Agriculture
Division: U.S. Forest Service; the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council.
Deadline: December 3, 2012
Description: Through the U.S. Forest Service’s competitive Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost-Share Grant Program, the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council (Council) supports urban and community forestry projects that have a national or widespread application and impact. The Council places a strong emphasis on innovative projects and collaborations with organizations and entities not traditionally involved in urban and community forestry.
Currently, the Council is accepting pre-proposals for the Innovative Grant type. All proposals under this grant type must address one of the following two grant categories:
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Outreach projects require that applicants create an outreach program that communicates the connection between the personal benefits of urban forests and quality of life within a community through community engagement activities. Examples of potential projects include:
- Educating the public about the benefits of urban forests.
- Engaging community groups to take responsibility for their local environment.
- Recruitment projects require applicants to design forestry recruitment program and retention strategies that support existing urban forestry academic curriculum. Each program should be easily replicated in other schools, and have a goal of increasing the number of students enrolled in urban forestry as their chosen major.
Within each proposal, applicants are required to develop clear, effective and innovative technology components for wide dissemination of, and public access to, the completed project results.
Download the request for pre-proposals for more information on what is required under this grant program.
Fit for Public Broadcasting: Public Broadcasting stations may find a fit here given their ability to reach a large audience. Each applicant is required to provide a dissemination plan which includes public access to completed project results. As a potential partner, stations can fill that need. Additionally, the Council encourages collaborations with organizations not traditionally involved in urban and community forestry, which can serve as an “in” for stations not directly involved in forestry. Stations with experience in community engagement/outreach and curriculum development are encouraged to participate.
Eligibility: Any U.S. non-federal organization is eligible to apply. Collaboration with federal agencies is encouraged; however, a federal agency is not eligible to receive funding under this program.
Anticipated Funding: The U.S. Forest Service anticipates awarding $900,000 in grant funds through the FY2013 grant competition. All grant funds must be equally matched (dollar for dollar) with non-federal source funds.
How to Apply: All applicants must submit pre-proposals which include a cover application form, abstract and pre-proposal narrative. Descriptions of these documents can be found in the program notice. All pre-proposal applications must be submitted electronically via Grants.gov. Those pre-proposals requested to submit a full proposal will submit them to an email address provided by program staff. Online submission requires registration, a process that usually takes three to five business days but can take as long as four weeks. Be sure to visit Grants.gov and begin registering well in advance of the grant deadline.
All questions regarding this program should be directed to Nancy Stremple, Executive Staff to the Council, at (202) 205-7829.
Resources:
Pre-proposal Program Notice
Program Webpage
