NCF-Envirothon now accepting 2022 Diversity Enhancement and Underserved Audience Grant applications

“Conservation is important no matter who you are or where you’re from. So, we want everyone involved. It’s important to the human race. Everybody has a voice.” – Millie Langley, chair, NCF-Envirothon Operating Committee
Making environmental education accessible to all is a top priority of the NCF-Envirothon program. Through the Diversity Enhancement and Underserved Audience Grant program, NCF-Envirothon bring hands-on, outdoor natural resources education to students in minority and underrepresented groups across the United States and Canada. The National Conservation Foundation (NCF) and the NCF-Envirothon are committed to greater equity and inclusion among student access to and participation in Envirothon. As such, NCF is pleased to continue its partnership with the US Forest Service (USFS) in the delivery of our Diversity Enhancement and Underserved Audience Grant (Diversity Grant) Program.

The Diversity Grant program is an ongoing initiative to help state Envirothon programs expand the student participation from underrepresented groups. Diversity Enhancement projects aim to facilitate environmental education for minorities of all kinds, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, language, culture, religion, mental and physical ability, class, and immigration status. Underserved Audience projects seek to expand the reach of the Envirothon program to students who would not normally have access due to a variety of barriers, including but not limited to socioeconomic status, geographic location, limited educational opportunities, physical or mental disabilities, and learning differences. Projects should provide students with exposure to the Envirothon program and the five areas of Envirothon study: aquatic ecology, forestry, soils and land use, wildlife, and current environmental issues.

Applications for $2,000-4,000 are being accepted to support projects that promote the delivery of conservation education and Envirothon in diverse or underserved student populations, including projects that serve urban and/or rural populations. Project initiatives may concentrate on increasing diversity of student participation in a single conservation district or may have a state-wide focus. All state Envirothon programs who are current on their Membership Dues are eligible to apply. Conservation districts are encouraged to work with their local state Envirothon program if they have a project idea.

Past projects have focused on increasing participation by covering travel and/or registration costs that may have prohibited economically disadvantaged schools from participation, outreach and engagement initiatives to reach new audiences, cultural inclusion projects such as the translation of educational materials into languages other than English, accessibility projects to adapt training/testing materials for hearing, visually or mobility impaired students, and more.

See the full RFP online here. Applications are due February 4, 2022, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.