Past PIC Grant Recipients
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Past Partners in Conservation (PIC) Grant Recipients
We hope these examples of successful past projects inspire and guide you as you prepare your own application.
Grant Spotlights:
Partners in Conservation
Our Partners in Conservation grants provide a wide range of assistance to our residents.
Here are some of the ways they are making an impact on water quality, sustainable farming practices, training and mentorship, and more.
Improving the Willamette's
Water Quality
Human Access Project may be best known for its culture-changing work of getting people swimming in the Willamette River by hosting fun, goofy events like the Big Float.
By creating new and safer public beaches and docks for swimming, they’ve also made the river more accessible.
Now, with funding from a grant from EMSWCD, Human Access Project (HAP) has also been working on improving water quality in the Willamette by reducing the number of harmful algae blooms, which are deadly to pets and toxic to humans.
They leveraged their grant from EMSWCD to secure other funding and began designing solutions to address algal blooms caused by water trapped within Ross Island Lagoon, a human-made island in the middle of the river adjacent to downtown Portland. The bloom eventually spills over into the larger river system, where many people live and play in the water.
Today, HAP and partners are on their way to securing the support and funding necessary to build a channel to flush out the Ross Island Lagoon. With fresh water, flushing will prevent the lagoon from heating up and restore healthy water conditions.
Focusing on the Columbia
River’s Water
With support from a Partners in Conservation grant to Columbia Riverkeeper, EMSWCD is contributing to monitoring the Columbia River’s water quality and making it safer for recreation.
Through our grant, Riverkeeper made their Water Quality internship a paid position. “Our technicians, Heather Clegg and Theus Richards, collected nine samples at popular swim and recreation locations in the EMSWCD service area twice monthly from June to September in 2022 and 2023. They also posted the results on Swim Guide, making real-time data publicly available as soon as possible,” Columbia Riverkeeper shared.
Riverkeeper published results via social media and email, and shared them with the Swim Guide app, which continues to grow globally, reaching more than 1.5 million users each year.
More than 132,000 users viewed the beaches monitored by Riverkeeper on the app over the grant term. The app puts resources and information directly into the hands of the people most impacted by the water quality of the Columbia River. Water quality data also gets shared with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), informing statewide water quality assessments.
Next time you’re visiting a local river, lake or beach, visit Swim Guide in your web browser or by downloading the app on your phone. Stay informed about the water quality of your rivers, including the Columbia!
Play Grow Learn Invests in Community
Play Grow Learn is a Black-led organization working in East Portland and Gresham.
With funding support from EMSWCD’s Partners in Conservation grant program, Play Grow Learn hires youth to provide high-quality, culturally relevant, and community-based programming for kids and families at Gresham’s Nadaka Nature Park. At Play Grow Learn’s Urban Agricultural Training Center in East Portland, farmers from a variety of backgrounds are supported by the organization’s mentors in growing food in a way that supports soil and water health. And they launched the People’s Market at Rockwood, where folks in the area can purchase or receive locally and sustainably grown farm products, with a focus on culturally important crops like collard greens.
Due to years of neglect and underinvestment, the Rockwood community is among Oregon’s largest, most under-resourced and most challenged communities. Using their paid training and mentorship model, the directors and staff at Play Grow Learn are expanding opportunities for low-income youth and adults, and improving the overall health and economic position of families.
As Play Grow Learn believes, “Investing in agriculture education for the younger generation ensures a great future for both.”
PIC Grants Invest in the Green Workforce of the Future
Black, Indigenous, and other people of color are underrepresented in the conservation workforce.
Two Partners in Conservation (PIC) grants are making pathways to jobs in the environment more accessible to diverse communities.
At Friends of Trees, a grant from EMSWCD supported the Adult Urban Forestry Education Program, while at Wisdom of the Elders, grant funds supported the Wisdom Workforce Development Capacity Project, an internship program for Indigenous community members.
The results? Both programs find graduates new opportunities through skill acquisition, exposure to new careers and jobs, and relationships with people in government, nonprofits, and businesses in the environmental and conservation sector.
There is Power in Growing Culturally Important Food
Access to cultural foods is a challenge for people with low incomes who lack the space and resources for home gardens.
For immigrants and refugees, migration and dislocation contribute to this disconnection from traditional foods and food practices (like growing, cooking and sharing them). Local community gardens within EMSWCD’s district can help bridge this gap for communities.
Year after year, our Partners in Conservation grants support community-led urban agriculture and garden projects where participants learn good conservation practices while building community and growing food that nourishes body and soul.
Are you part of a community that lacks access to cultural foods? Consider applying for a grant from EMSWCD to support access.
Apply for a PIC Grant
Projects can range from $5,000 to $70,000 and be up to two years in duration. Nonprofits, local governments, schools and educational institutions, and Native American tribes are eligible to apply.
