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Greetings Friends groups! Now that Park Advocacy Day is behind us, I want to provide a few updates about the program.
1) We have successfully reviewed all of the applications submitted in November for our 7th round of awards. The selected proposals are now with State Parks and DEC. We are still targeting a late-Spring announcement of recipients. Looking farther down the road, we are planning on opening the application period for our 8th round in late-Summer.
2) Based on our Park Advocacy Day meetings and the recently released one-house budgets from the Assembly and Senate, we are feeling confident that we will be able to secure $2 million for the Park and Trail Partnership Grants. This is an increase of $1 million!
Once we know that this funding is secured in the state's final budget (which is due April 1) the PTNY staff is going to begin planning how to incorporate this new money into the program. While it is still being discussed, expect increases to the total amounts that can be requested and new sub-categories that focus on professional development and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. This is incredibly exciting and we are looking forward to sharing these details with you- stay tuned!
3) In case you missed it, we pulled together some data about the impact of the PTPG on Friends groups, public lands and local communities as part of our advocacy efforts and we wanted to share some of those highlights with you:
-- Since 2015, 141 grants have been awarded to 72 Friends groups. The awards total $3.6 million
-- Grant awards have leveraged $1.3 million in private investment
-- 11 new staff positions have been created, 7 FTE and 4 PTE
Check out a video montage of testimonials from Friends groups about the impact funding has had on their organization and the site they champion here.
Please reach out if you have any questions, comments or ideas.
-Will @ PTNY |
