2025 Circuit Trails Coalition Community Grant Program
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Image: Healing Through the Land, 2023 Community Grant Program grantee partner
The 2025 Circuit Trails Coalition Community Grant Program
Administered by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council
Instructions & Guidelines
August 2024
General Information
The Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC), on behalf of the Circuit Trails Coalition and with funding from The William Penn Foundation, is excited to launch Round 2 of the Circuit Trails Coalition Community Grant Program.
The program provides one-year grants of $1,000 to $12,000 for projects that increase a sense of welcome, belonging, and safety among under-represented groups on the Circuit Trails, a network of hundreds of miles of multi-use trails throughout nine counties in the Greater Philadelphia region (PA and NJ). The program will distribute at least $100,000; PEC may distribute more based on availability of funds.
Priority will be given to projects led by and engaging under-represented and marginalized groups; projects that promote equity and serve historically disinvested communities; and organizations with a budget of less than $250,000.
Current Community Grant Program grantee partners who are funded through December 2024 are welcome to apply for Round 2. Current grantee partners who are funded through December 2025 are not eligible for Round 2. Full details are below.
Applications are due on Monday, September 30, 2024 by 5pm. For selected applicants, the project implementation period is January 2025 - December 2025.
Scroll down to create a Submittable account and find application questions.
Eligibility
Your project is eligible for funding if:
- You are working in the geography of the Circuit Trails network, which includes Circuit Trails in Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Delaware, and Philadelphia counties in Pennsylvania, and Mercer, Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties in New Jersey.
- You are an individual, group, or organization. You are NOT required to have 501(c)3 designation or a fiscal sponsor to be eligible for funding.
The small number of current Circuit Trails Coalition Community Grant Program grantee partners who are funded through December 2024 are eligible to apply.
The Circuit Trails Coalition will prioritize:
- Organizations or projects led by and engaging under-represented and marginalized groups. This includes but is not limited to: Black, Indigenous, and/or people of color; Asian American and Pacific Islanders; disabled people/people with disabilities; immigrants; people with limited financial resources; and queer, trans, and gender-expansive people.
- Projects that serve geographic areas or neighborhoods that historically have been subject to systemic racism and disinvestment, with a higher than average concentration of low-income residents; residents who are Black, Indigenous, and/or people of color; and/or ethnic minorities.
- Organizations with an annual budget of less than $250,000.
- Projects that will be conducted in partnership with a Circuit Trails Coalition member organization.
This grant program is intended to invest in communities directly. We encourage public sector applicants from municipalities, counties, or agencies to partner with a local group or organization who will receive funds to increase their own capacity and implement a community-driven project.
Purpose
The Circuit Trails Coalition Community Grant Program intends to fund projects that make the Circuit Trails more inclusive by making them safer, more welcoming, more enticing, and more comfortable spaces for under-represented and marginalized groups. This includes but is not limited to Black, Indigenous, and/or people of color; Asian American and Pacific Islanders; disabled people/people with disabilities; immigrants; people with limited financial resources; and queer, trans, non-binary, and gender expansive people.
The Circuit Trails Coalition is guided by the Equity of Access to Trails report (find links below) -- the product of research conducted in fall 2020 within four focus areas: Camden, NJ; Trenton, NJ; Cobbs Creek, PA; and Norristown, PA -- each an underserved community with a Circuit Trail running through it.
The study revealed that many people living near a multi-use trail do not know the trail is there. Residents expressed strong interest in being outside and in nature, but many study participants did not feel safe or invited to use public spaces near them.
When asked what would get them outdoors to use a trail, respondents had similar answers:
- Programming and a sense of welcome
- Outreach
- Physical infrastructure, like better access to a trail and signage
- An increased sense of safety, but not an increased police presence
- Greening, like gardens and nature
The Circuit Trails Coalition welcomes project ideas that address these general themes.
Resources
For a full list of resource links, click here.
For a more detailed list of grant program objectives and previously funded project examples, click here.
For a description of what constitutes a Circuit Trail, click here.
For a detailed map of the Circuit Trails network, click here.
For a summary of the Equity of Access to Trails report, click here.
For the complete Equity of Access to Trails report, click here.
To watch the Community Grant Program informational webinar held on Wednesday, August 28, click here.
To sign up for a one-on-one meeting with grant program staff before submitting your application, click here.
Completing the Application
Written and video applications will be accepted. Click "Apply" to find application questions.
If you choose to apply by video, the online application will offer an opportunity to upload your video file instead of submitting written answers. Your video should answer all questions from the application (please read the question aloud and then state your answer). In the online application's required fields, please answer "See video" for all questions addressed in your video. Videos should be no longer than 12 minutes.
It is possible to complete the application during multiple sessions. Be sure to save as you go and before you end any session. Please answer all questions before your final submission.
Thank you to Justice Outside and the Liberated Paths Grantmaking Program, which the Circuit Trails Coalition used as a model for the Community Grant Program guidelines and application.
Important Dates
PEC staff are available to discuss your project idea before you apply for funding. Optional one-on-one 30-min sessions will be held the first and second weeks of September. Sign up for a session here.
If you think your project is a good fit, submit your application by 5pm on Monday, September 30, 2024.
Applications will be reviewed through October 2024. Grants will be selected and awarded in November 2024. Projects should be implemented from January 2025 through December 2025.
Throughout 2025, grantee partners will be invited to join activities hosted by PEC to foster community among the grantee cohort. This may include two one-day convenings, seasonal skill-building trainings (virtual), and occasional outdoor activities.
Support
- For answers to content-related questions about this application and the grant program more generally, contact Emilia Crotty, PEC, ecrotty@pecpa.org or 267-479-6106.
- For answers to technical questions about how to complete this application, contact support@submittable.com Monday-Friday, 11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. with limited availability on the weekends.
- For additional information on the Circuit Trails, visit www.circuittrails.org.
- To sign up for a one-on-one meeting with grant program staff before submitting your application, click here.