Great Lakes Green Infrastructure Champions Program

Great Lakes Emerging Champions Mini-Grant Program

Great Lakes Emerging Champions Mini-Grants are intended to increase green infrastructure (GI) implementation capacity in small to mid-sized communities in the Great Lakes Basin by supporting selected communities with grants up to $15,000 USD. Grants support community projects that focus on developing strategies to overcome key institutional barriers to implementing GI in communities. Mini-grant recipients become participants in the Great Lakes Green Infrastructure Champions Mentoring Network and are paired with a mentor identified by the Great Lakes Commission and their advisers.

Communities within the Great Lakes Basin, inclusive of both the U.S. and Canada, with a population less than 250,000 are eligible to apply for mini-grants. Successful proposals will clearly demonstrate how the project will overcome actual barriers and facilitate GI implementation in the community. Projects must focus on one or more of four key strategies for removing barriers to GI implementation:

  1. Local code/ordinance review and revision
  2. GI Operations and maintenance training, procedures, and workforce development
  3. Sustainable funding streams
  4. Other projects that address barriers to GI Implementation

Mini-grant proposals should be submitted electronically as a single PDF document to Victoria Pebbles at [email protected]. For further details and submission guidelines, please see the request for proposalsThe deadline for proposals is Wednesday, July 31, 2019.

Important Documents

Request for Proposals
Budget Form (Excel workbook)

Webinar

An informational webinar was held on Thursday, April 18 for interested applicants. The webinar featured an overview of the mini-grant program and proposal requirements and provided an opportunity for participants to ask questions about how to craft a successful proposal. Resources from the webinar are below.

Presentation slides
Webinar recording
Q/A Summary