Every Kid in a Park
One of the greatest barriers preventing our youth from experiencing the public lands around them is lack of transportation and funding for activities. The goal of the Every Kid in a Park Field Trip Grants program is to provide efficient transportation support for 4th grade students to visit our national parks and other public lands to engage the youth in meaningful activities once there. Once in parks, a world of learning unfolds as young people discover their natural, cultural and historical heritage, participate in volunteer and service-learning activities, enjoy recreational opportunities and most importantly, begin a lifelong relationship with their national parks and develop an appreciation for nature.
- Applications must be submitted by a National Park Service staff person, and programs can be operated by Friends Group or other NPS approved partner.
- Applications are due Friday, June 9, 2017 and the application with instructions for submission can be found here.
- An information calls will be May 16th, 18th, and 24th. All calls will be at 2PM Eastern. (see RFP for details)
Centennial Update
At this time there is no new call for projects. The approaching 2016 NPS Centennial has provided a catalyst for NPS leadership, NPF and Friends Groups to assess what the highest priority needs are for the coming years and to determine where philanthropic support can best assist. Centennial priority projects have been identified, and these will be the focus of all NPF fundraising efforts moving forward. As a result of this transition to a new method of delivering impact, NPF will be moving away from the traditional “RFP” model for funding projects and programs.
The process of creating a list of Centennial projects started with parks and programs identifying critical projects within the major focus areas of “Protect,” “Connect” and “Inspire.” Those projects were then filtered through Regional and Partnership Offices, Associate Directors, the Director’s Office, as well as, the NPF Board and Development team, and when involved, a Friend’s Group. An estimated 450 projects comprise the “Centennial Project” list, which is meant to be a dynamic list that remains “evergreen” and repopulated as projects are funded.
Some of the Centennial projects that are initially being presented to donors are park-specific such as restoring coastal dunes at Point Reyes, or restoring 120 acres of a battlefield at Manassas. Some projects are also being fundraised for by Friends Groups such as restoring trails at Jenny Lake, Grand Teton, or recovering two amphibian species at Yosemite. Others projects are national in scope such as Junior Ranger, Youth Conservation Corps, Digital Park Maps, or Trail to Every Classroom. As donor support is secured for projects such as Ticket to Ride or Wellness Ambassadors, there will be an opportunity for individual parks to intersect with those projects. Guidance on these opportunities will be distributed once donor support is secured.
The conduits for the Centennial projects are the regional offices, Centennial coordinators and WASO Centennial and Partnership offices. You can find the list of those contacts here.
If a park (or park in collaboration with its Friends Group) has a project of significance they would like considered as a Centennial project, the park can forward it to the appropriate Centennial contact(s) for inclusion on the master “Protect-Connect-Inspire” project list.
Criteria for projects is outlined below:
- Big Idea: is it a big idea? Does it create a margin of excellence?
- Fundable: does it have or could it attract major philanthropic support?
- Would you undertake this project on your own initiative, outside of a national campaign?
- Impact: will the project, as defined, with the investment being sought, and the identified target audience, have the desired outcomes?
- Urgent: is it timely, current, and imperative now in order to establish a base for success with the next century of parks?
- Scalable: is the project or program scalable? Will it stand the test of time and therefore be worthy of inclusion in a national campaign?
