Hanover, NH – The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation announced grants of $251,158 from its Wellborn Ecology Fund to support environmental, ecology and place-based education programs.  The grant dollars will go to 14 projects run by local schools, agencies, and community organizations within the Foundation’s Upper Valley Region, which serves 61 communities in New Hampshire and Vermont.

A $22,250 grant to Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission (TRORC) will support the creation and delivery of a hands-on ecological and natural-resources training program for municipal officials in east-central Vermont. 

“The goal of this program is to increase the ecological skills of our citizen planners, the most important decision makers when it comes to ecological stewardship in Vermont,” according to Peter Gregory, TRORC’s executive director. “We hope this will strengthen the regional network of trained and informed citizen environmental stewards.”  To learn more about the program, contact the Commission at 802-457-3188.

The Wellborn Ecology Fund is dedicated to promoting awareness of environmental and ecological issues in the Upper Valley through increasing knowledge of natural systems, providing opportunities for “hands-on” nature study, increasing environmental skills, creating links and networks among people and institutions, and expanding overall environmental education capacity in the region.

The next Wellborn Ecology Fund application deadline for grant requests greater than $5,000 is February 1, 2010. 
Applications for grant requests up to $5,000 may be submitted at any time.  Grant guidelines are available on our website www.nhcf.org in the section Applying for a Grant.

Grant awards were made to the following organizations and programs:

Audubon Vermont received $30,000 for the second year of a three-year program to expand local awareness of the importance of bird habitat in the Upper Valley.

Four Winds Nature Institute (in partnership with Lebanon School District) received $30,000 for the second year of a two-year program to create "Linkages for E-Literacy," a planning and resource hub for K-12 environmental education partnerships and teacher professional development.

Lake Sunapee Protective Association received $30,000 for the second year of a two-year program to develop and implement a long-range environmental education and professional-development program for the Kearsarge, Newport and Sunapee school districts.

Nature Museum at Grafton received $23,387 of continuing support for “Beyond Your Doorstep,” a professional-development program for teachers focused on nature journaling.

Piermont Village School received $1,371 in bridge funding to continue the Four Winds Nature Institute “Nature Program” for the 2009/10 school year.

Rivendell Interstate School District was awarded $5,000 to expand SummerScapes ecology and nature programming to students in grades K-2.

The Fells received a $25,000 operating grant to support education programming at its facility on Lake Sunapee in Newbury, NH.

The Nature Conservancy-Vermont Chapter was awarded $4,655 to expand the invasive-species prevention and awareness  program, "Wise on Weeds", to the Upper Valley.

Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission received $22,500 to create and deliver a hands-on ecological and  natural-resources training program for municipal officials in east-central Vermont.

UNH Cooperative Extension was awarded a grant of $14,245 to create and deliver a model outreach and education program in the Upper Valley for the state Wildlife Action Plan.

Vermont Earth Institute received $5,000 to continue community discussion courses, Sustainable Living Network activities,  and Eco-Parties in the Upper Valley.

Vermont Institute of Natural Science received a $30,000 operating grant for its education programming in the Upper  Valley.

Vermont Youth Conservation Corps was awarded $20,000 to evaluate, strengthen and expand its conservation service-based School Program in the Upper Valley.

White River Natural Resources Conservation District received $10,000 to continue the BLUE summer nature camp and school program in Newbury, VT.

The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation serves communities throughout New Hampshire, southeastern Maine, and eastern Vermont. The Charitable Foundation manages a growing collection of charitable funds created by individuals, families, and corporations, and awarded more than $34 million in grants and scholarships in 2008. The Charitable Foundation is non-partisan, frequently playing the role of convener and catalyst on a broad spectrum of issues. Based in Concord, the Charitable Foundation roots itself in the communities through seven regional advisory boards. More information is available at www.nhcf.org, or by calling 603-225-6641