National Park Trust Announces 2023 Kids to Parks Day School Grant Recipients
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 9, 2023
40% Increase in Funded Proposals To Benefit 122 Title I Schools Across the United States
Washington, DC (March 9, 2023) – The National Park Trust is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Kids to Parks Day School Grants Program. The annual grants are awarded to under-served schools to help students discover and explore parks, public lands, and waters.
This year the School Grants Program is getting more kids outdoors than ever before, with a 40% increase in grantees compared to last year.
122 Title I schools have been awarded funding, impacting 8,268 students in grades pre-K through 12, representing 36 states, American Samoa, and Washington, D.C. Each grant is capped at $1,000.
“We are delighted with the increased interest from students and teachers across the country that are eager to enjoy parks in their communities and complete their stewardship project working with park officials. With some students and teachers applying for grants for more than one grade in their school, we are pleased to award a record number of 150 grants this year.”
Grace Lee, executive director of National Park Trust
The School Grants Program is a part of Kids to Parks Day, an annual nationwide day of outdoor play celebrated every third Saturday in May at public lands and waters across the United States.
This grants program is designed to be student-driven, and student-teacher collaboration is a must. All experiences must include a stewardship element, a park-themed educational component in environmental science or history, and an outdoor recreation health and wellness component.
Highlights of this year’s grantees include:
- 124 unique sites will be visited, including national, state, and local parks and historic sites.
- Trips range from monitoring Eastern Hemlock trees for woolly adelgid infestation at Bankhead National Forest (East Lawrence High School, Trinity, AL), to exploring Native American History through pictographs and petroglyphs at Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site (Parkland Middle School, El Paso, TX) to joining US Army Corps of Engineers staff at Baldhill Dam to plant trees (Jefferson Elementary School, Valley City, ND).
For the complete list of 2023 Kids to Parks Day School Grants recipients, visit: https://parktrust.org/2023-kids-to-parks-day-school-grants-program-grantees/.
ABOUT NATIONAL PARK TRUST
Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2023, National Park Trust’s mission is to preserve parks today and create park stewards for tomorrow. Since 1983, the Park Trust has acquired many of the missing pieces of our national parks, benefiting 52 national park sites. Our national youth education and family initiatives, including our Buddy Bison Programs and National Kids to Parks Day, serve hundreds of Title I schools annually and cultivate future park stewards. We believe that our public parks, lands, and waters should be cared for, enjoyed by, and preserved by all for current
and future generations. Find out more at parktrust.org.
MEDIA CONTACT: Ivan Levin at 540.818.5818 or ivan@parktrust.org.
