The Chesapeake Bay Trust is seeking grant proposals from a wide range of applicants to plant trees in urban, underserved communities.
Donor Name: Chesapeake Bay Trust
State: Maryland
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 03/07/2024
Size of the Grant: $500,000 to $1 million
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
The Urban Trees Grant Program will support urban tree planting projects that enhance livability in 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 Tree 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 mitigating some of the effects of climate change.
What this funds?
- Projects selected for funding must be fully or significantly focused on planting of trees (defined as “implementation”). Section 8–1911 of the Natural Resources Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland allows funds to be used for planning to support the implementation phase and a maintenance phase in addition to implementation. The Trust requires implementation and maintenance phases to be part of all requests to be eligible for funding.
- Projects may include other components, such as workforce development activities, but the tangible result of projects selected for funding must be measurable trees in the ground.
How much can be awarded?
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).
Project 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
Eligible Project Locations
Tree planting projects proposed as part of this program must occur in urban, underserved areas, defined in Section 8–1911 of the Natural Resources Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland as:
An urban area, as delineated by the United States Census Bureau AND
An area that meets ONE or more of the following criteria:
- Historic Disenfranchisement: A neighborhood that was, at any point in time, redlined or graded as “hazardous” by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation; OR
- Unemployment: A census tract with an average rate of unemployment for the most recent 24- month period for which data are available that exceeds the average rate of unemployment for the State; OR
- Household Income: A census tract with a median household income for the most recent 24- month period for which data are available that is equal to or less than 75% of the median household income for the state of Maryland during that period; OR
- Housing Project: A housing project as defined in Section 12-101 of the Housing and Community Development Article.
Eligibility Criteria
Local governments, non-profit organizations, community and homeowner associations, faith-based organizations, and more.
For more information, visit The Chesapeake Bay Trust.
