​Multiple counties

• Pennsylvania Resources Council: $19,525 to conduct eight backyard composting workshops designed to reach 250 households in Allegheny and Delaware counties. Participants will learn about waste minimization in the home and make connections between waste and broader issues such as climate change, water pollution, soil health, and gardening. Participants will receive a compost bin and instructions.
• Watersmith Guild: $25,815 to provide educational workshops that empower underserved youth in Cambria and Indiana counties with skills and knowledge to improve their lives and create lasting positive impacts on the environment. Students will work with professional instructors and mentors to become proficient river surfers, paddlers, and waterway stewards, through activities including tree planting, water sampling, stream biology, and whitewater paddle boarding. Through hands-on education in filmmaking and digital media, students will create videos about their experiences to inspire in others an appreciation for watersheds and the power of outdoor connections to enhance our personal lives and communities.

Allegheny

• Allegheny County Conservation District: $4,999 to host field workshops for municipal managers to elevate their knowledge of watersheds, watershed planning, and best management practices to remedy non-point source pollution and impacts of climate change, such as localized flooding.
• Chalfant Run/Thompson Run Watershed Association: $4,494 to hold four classroom workshops and four outdoor sessions for third through sixth grade students. Content will address causes of local water pollution, including litter, stormwater, and abandoned mine drainage, and explore solutions for improving water quality, such as stream restoration projects.  
• Communitopia: Two grants— $29,995 for an institute that will prepare grade 7-12 teachers to engage students in local hands-on climate change learning and solutions and will provide student field trips, including interactive STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning stations on local climate change causes, effects, and solutions; $5,000 for workshops to train K-12 teachers on creative expression as an effective teaching strategy for exploring climate change, sustainability, and environmental justice. Participants will learn how to initiate small-scale (home or classroom) or large-scale (school, district, or community) climate solutions using creative expression.
• Michael Brothers Hauling, Inc.: $4,540 to hold seven workshops led by industry experts and environmental justice community members on urban ecology issues. Workshop topics will include urban water infrastructure, compost, green building, vermiculture, permaculture, recycling, and solar energy.
• Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light: $29,965 to engage 40 to 50 students through hands-on workshops and urban farming experiences. Students will increase their understanding of watershed protection and energy, water, and waste conservation and will be encouraged to take actions with their family and friends to reduce the effects of climate change and improve community and individual health.
• Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy: $25,533 to implement state standards, climate change education, and meaningful action projects in the parks with students at five high schools in Pittsburgh in the fall, winter, and spring. Topics will highlight habitat improvement, tree planting, and stormwater mitigation strategies.
• Venture Outdoors: $20,000 to provide 20 environmental education activities and field trips to 120 students from kindergarten to eighth grade. The lessons will engage students in watershed, climate change, and environmental education through activities such as hiking, kayaking, biking, gardening, and environmental STEM.

Beaver 

• RiverWise: $18,900 to conduct a countywide summer sustainability institute for high school students from six environmental justice areas in Beaver County. Teaching, field trips, group discussions, and activities will be captured through photos and video that will be shared via social media and web-based platforms to extend the reach of the project. 

Fayette

• Connellsville Area School District: $4,370 to hold bimonthly afterschool club meetings for fourth and fifth grade students on local watersheds and waterways. Hands-on activities will include STEM focused lessons and visits to local sites to learn about the importance of waterways to the community and region. 
• Mountain Watershed Association: $29,999 to expand outdoor education in the greater Connellsville area by offering a monthly afterschool program for third to fifth grades, a monthly community workshop, and two professional development trainings for formal and non-formal educators. Topics will include watershed conservation, basic ecology, climate change, and local environmental impacts.

Somerset

• YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh: $4,895 to provide teacher training and middle school student instruction about watersheds. Participants will travel to an outdoor location to plan and execute a service project. Students will present their experience to an elected official and the community.

Washington

• California Area School District: $30,000 to create an outdoor science school curriculum for sixth grade that aligns with the new Pennsylvania state science standards. The curriculum will be taught entirely outdoors, providing students 100 percent hands-on experiences. Students will incorporate STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) environmentally sustainable practices into their local environmental civic action projects.

Westmoreland

• Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art: $4,813 to coordinate a Pennsylvania master naturalist training in the Laurel Highlands. After a 13-week training, up to 10 adults will complete 30 hours of service to conservation organizations, municipalities, schools and more as they become trained volunteers and leaders to address conservation needs and challenges.
• Seton Hill University: $5,000 to provide three professional development workshops for faculty to incorporate sustainability topics into their disciplines and to provide staff with education on sustainability practices to help reduce the campus’s environmental footprint.
• Westmoreland County Conservation District: $5,000 to provide stormwater education to 40 students in the Mosaic Community Development Center’s afterschool program. The conservation district will present two in-person educational programs for the students and work with the students and center to develop a demonstration rain garden that incorporates the lessons learned.

​Multiple counties

• National Audubon Society: $30,000 to host workshops in Montgomery and Philadelphia counties that promote establishing native pollinator plants in a variety of settings, from small urban settings to suburban gardens to larger public and private spaces. Attendees will learn how native plants can help provide clean water, healthy soil, and a balanced ecosystem.

Bucks 

• Bucks County Conservation District: $17,500 to develop county-wide education programs, including presentations for youth (K-12) and multi-municipality public events. Programs will be accessed through a website menu of curriculums with associated displays, brochures, and hands-on materials.
• Heritage Conservancy: $30,000 to host four professional development teacher training sessions that provide the tools, knowledge, and resources necessary to implement National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences with students (grades 4-12), including student-driven environmental action projects.

Chester

• Green Valleys Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania: $4,588 to host an after-school water club for middle school students. Each of seven three-hour club meetings will begin in a seventh grade classroom and then transition to a field site.
• The Garage Community & Youth Center: $30,000 to host 24 workshops for attendees of year-round youth development programs for students in grades 6-12. The workshops will include education, hands on activities, field trips, monitoring of frequently flooded waterways, gardening, and practical hands-on green practices. Students will create a bilingual outdoor classroom space to showcase their learnings for community members.

Delaware

• Delaware County Conservation District: $5,000 to host a one-day sustainability conference, located within an environmental justice area, that aligns with the DEP 2021 Pennsylvania Climate Action Plan and the 2022 Delaware County Sustainability Plan. Multiple tracks will engage K-12 and college students, academics, community members and leaders, citizen scientists, non-profits, and businesses.

Montgomery

• Montgomery County Intermediate Unit: $29,789 to create an environmental education mobile lab to provide authentic local field experiences for students. The mobile lab will offer at least two visits (one in the fall and one in the spring) to an estimated 20-25 schools.
• Riverbend Environmental Education Center: $28,780 to conduct a summer institute for elementary and middle school teachers, utilizing the Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience framework. Continuing support will be provided through monthly virtual meetings and pairing with an environmental educator. Additionally, the project will engage students in an outdoor experience at their school, leading to a student-driven action project.
• Souderton Area School District: $4,952 to ReWild some campus areas, beginning with the high school, in an effort to return some of the land back to native species to support the environment and encourage climate change awareness. Students will participate in lessons, gather native seeds, propagate the seeds, prepare the grounds, and plant the seedlings.

Philadelphia

• Bottle Underground: $4,275 to address climate change by organizing three education events and a social media campaign composed of three informational videos to increase awareness and encourage environmentally responsible behaviors involving single-use waste and glass reuse.
• Fishtown Neighbors Association: $30,000 to educate residents and visitors about the rebounding Delaware River ecosystem by creating a bold, interactive plant and animal block-long mural, executed by local public arts high school students. Programs and activities will be delivered during events, such as an annual festival, which attracts thousands of visitors.
• Friends of Adaire: $4,888 to organize year-long stewardship efforts for pre-K to eighth grade students, and their teachers and families, focusing on the rain garden and greenspace in this Philadelphia public school, located less than 3,000 feet from the Delaware River. Students will participate in hands-on activities that deepen their understanding of how their schoolyard influences water quality of the nearby river and supports native plants, animals, and insects.
• Lankenau Environmental Science Magnet High School: $4,999 for a freshwater mussel project in partnership with the Philadelphia Water Department and other organizations. The project will engage at least 90 high school students in hands-on interdisciplinary classroom and field experiences. A recirculating aquaponics system will be used to cultivate mussels for the cleaning of waterways.
• Philadelphia Solar Energy Association: $30,000 to expand implementation of its Solar Power Resource and Innovation for Teachers and Students program for middle school students focusing on practical solutions to climate change. The project, suitable for formal, nonformal and after-school programs, includes lesson plans, activities, teacher training, and interactive materials. Additionally, the association will provide support to schools that have or plan to install solar systems.
• School District of Philadelphia: $30,000 to develop a Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience, addressing environmental literacy and climate change. Selected classroom teachers and students will plant and maintain trees in four Philadelphia schoolyards.
• Spirit and Truth Fellowship: $20,252 to work with partners in the low-income community of Huntingdon Park to (1) expand the climate leader network to represent at least five regional religious congregations; (2) run two neighborhood climate education classes; (3) start an eight-week cool roof coating training course for residents and develop a system for subsidizing coating costs; and (4) run two 14-week courses on solar installation and develop a system for supporting graduates in their employment search.

​Multiple counties

• Stroud Water Research Center, Inc.: $20,000 to create outdoor learning spaces on school grounds in Berks, Lancaster, and Chester counties. These spaces will provide meaningful opportunities for teachers and K-12 students while creating water quality and wildlife habitat benefits. Schools will provide input at all phases of the project, ensuring a sustainable, engaging, and meaningful model for other schools to adopt. In addition, the spaces will enable communities to engage with the school while learning about their local watershed. 

Cumberland

• Saint Patrick Parish and School Charitable Trust: $5,000 to enable seventh grade students to explore the Cumberland Valley watershed and participate in a student-driven Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) project.
• Pennsylvania State University: $30,000 to increase the capacity of their environmental education network. Adult volunteers will be trained to administer the Future Master Watershed Stewards (FMWS) program, and educators will be provided training and classroom resources to use on their own or with a FMWS volunteer partner.

Dauphin

• Dauphin County Conservation District: $5,000 to partner with municipalities to host Stormwater Management for Homeowners workshops on reducing non-point source pollution.
• Friends of Wildwood Lake Nature Center, Inc.: $5,000 to provide state standards-based wetlands education programs to students in grades 4-12. Students will observe aquatic life, perform water quality studies, and determine sources of point and non-point source pollution within a watershed.

Juniata

• Juniata County Conservation District: $1,440 to increase public awareness about stormwater pollutants by collaborating with the Mifflintown Borough maintenance department to stencil about 60 stormwater grates with the message "only rain in the drain.”

Lebanon

• Lebanon County Conservation District: $4,758 to hold two streambank landowner workshops providing presentations, materials, and hands-on macroinvertebrate stream studies to educate landowners on assessing stream health.

Perry

• LEAF Project Inc.: $20,200 to develop a pilot program, in collaboration with a local school district, that will enable students to understand their connections with food, farming, and the environment.

York

• Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Harrisburg: $5,000 to use a new greenhouse to incorporate sustainability education into the school’s K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) curriculum.
• York County Conservation District: $4,039 to hold two seminars for residents on York County's watersheds. The seminars will provide in-depth information on how residents’ actions can make a difference, even if they don’t have a waterway or a water body on their property.

​Armstrong

• Armstrong Center for Community Learning: $6,439 to host two workshops for residents. In Energy and Water Conservation, participants will learn how water and energy conservation can help reduce greenhouse emissions while lowering utility bills. In Celebrate the Trees, participants will focus on improving air, water quality, and human health while supporting wildlife habitats and biodiversity.

Butler

• Butler Area School District: $5,000 to deliver teacher trainings that emphasize hands-on outdoor learning at the Connoquenessing Outdoor Appreciation campus, including use of a nature trail equipped with webcams.

Erie

• Asbury Woods: $4,999 to provide about 500 fifth graders from public, private, and home schools the opportunity to participate in hands-on water use conservation activities  led by professionals.
• Regional Science Consortium: $30,000 to work with the Iroquois School District to establish an outdoor classroom including seven learning stations on water quality and climate change.
• Goodell Project, Inc.: $4,921 to establish an edible demonstration garden and host nature-based field studies for children. Partnering with the Erie Farm-to-School Program, students will help install a garden while learning about innovative strategies for growing food in urban areas.

Forest

• Forest Area School District: $3,882 to enable environmental science and chemistry students to participate in hands-on experiments to evaluate multiple indicators of a healthy water system. Students will visit a water treatment facility, research government roles related to water quantity and quality, and research local and state career opportunities. 
• Pennsylvania Firefly Festival: $4,475 to host a three-day interactive STEAM program for grades K-6 focusing on Pennsylvania's state insect, the firefly. Students will explore firefly biology, bioluminescence, synchronicity, and environmental concerns, as well as actions they and their families can take, such as  habitat conservation, reduced pesticide use, and land/water protection. Families will be invited to an exclusive viewing of the fireflies at a June 2024 event. 

Indiana

• Indiana County Conservation District: $8,955 to incorporate environmental education principles into public outreach efforts. The initiative will incorporate current and relevant climate change and water quality information, hands-on materials, engaging activities, age-appropriate lessons, and in-person workshops.

Jefferson

• Jefferson County Conservation District: $4,795 to hold a three-day outdoor camp for women and girls to increase knowledge about the environment, climate change, and sustainability. 

Mercer

• Mercer County Conservation District: $3,385 to conduct a three-week camp for middle school students, including outdoor activities that address climate change and water quality issues and education on science and/or environmentally themed careers.

McKean

• Pennsylvania State University: $5,000 to provide interactive hands-on programming for K-12 students. Topics including climate, habitats (including waterways), and Pennsylvania’s threatened wildlife will be explored through discussions, stories, games, show and tell, and other activities. Lessons will incorporate state education standards and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience framework.

​Carbon

• Wildlands Conservancy: $19,719 to provide hands-on, state standards-based climate change programming to eighth and ninth grade students at Panther Valley High School. Students will identify meaningful actions that can be taken in the Lehigh River Watershed.

Lackawanna 

• Lacawac Sanctuary Foundation: $4,961 to provide in-classroom programs and hands-on, standards-based field experiences addressing climate change and water for fourth and fifth grade students in elementary schools that serve environmental justice areas. 
• Lackawanna County Conservation District: $30,000 to create a permanent three-station stormwater best management practice demonstration area and hold three hands-on events for multiple audiences on stormwater and local water quality. 

Lehigh

• Lehigh County Conservation District: $5,000 to develop an educational garden laboratory in a vacant school courtyard to improve students' understanding of local climate change and water quality and other real-world sustainability challenges.

Luzerne

• Pittston Area School District: $5,000 to train teachers on water sampling and analysis techniques so they’re able to effectively guide student water investigations and action projects. Teachers will create water units addressing Pennsylvania's new science standards.

Schuylkill

• Potter’s Farm LLC: $10,000 for two projects to enable Minersville Elementary students  and Pine Grove Middle School afterschool and summer program students to explore their watershed. In 12 interactive sessions, students will use professional research and data collection methodologies and lead restoration projects to improve local water quality and reduce soil erosion. 

Susquehanna

• Susquehanna County Conservation District: $19,722 to host education activities for school groups and community members along an interpretive trail. Trail signage features five points of interest highlighting climate change and regional water quality topics.

​Statewide

• Pennsylvania Envirothon, Inc.: $62,981 for classroom learning and field opportunities for high school student teams at county, state and national levels. Students analyze issues and identify solutions in five categories: Soils/Land Use, Aquatic Ecology, Wildlife, Forestry, and Current Environmental Issue (climate change, water quality/quantity, or green infrastructure). More than 60 county teams are expected to participate at the state event, hosted by Middleburg-based Pennsylvania Envirothon, Inc.

Bradford 

• Bradford County Conservation District: $29,942 to hold a Forestry Education Symposium, providing two Forestry Education events for private landowners, forestry professionals, and logging professionals who are interested in expanding their knowledge of forest practices, sustainability, and forest health. Eight conservation districts as well as the Northern Tier Hardwood Association will partner to host the events. Each event will include multiple guest speakers and a field tour.
• Bradford County Conservation District: $4,912 to supply six school districts with the necessary materials, curriculum, resources, and guidance to implement Eels in the Classroom, an interdisciplinary, standards-based, educational experience throughout the 2023/2024 school year and beyond.

Cameron

• Cameron County Conservation District: $5,000 to hold several elementary and high school student field studies, along with adult-based workshops and community events. Hands-on activities and demonstrations will address water issues involving flooding and climate change. 

Centre

• Bald Eagle Area Middle/High School: $30,000 to develop a high school environmental science curriculum that addresses water and climate change. The project will create units based on the United Nations Sustainable Development goals, including: (1) Life on Land, (2) Clean Water and Sanitation, (3) Affordable and Clean Energy, (4) Climate Action, (5) Zero Hunger, and (6) Responsible Production and Consumption. Students will compare local watershed policies/issues to those within designated environmental justice areas.
• Pennsylvania State University: $5,000 to extend the Nature Explorers summer camp an additional week, to help further engage youth (grades 2-4) in an expanded air quality curriculum. Using air quality monitors, participants will collect real world air and water quality data, report their findings, and learn how to be environmental stewards.

Columbia

• Columbia County Conservation District: $4,998 to partner with the Borough of Berwick to construct and install approximately 15 downspout planters at homes along main streets in the Borough. Hold at least one public workshop addressing benefits of downspout planters and other ways to reduce stormwater runoff, non-point source pollution, and improve water quality.

Northumberland

• Bucknell University: $5,000 to pilot a Resiliency Workshop series in key places around Shamokin. Experts will share information with residents on topics such as food waste, native plants, energy efficiency, water quality, and alternative forms of energy. A fun activity will be developed to foster community engagement.

Potter

• Potter County Conservation District: $5,000 to use a stream simulation table to help municipal officials and workers understand stream processes and concepts related to stream management and in-stream construction. 

Snyder

• Snyder County Conservation District: $3,298 to host two rain barrel workshops for residents and business owners of Snyder County who are interested in learning about storm water management. Each participant will receive one complete rain barrel and rain gutter garden for installation at their property.