NPS - National Park Service
10/01/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/02/2024 07:49
National Park Service awards $1.2 million in grants for community-based projects in Chesapeake Region
Date: October 1, 2024
Contact:Kierstin Klimas, 202-868-0176
Annapolis, Md. - The National Park Service has awarded $1.2 million in grants supporting 14 community-driven projects that highlight the natural, cultural, recreational, and historical significance of the Chesapeake region. The grants empower a mix of diverse partners, from local Tribes to local nonprofit organizations, to tell untold stories, promote community resilience, and enhance public access to the outdoors across this treasured landscape.
"We are thrilled to announce the 2024 Chesapeake Gateways Grants, which are truly transformative for our region," said Wendy O'Sullivan, superintendent of NPS Chesapeake Gateways. "These grants bring communities together to celebrate the stories, history, and ecology that makes the Chesapeake region so special."
As a community assistance program, NPS Chesapeake Gateways inspires and supports partners that foster communities, provide public access, promote inclusive storytelling, and connect and uplift shared heritage. The grants fund a variety of projects that promote inclusive storytelling, tourism, sustainability, and conservation.
"The Chesapeake Gateways Grants encompass the watershed, from the mighty Susquehanna to the bustling Patapsco to the banks of the Anacostia to the Rappahannock River, to the scenic Chickahominy and Appomattox and the historic James River to the Bay and beyond. Our partners are helping to create more vibrant, resilient and welcoming places where every generation can connect with, learn from, and experience local culture, history, waterways, and landscapes in new, authentic, and meaningful ways," said O'Sullivan.
Below are summaries of the 14 projects and programs receiving grants this year:
Chickahominy Indian Tribe - Eastern Division/Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Va. ($49,000) - This project will increase the Chickahominy Indian Tribe - Eastern Division's capacity to collect water quality data and tell untold stories of tributaries of the Chickahominy River, building a ladder of engagement and deepening the connection between monitoring data and the Tribe's history and culture through storytelling, ultimately providing communication tools and establishing a model of engagement for other underrepresented communities.
Anacostia Watershed Society, Inc., Md. & D.C. ($150,000) - This project will provide meaningful watershed experiences to the residents of Prince George's County and Washington, D.C., engaging volunteers to restore 20 acres of native forest and wetland habitat across the Anacostia Watershed, as well as train and deploy community members to become citizen scientists.
Baltimore Heritage, Inc., Md. ($25,000) - This project will develop a public boat tour of Baltimore's Inner Harbour that connects diverse stories and history to ecology, in addition to launching a companion interactive virtual map and holding public service stream clean-ups with guided history walks.
Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation, Inc., Md. ($124,000) - This project will create and implement a master plan for a facility to serve as the education center at the new Elktonia Heritage Park, a significant gateway to the Chesapeake Bay for underrepresented communities, to ultimately assist in outdoor classroom development and experiential learning in history while exploring and promoting prominent watershed stories.
Chesapeake Conservancy, Inc., Va. ($150,000) - This project will create the Phoebus-Fort Monroe Coalition to celebrate and elevate Fort Monroe's unique heritage, community pride, and cultural and economic vitality, focusing on diverse colonial history, military presence, arts, and community resilience.
Rappahannock Tribe/Chesapeake Conservancy, Inc., Va. ($149,000) - This project will provide hands-on experiences in inclusive land management for citizens of the Rappahannock Tribe; introduce tribal youth to outdoor experiences and components of land conservation and management; and facilitate a forum for exchanging information on ecological principles, techniques, and values incorporating Indigenous Knowledge and the tenets of the environmental sciences.
Elizabeth River Trail Foundation, Va. ($150,000) - This project will develop a self-guided audio tour along the Elizabeth River Trail, curated from site-specific stories, to connect neighbors to the local contemporary history of the land they inhabit and enhance visitor experience through the telling of experienced inequities of systemic racism.
Experience Learning, W.VA. ($44,000) - This project will facilitate enrichment programs in the Chesapeake Bay watershed that provide meaningful, outdoor educational experiences to underserved youth, with a focus on stewardship, resilience, accessibility and inclusion.
Harrisburg Area Riverboat Society, Inc., Pa. ($115,000) - This project will design, create, develop, build, and operate a Susquehanna Educational Park to provide free and easy educational access to an underserved community and the general public.
Hopewell Downtown Partnership, Va. ($59,000) - This project will gather stories from the Hopewell community focused on their local water connections to enhance environment education and stewardship, along with reconnection with their water trails and ecology via the installation of a self-service kayak station and further community engagement by participating in community events, such as the Paddle Your Park Festival.
Maryland Humanities Council, Inc., Md. ($49,000) - This project will promote connections among Maryland-based organizations, communities, and humanities topics by providing technical assistance and capacity building in the form of developing and implementing a workshop series, providing online resources, and coordinating a conference, all aimed to amplify the work of and hold space for partners with diverse stories, audiences, and programs to support diversity, equity, inclusion and access (DEIA) work and deepen racial equity efforts statewide.
Nature Forward, Inc. ($50,000) Md. & D.C. - This project will collect stories from local underrepresented communities within eight tributary streams in the Washington D.C. region and correlate them with relevant stream health data to highlight the interconnectedness of human activities with the environment, engaging new and diverse audiences of residents, organizations, and policymakers to inspire action for conservation.
Northern Virginia Conservation Trust, Va. & D.C. ($49,000) - Conservation internship and fellowships to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion will provide students of color in Northern Virginia with opportunities to gain real-world experience in the environmental conservation field through equitable early career experiences, such as paid internship opportunities which will provide training in community engagement and technical components of land conservation.
Pennsylvania Environmental Council, Pa. ($57,000) - This project will connect diverse and underrepresented communities to the Susquehanna Basin through recreation opportunities on the local water trails that focus on creative, experiential, interactive, and exploratory engagement via the Artist in Residence approach, making visible the sometimes-hidden challenges, history, and cultural context of water.
Chesapeake Gateways Grants are available annually. The awards are made possible through annual appropriations from Congress. The application period for the next round of grants is currently open through Oct. 21, 2024, accessible through the website Grants.gov. Please visit the Chesapeake Gateways website to learn more about the grants and how to apply.
About the National Park Service Chesapeake Gateways. Established by Congress in 1998, NPS Chesapeake Gateways is a partnership network and community assistance program. Headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland, the office serves the full 41-million-acre Chesapeake Bay watershed, providing authentic Chesapeake experiences for 21st Century communities and visitors. Visit us at www.nps.gov/Chesapaeake, on Facebook www.facebook.com/ChesapeakeNPS, and Instagram www.Instagram.com/ChesapeakeNPS.
About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 430+ national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit us at www.nps.gov, on Facebook www.facebook.com/nationalparkservice and Twitter www.twitter.com/natlparkservice.