East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District awarded 2019 Partners in Conservation (PIC) grants totaling $622,362 to 20 conservation and environmental education projects in the District’s boundaries. EMSWCD received 29 PIC applications this year, representing projects in each of its five primary grant program areas: restoration and monitoring, stormwater management and naturescaping, urban gardening and sustainable agriculture, environmental education, and equitable access to conservation benefits. PIC funding for 2019 will also leverage more than $3 million in additional support through matching in-kind and cash contributions.
Partners In Conservation Grants
Adventures Without Limits, $15,000
Equity in the Outdoors
AWL will partner with community organizations to host outdoor educational kayaking and rafting trips for underserved youth. Participants gain outdoor skills and learn about river habitat and wildlife, as well as the impacts of climate change on local watersheds.
Audubon Society of Portland / Columbia Land Trust, $70,000
Backyard Habitat Certification Program – East Multnomah County Engagement and
This two-year project will provide technical assistance, incentives, resources, and recognition to urban and suburban residents as they create backyard habitats and manage stormwater.
Camp E.L.S.O Inc., $30,000
Camp ELSO Expansion Project
This project expands hands-on environmental education programming to reach youth and families of color, partner with schools and communities, and expand professional development opportunities for diverse educators.
Columbia Riverkeeper, $45,000
Columbia River Monitoring and Restoration Project
This two-year project engages diverse communities who fish near Bradford Island, one of the most contaminated sites on the Columbia; encourages safe swimming by collecting E. coli water quality data; and supports diversity, equity and inclusion training for staff and board.
Depave, $60,000
Depave 2019 – Centennial School District
Depave will develop, plan and implement two projects at Centennial School District elementary schools, removing pavement, creating nature play elements, installing native plants, and incorporating on-site sustainable stormwater management.
Ecology in Classrooms and Outdoors, $20,500
Ecology Enrichment in Elementary Schools
ECO will expand its ecology enrichment program to include additional classroom from underserved Title I schools. Students will participate in a pilot program – Hop, Skip, Jump – that involves deeper partnerships with schools and teachers to define and implement environmental education programs.
Ecotrust, $40,000
Green Workforce Collaborative
The Green Workforce Collaborative is a partnership of conservation, workforce development, and community-based organizations focused on promoting culturally specific workforce development in environmental careers for Black and Native American young adults.
Friends of Nadaka Nature Park, $25,000
Community Restoration and Workforce Project
This project enables culturally relevant and community-based environmental education programming and restoration at Nadaka Nature Park in Gresham’s Rockwood neighborhood.
Grow Portland, $15,000
Glenhaven Community Garden
Grow Portland is supporting the construction of a new community garden at Glenhaven Park to be operated by Portland Parks & Recreation’s Community Gardens Program.
Janus Youth Programs, Inc., $43,989
Growing Deeper: Intergenerational Community Organizing Through Food and Farming
The two-year initiative enables low-income youth/adults to become effective and independent stewards of the Village Garden food projects. Different generations will work together across sites to connect communities with natural spaces, gardening and farming.
Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership, $30,000
Feasibility Assessment of Pilot Cold Water Refuge Enhancement Technique
This project will assess the feasibility and develop 30% designs for a pilot technique to enhance cold water refuges at the mouths of lower Columbia Gorge tributaries to benefit salmon and steelhead in the face of warming climate conditions.
Northwest Youth Corps, $20,000
East Multnomah Youth Stewardship Program
Four weeks of summer programming will include environmental education and stewardships experience for low-income youth crews. This program is in partnership with Friends of Trees and Girl’s Inc.
Outgrowing Hunger, $50,000
Gardens for Health
This two-year project will provide access to sustainable, watershed-friendly urban agriculture and gardening, provide education and technical support for marginalized and underserved gardeners, and build one new community garden.
Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center Inc., $25,000
Student Crew Leadership Training Program
Through partnerships with Friends of Trees and Portland Parks & Recreation, this project will engage low-income youth and youth of color in project-based education and career-track natural resource mentorship.
Sauvie Island Center, $20,393
DEI on the Farm and in the Classroom
This project will support farm field trips and classroom visits for 2nd and 3rd grade students from Title 1 schools, with a focus on increasing the cultural relevancy of the program’s farm-based education.
The Wetlands Conservancy, $20,706
Healing Habitats
This project is a partnership between The Wetlands Conservancy, Ecology in the Classrooms and Outdoors, Springwater Trail High School, and The City of Gresham. Partners will work together to educate a community about local natural areas and to enhance a small but incredibly valuable wetland in the middle of a Gresham neighborhood.
Tucker Maxon School, $20,350
SE 28th Place Parklet
A street block with severe drainage problems will be converted into a small neighborhood park with native plant and pollinator gardens. It will provide space for environmental and art education for both deaf and hearing students at the school, as well as a gathering place for community.
Verde, $40,000
Verde Landscape Training Program
The Verde Landscape Training Program will implement the first year of an updated curriculum. The program provides low-income people of color with on-the-job and classroom training, individualized learning plans, and connections to destination employers.
Wisdom of the Elders, $38,680
Wisdom Workforce Development Capacity Project
This project will expand capacity of the workforce development program to carry out restoration activities and will provide a more secure conservation work pathway for Native American adults. This project will also allow Wisdom to further its Traditional Ecological Knowledge educational role with colleagues, students and the public.
World Salmon Council, $18,842
Salmon Watch
Focusing on salmon as a keystone species of the Northwest ecosystem, Salmon Watch reaches over 1,500 middle and high school students through field trips, service-learning projects, and classroom curriculum. The program partners with The Blueprint Foundation and the “Unidos” Latinx student club at Jefferson High School.