The Great Lakes Commission (Ann Arbor, Mich.) on June 1 began accepting requests for proposals for the Great Lakes Emerging Champions Mini-Grant Program. This program will provide funding to help small- and medium-sized communities improve water quality, manage stormwater, and enhance community well-being. The deadline to submit proposals is July 31, 2017.

Grant details

The program will award grants of up to $20,000 USD to support green infrastructure (GI) implementation in U.S. or Canadian municipalities with fewer than 500,000 people. Eligible projects include

  • GI pilot installations,
  • removing institutional or policy barriers,
  • educational programming,
  • developing partnerships with other agencies, or
  • community GI planning efforts.

Applicants are restricted to municipal government agencies, regional authorities, or registered non-profit organizations serving eligible communities.

More than funding

Mini-grant recipients will join the Great Lakes Green Infrastructure Champions Peer-to-Peer Mentoring Network and be paired with a mentor who has successfully implemented GI in their community. Both the mini-grant program and mentoring network are part of the Great Lakes Green Infrastructure Champions Pilot Program, led by the GLC with support from the Erb Family Foundation (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.). The goal of this program is to catalyze the adoption of GI practices and policies across the Great Lakes basin by providing mid-sized municipalities with resources they frequently lack.

Learn more

For more information about the request for proposals and Mentorship Network, visit www.glc.org/work/champions/network.

The Great Lakes Green Infrastructure Champions Pilot Program also will hold a webinar to discuss the RFP and Mentorship Network on July 10, 2017 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m; register at http://bit.ly/GIChampionsWebinars.