Friday, February 7, 2014

Keep Maryland Beautiful Grants Available...

Keep Maryland Beautiful Grants Available for Schools and Environmental Groups

The Maryland Environmental Trust is now accepting applications for grants through the Keep Maryland Beautiful program to help schools, volunteer-based nonprofit groups and communities develop environmental education projects and solve natural resource issues.

“Since 1986, MET has been providing these annual grants for community beautification projects and stewardship programs that engage students in hands-on experiences outside the traditional classroom,” said MET Director Elizabeth Buxton.

MET is offering two types of grants, given annually, through the program:

The Margaret Rosch Jones Award of up to $2,000 is awarded to nonprofit groups or communities for an ongoing project or activity that has demonstrated success in solving an environmental issue.

This award recognizes those organizations that have been actively educating people in their community about litter prevention, community beautification, or eliminating or reducing the causes of a local environmental problem. It is given in memory of Margaret Jones, the first executive director of the Keep Maryland Beautiful Program.

The Bill James Environmental Grants of up to $1,000 are awarded to school groups, science and ecology clubs, and other nonprofit youth groups for proposed environmental education projects. The grants are given in memory of William S. James, who drafted legislation to create MET, incorporating the activities of the Governor’s Committee to Keep Maryland Beautiful.

The objectives of the grants are to: promote a sense of stewardship and personal responsibility for the environment; stimulate a better understanding of environmental issues; help reduce or eliminate a local environmental problem; and encourage education about growth management and protection of rural areas and sensitive resources while discouraging sprawl development.

For an application or more information, visit dnr.maryland.gov/met/grant_programs.asp. Completed applications must be received by March 31, 2014.

The Maryland State Highway Administration provides partial funding annually for these grants and awards. The Maryland General Assembly established the Maryland Environmental Trust in 1967, and Keep Maryland Beautiful was created later that same year as MET’s first program. MET promotes the protection of open land through its Land Conservation Program, Stewardship Program and Local Land Trust Assistance Program. Awarded annually the grants are The Maryland State Highway Administration provides partial funding for these grants and awards.

The Maryland Environmental Trust was established in 1967 by the Maryland General Assembly as a charitable organization and now serves as the statewide land trust. MET currently holds 1050 easements totaling more than 129,000 acres in Maryland. Governed by a citizen board of trustees, MET is affiliated with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and promotes the permanent protection of land through its Conservation Easement, Stewardship and Land Trust Assistance Programs. For more information, visit dnr.maryland.gov/met.

Source:

No comments:

Post a Comment

All comments are the sole responsibility of the poster