Grants for State governments - Recreation

This grant provides funding for K-12 students in Title I-eligible, Tribal, or Military Base schools to implement their youth-led ideas for positive change in their communities.

This grant provides financial support to artists and creative entrepreneurs in Montgomery County, Ohio, to help them pursue professional development and create new works that enhance their artistic careers.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to state agencies, local governments, and special purpose districts to create or improve recreational facilities in economically disadvantaged communities.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to local governments, non-profits, and other organizations in Florida for the development and maintenance of motorized recreational trails and related facilities.

This program provides funding to local governments and private organizations in Iowa for the development and maintenance of trails and parks for all-terrain and off-road vehicles.

The Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program, combined with funds from the National Park Service Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), provides a total of $40 million in funding. This initiative aims to safeguard the nation's military readiness, bolster relationships with communities, preserve the environment, and enhance resilience to climate change impacts on military installations and surrounding communities. It focuses on the acquisition of land and/or development of new outdoor public recreation facilities near military installations or airspace, promoting compatible land uses and preventing incompatible development. The initiative underscores the importance of partnerships, particularly between the Department of Defense (DoD) military bases and local communities, to achieve its goals. Projects must be situated within a designated REPI Partnership Opportunity Area and should serve both the general public and military families, highlighting the program's dual focus on enhancing outdoor recreation and supporting military missions.

The National Park Service (NPS), the Department of Defense, Defense Health Agency (DoD) have a partnership focused on promoting the health and wellness of active-duty military service members and their families through positive engagement experiences with national parks, public lands, and waterways. These experiences will promote healthy lifestyle habits and inspire families to become environmental stewards of national parks.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) State and Local Assistance (SLA) Program provides grants to the States, and through them to local units of government and federallyrecognized Indian tribes, for projects that will provide outdoor recreation opportunities to the public. This is accomplished through the acquisition of lands and waters for parks and other outdoor recreation areas, as well as through the development of new, or the renovation of existing, outdoor recreation facilities. The Program is operated by the National Park Service (NPS) in partnership with designated State Lead Agencies in each of the 50 States as well as American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Congress allocates money from the LWCF for this program, which is then apportioned to the States based on a legislative formula. To be eligible for LWCF grants, States must maintain an approved Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP), which is used to assess the supply and demand for outdoor recreation resources and set priorities for the use of LWCF funds. Since 1964, more than $5.2 billion has been made available to all 50 states, territories, and the District of Columbia and more than 44,000 grants have been awarded. The Department of Defense (DOD) Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program protects the Nation’s military readiness, enhances relationships with communities, preserves the environment, and improves military installation and community resilience to climate change. Under 10 U.S.C. 2684a, the REPI program funds cost-sharing partnerships for the military with state and local governments and private conservation organizations. These partnerships obtain easements or other interests in land from willing sellers or promote natural resource management and military installation resilience to preserve critical areas, resources, and natural infrastructure near military installations. Since program inception, REPI partnership projects have protected nearly 1.18 million acres of land in 120 locations in 35 states and territories. Overseen by the Office of the Secretary of Defense and implemented by the military services, REPI projects help to preserve vital missions at key military installations. In coordination with Congress and the DoD, the Secretary of the Interior has established a special competitive funding initiative using previously apportioned funds that are not currently allocated to any particular state or territory. The Readiness and Recreation Initiative will seek to fund projects that will acquire and enhance lands for public outdoor recreation that are also within the geographic scope of an agreement between a state, local government, or conservation-focused non-governmental entity and a military department pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 2684a. Projects must meet the dual purposes of 1) providing outdoor recreation opportunities, and 2) promoting or supporting compatible land uses and avoiding incompatible development 4 in areas in the vicinity of, or ecologically related to, a military installation or military airspace, and/or to maintain or enhance the climate resilience of one or more military installations (hereinafter, “REPI Partnership Opportunity Area”). The projects will serve the general public and military families. Therefore, consistent with the purposes and requirements of the LWCF Act and LWCF Manual, the NPS is seeking land acquisition only or acquisition with compatible recreation development (aka, “combination”) project proposals matching the following factors: • meeting a priority outdoor recreation need or goal as identified in the State’s SCORP as well asthat of the community(ies), and that will provide compatible land use within the REPI Partnership Opportunity Area. • creating or expanding public outdoor recreational opportunities for the general public, including for residents and military families associated with the military installation within the REPI Partnership Opportunity Area. • located within an active REPI Partnership Opportunity Area. • promoting compatible land uses for military installations within REPI Partnership Opportunity Areas, particularly land uses related to compatible recreation development, advancing conservation or climate resilience (only if also offering compatible public access). • advancing the goals of a REPI partnership.

Historic battlefields and associated sites of armed conflict are powerful reminders of the shared heritage of all Americans. In an ongoing effort to extend the conservation of natural and cultural resources, the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program (NPS ABPP) promotes the preservation and interpretation of these important places. NPS ABPP supports community-driven stewardship of historic resources through four grant opportunities: Preservation Planning, Battlefield Restoration, Battlefield Interpretation, and Battlefield Land Acquisition. NPS ABPP administers the Battlefield Restoration Grant opportunity to provide assistance for the restoration of day-of-battle conditions within eligible Civil War battlefields listed in the Civil War sites Advisory Commission's (CWSAC) Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields (1993) and in the principal battlefields of the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 identified in NPS ABPP’s Report to Congress on the Historic Preservation of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Sites in the United States (2007) (Survey Reports). Restoration sites must be located outside the external boundaries of a unit of the National Park System and must have been protected with assistance from a NPS’s Battlefield Land Acquisition Grant (BLAG) established under 54 U.S.C. §308103(b) or are owned by state or local government entities (e.g., state or local battlefield parks) and are located within the boundaries of battlefields listed in the Survey Reports. These grants are funded from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which invests earnings from offshore oil and gas leasing to help strengthen communities, preserve history and protect the national endowment of lands and waters. Funding will support planning and implementation activities for historic preservation projects at eligible properties and will be awarded competitively. Grants require a dollar-for-dollar non-Federal match.