The Chesapeake Bay Trust is excited to announce a grant opportunity available, in partnership with the City of Baltimore Department of Public Works, the City of Gaithersburg, Charles County Watershed Protection and Restoration Program, Howard County, the Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County, and Harford County, to fund projects that both improve communities and improve or create local natural resources like green spaces, parks, tree canopy, and more.

This grant program funds projects in partner areas as well as throughout Maryland.

The Outreach and Restoration Grant Program will fund a variety of clean water and improved habitat project types, including but not limited to:

  • Constructing stormwater features like rain gardens, bioretention cells, or rain barrels
  • Increasing tree canopy and streamside forest buffers
  • Greening vacant lots and communicating environmental messages
  • Training community members through green jobs training, especially in the stormwater realm
  • Engaging workers newly trained in stormwater green jobs
  • Promoting environmentally responsible communities through behavior change program development
  • Educating community residents about natural resources and stormwater improvement practices, like down spout disconnection or rain barrels, proper waste management, rain gardens, pervious pavement, etc.
  • Removing hard surfaces like asphalt and replacing with pervious features or practices
  • Creating, restoring, or enhancing wetlands or living shorelines
  • Installing agriculture best management practices, including fencing, buffers, and wetlands
  • Stormwater Management projects on large scale school property projects that restore habitat, improve water quality, and establish outdoor classrooms on school grounds. (School-based projects should contribute to Maryland Green School certification efforts, should be integrated into classroom curriculum, and must have a plan for continued use of the project area as an outdoor classroom beyond the term of the grant.)

These types of projects and more are all eligible as part of the Trust’s Outreach and Restoration Grant Program. The grant program is accepting proposals now through September 11, 2017 within three distinct funding tracks:

Track 1: Outreach: $5,001 – $30,000 for projects focused on education and awareness as project outcomes and $5,001 – $50,000 for behavior change projects.

Track 2: Restoration: $5,001 – $50,000 for restoration implementation projects.

Track 3: Outreach and Restoration: $5,001 – $75,000 for projects that combine outreach projects with restoration projects to achieve meaningful and measurable outcomes.

For outreach project guidance, please contact Kacey Wetzel at kwetzel@cbtrust.org or 410-974-2941 ext. 103. For restoration project guidance, please contact Abbi Huntzinger at ahuntzinger@cbtrust.org or 410-974-2941 ext. 106.

The Trust looks forward to hearing your project ideas!