Youth Garden Grants Program

Posted by on July 9, 2007

[posted from RFP Bulletin]

National Gardening Association Invites Entries for the Youth Garden Grants Program

Deadline: November 1, 2007

The National Gardening Association has announced that Home Depot (<a href="http://www.homedepot.com/">http://www.homedepot.com/</a>) has returned as sponsor of its Youth Garden Grants program. For more than twenty years, the Youth Garden Grants program has helped youngsters reap rewards and life lessons from working in gardens and outdoor habitats.

NGA awards Youth Garden Grants to schools and community organizations with child-centered, outdoor garden programs. In evaluating grant applications, priority will be given to programs that emphasize one or more of these elements: educational focus and/or curricular ties (if applicant is a formal education program); nutrition or plant-to-food connections; environmental awareness/education; entrepreneurship; and social aspects of gardening such as leadership development, team building, community support, and/or service-learning.

Schools, youth groups, community centers, camps, clubs, treatment facilities, and intergenerational groups throughout the United States are eligible to apply. Applicants must plan to garden in 2007 with at least fifteen children between the ages of 3 and 18. Previous Youth Garden Grant winners who wish to reapply must wait one year and have significantly expanded their garden programs.

In 2008, 150 programs will receive gift cards from Home Depot for the purchase of gardening materials and supplies particular to the needs of their program, along with an activity package from NGA. The top fifty programs will receive gift cards valued at $500, and an additional one hundred programs will receive $250 gift cards.

Fifty grants will be awarded to start-up programs that are just beginning or have yet to break ground, while one hundred will be awarded to established programs that have completed one or more seasons of outdoor gardening. Both categories are eligible to receive top-level $500 grants.

Visit the NGA Web site for complete program details and application procedures.

RFP Link: <a href="http://assoc.garden.org/grants/">http://assoc.garden.org/grants/</a>

For additional RFPs in Children and Youth, visit: <a href="http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/cat_childrent.jhtml">http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/cat_childrent.jhtml</a>