Our Grants

2024 Special Grants

Current Year Grant Summary
In 2024, the National Recreation Foundation awarded eight Special Grants for a total of $704,145.

Aspen Institute Forum For Community Solutions

Aspen Institute Forum For Community Solutions

Youth of color in communities across the country are severely and disproportionately impacted by systems like foster care and the justice system. They also face serious disparities in climate change, equitable access to the outdoors and suffer from extreme rates of violent victimization. These systems are some of the biggest drivers of the persistent inequities, drastically increasing youth’s barriers to opportunity, and physical and emotional wellbeing. They are also root causes that reduce community cohesion. Through its Fresh Tracks program, the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions works to addresses these disparities, advance social and environmental justice, and overcome hate and racism.

Fresh Tracks provides young Indigenous, rural, and urban leaders with cross-cultural community building skills, leadership development training, civic engagement opportunities, and resources for innovative youth and community-led action. The movement is grounded in the healing power of nature and culture, and is a lifelong journey of leadership, growth, and community action. Elevating youth narratives, power, and vision is at the core of Fresh Track’s work.

Detroit Hives

Detroit Hives

Detroit’s vacant land (24 square miles) is contaminated by illegal dumping, and the predominantly Black and low-income areas where Detroit Hives operates its programming is full of vacant property. The residents lack access to fresh food and clean parks, as well as the opportunity to experience the joy of being outside and in nature. Detroit Hives addresses these needs by using pollinator habitats to reactivate vacant properties and facilitate food security, positive health outcomes, and environmental justice.

Detroit Hives hosts events at its Pollinator Sites (including Urban Hive Tours), community events, and outdoor recreation areas. Many of the sites are near vacant or abandoned buildings. Its Brightmoor site is located next to a burnt-out building that poses a safety threat when hosting community events. Detroit Hives is now demolishing the burnt-out house, cleaning up the site, and building a permanent facility for year-round programming. This will improve the health, safety, and civic engagement of the community, transform blighted neighborhoods, and preserve the bee population. An indoor facility will also enable Detroit Hives to expand to year-round programming, serve more students, house beekeeping equipment, and provide access to a restroom and first aid supplies.

Detroit Hives is also installing a pollinator garden at Michigan Science Center, establishing the first-of-its-kind outdoor science education at the center and expanding the number of Detroit Hives sites (27+) across the community.

Detroit Horse Power

Detroit Horse Power

Systemic racism and disinvestment have contributed to an alarming reality in Detroit. Detroit youth need more resources to learn and proactive interventions that address the needs of the communities in which young people grow up, where blight and vacant land continue to weigh on progress. Detroit Horse Power (DHP) uniquely address these persistent problems by combining high-impact youth development programming with a large space requirement. DHP's horseback riding programs for youth are informed by research on equine-assisted learning and precedents from urban riding programs that already serve similar populations in other U.S. cities. Detroit Horse Power has built an impactful track record through bringing youth from the city to partnering horse barns outside Detroit where students learn to ride and care for horses while building vital character skills (confidence, perseverance, empathy and more) that set them up for future success.

DHP is now scaling its model by constructing a new urban equestrian center on a large vacant land site in the city. This will result in a unique opportunity that will be accessible to the areas’ educational communities (reaching thousands of students per year) and will strengthen the fabric of the neighborhoods in which the youth DHP serves grow up.

Gardeneers

Gardeneers

Gardeneers seeks a world where every human has access to fresh, nourishing food, and all neighborhoods are healthy and sustainable. Gardeneers works with Chicago’s South- and West-side schools and communities to contribute to the larger food system. It does this by supporting youth and community members in school garden and farm programs to cultivate in them the knowledge, skills, and habits to become leaders who care for themselves, their environment, and their communities.

Gardeneers has operated school garden programs since 2014 to give students experiencing food injustice equitable access to fresh produce and food education. Its programming engages students in full-service, customized 10-week spring and fall programs and 6-week summer programs, with curriculum that is based on three pillars of learning: supporting student nutrition, experiencing nature, and connecting with communities. In addition to delivering healthy, locally grown food to communities impacted by food inequity, Gardeneers’ also grows future leaders in the food justice movement.

Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles

Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles

Every girl should have the opportunity to experience Girl Scout camp, regardless of financial circumstances. Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles (GSGLA) works toward this goal by removing barriers and providing equitable overnight camp experiences. GSGLA offers overnight camperships to girls who would otherwise not be able to attend camp due to the cost. This enables all Girl Scouts who wish to attend camp to benefit from physical activity, while engaging with nature and boosting their mental health.

GSGLA is also supporting youth through its Counselor in Training (CIT) leadership program. GSGLA’s CITs help guide activities and mentor girls through the summer. The CIT program is a year-round, progressive, experiential leadership opportunity where older Girl Scouts (girls in grades 9-12) spend two or three weeks at summer camp building skills. The CITs receive additional training in MESH (mental, emotional, and social health) through American Camp Association curriculum to ensure that they, along with the staff, are prepared with the skills necessary to guide and mentor the Girl Scouts. The CITs’ self-confidence grow through team building and self-discovery, enabling the program to grow a pipeline of future adventure leaders.

Grand Canyon Youth

Grand Canyon Youth

Access to the Colorado River as it runs through Grand Canyon National Park is an unparalleled, immersive, and transformative experience;  however, it is highly restricted. Grand Canyon Youth (GCY) is the only nonprofit organization that runs expeditions exclusively for youth from diverse backgrounds in the park. While GCY has been connecting youth to this unique experience for 25 years, it recently established a new agreement with Grand Canyon National Park to double its current access over the next three years.

In addition to providing youth with an awe-filled, once-in-a-lifetime rafting experience, GCY expeditions connect youth from diverse backgrounds to community science and art projects as a way to incorporate the lessons learned during this experience into everyday life. Three of the seven expeditions that will to be held in Grand Canyon National Park in 2024 will be all-Indigenous.

Muddy Sneakers

Muddy Sneakers

Muddy Sneakers (MS) operates at the crossroads of outdoor science instruction, public education, and conservation to awaken in children a deeply felt connection to the natural world. Solving the complexities of instructor recruitment, training, and sustainable employment is crucial to creating an inclusive model that brings diversity to its work, students, and industry.

MS strives to create more equitable pathways for all individuals seeking a career in environmental education, shaping career opportunities that keep talent local and introduce students to instructors who share their experiences. MS' two-year apprenticeship pathway pilot program enables the organization to hire and train less experienced field staff instead of only veteran outdoor educators. The goal over the two years is to craft an apprenticeship that reduces common barriers to entry, while also providing opportunities for individuals interested in working in this field that don’t have previous experience. Four apprentices from year one are transitioning to Apprentice Instructors. Coaching builds upon the year-one foundation while expanding the apprentice instructors' knowledge and expertise in outdoor education pedagogies, instruction methodologies, and differentiated teaching. At the completion of year two, Apprentice Instructors will have gained a deeper understanding of outdoor education, including partnership relations and development, program management, and general non-profit operations.

SailMaine

SailMaine

SailMaine addresses the lack of access to outdoor recreation for youth from underserved communities by providing free sailing lessons through City Sailors (its cornerstone community program). The primary goal of the City Sailors program is to provide access to the water. The secondary goal is for the participants to have access to all the benefits sailing offers: the opportunity to gain confidence, a chance to learn new skills, and a space for participants to interact with the ocean in a unique way. The program also helps create a more inclusive and diverse recreational community by providing opportunities for kids from different backgrounds to interact on a level playing field when the sailors transition from City Sailors to a fee-based program through strong scholarship and mentorship support.

SailMaine is increasing the number of youth served through its SailMaine’s City Sailors program. The youth receive access to sailboats, instructors, facility, transportation, food, sailing gear, and additional programming opportunities. SailMaine has built a strong network of community partners, but growth opportunities still exist in terms of number of participants and depth of the programming experience.