Arbor Day Foundation: Community Roots Program
Deadline: August 12, 2024
The Arbor Day Foundation is supporting urban forestry projects led by all federally recognized Tribes, Alaska Native Corporations/villages, Tribal organizations, organizations working in Tribal communities, and community-based non-profits. The Foundation seeks to fund tree planting and maintenance, planning, and capacity building in selected communities. The Foundation will prioritize proposals that seek to increase tree canopy and address challenges such as nature deprivation, access to green jobs, food insecurity, and urban heat. Applicants should demonstrate a deep familiarity with the unique needs of their community and have developed a specific plan to collaborate with residents and trusted organizations within the impacted community.
There are two project tracks:
- Projects based on the unique needs of an organization and community.
- Projects using an Implementation Template – a free educational roadmap authored by expert organizations to help grow capabilities in specific areas of community forestry. They are deep dives into relevant topics with guidance on applying learnings to goals. Applicants may connect with an Implementation Template author to determine readiness to pursue a project inspired by an Implementation Template. See solicitation for details.
Note: The Community Roots Program is made possible through the USDA Forest Service Urban & Community Forestry Program, under the Inflation Reduction Act.
Examples of allowable costs include salary and benefits, travel to conferences or professional development training sessions, supplies including trees, tree diapers, pruning shears, and shovels, contractual agreements including tree trimming service and tree maintenance, and indirect expenses using either the de minimis rate or NICRA rate.
Examples of unallowable costs include capital equipment (over $5,000 per unit cost), indoor trees, construction costs, pre-award costs, and real property.
Amount: $4,300,000 in total funding is available to make awards ranging from $100,000 – $1,000,000 total, over a 3-year period. The Period of Performance for this opportunity will start no later than September 30, 2024 and must be completed by September 29th, 2027.
Awardees will also have access to a cohort of peers and experts within the Arbor Day Foundation and the Urban and Community Forestry Society (UCFS)’s networks and the opportunity to connect with mentors/coaches from around the nation. Awardees will also be invited to attend the annual Partners in Community Forestry conference to further develop their urban forestry network.
Eligibility: Community-based nonprofit organizations and Tribes are eligible.
All work led by community-based nonprofit organizations must directly impact disadvantaged communities as defined by the Council on Environmental Quality’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) or as defined by the Environmental Protection Agency’s EPA IRA Disadvantaged Communities tool and be for the benefit of historically underserved or underrepresented communities. See solicitation for links.
Link: https://www.arborday.org/programs/community-roots/
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