GCV 2020 Centennial Project – State Parks Grant Application Information
History: The Garden Club of Virginia has been involved with parks from the 1920’s. In 1926, the Virginia Legislature created the State Commission on Conservation and Development. For the first time, the state had a single agency responsible for managing the conservation of its natural resources. Initially, the commission’s efforts with regard to parks centered around acquiring lands for Shenandoah National Park, the first large national park in the east. By 1929, as acquisitions for Shenandoah were nearing completion, things began to change.
On Dec. 17, 1929, representatives of the Virginia Academy of Science, the Garden Club of Virginia and the Izaak Walton League held a meeting in Richmond to discuss the need for state parks. This meeting resulted in each organization passing a resolution in support of creating state parks and presenting those resolutions to Governor-Elect John Garland Pollard.
Present: GCV will work directly with the Department of Conservation and Recreation and Virginia State Parks to accomplish our Centennial Project. Our goal is to fund projects that our clubs and parks coordinate together and that fall within our mission and the state parks mission: conservation, beautification, horticulture, preservation and/or education. The state parks have existing programs and initiatives such as Youth Conservation Corps, “Track Trails,” and “Discovery Areas” that also could be of interest.
Funds from Historic Garden Week will fund our gift of $500,000 over five years. Funds will be available for use in parks all over the state for projects which they and local clubs propose. Notes: Opportunities for projects are not limited to interactive exhibits as originally planned.
Director of Conservation and Recreation, Clyde E. Cristman stated “I am very excited about the opportunity for us to do great things, linking the interests of the Garden Club of Virginia with the many needs we have in State Parks and Natural Area Preserves.”
Application Process: Deadline for applications is December 10. Applications can be submitted throughout the fiscal year (July 1 – June 30), but final decisions are announced by the end of January. The Parks Grant Committee strongly encourages telephone inquiries (804) 643-4137 and, when possible, meetings or site visits will be scheduled. Proposals submitted without contacting the GCV Executive Director before the grant deadlines will not receive priority consideration. Any questions or concerns about your grant proposal or the process should be directed to the Executive Director.
How your proposal is evaluated. The Executive Director reviews all proposals to determine eligibility under the Centennial Project guidelines, and to ensure that proposals are complete. In some cases, the Executive Director may request additional information, but is not obligated to do so. The Parks Grants Committee meets early January and makes funding recommendations as a group. Applicants are notified promptly following final approval by the Board of Directors’ at the Board’s January meeting.
Projects submitted by clubs will be coordinated with the park manager. The park managers will follow protocol within the parks system set by DCR and the State Parks Director. 2 This meaningful gift is now available to all parks and natural areas throughout the entire state. We look forward with great anticipation to working directly with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Director of State Parks and managers of our state parks.
Numbers and Fun Facts: The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation manages a diversity of lands:
