Community Challenge Grant Program

Community Challenge Grant Program is sponsored by Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management (DFFM). The Community Challenge Grant Program focuses on activities to encourage and promote citizen involvement in supporting long-term and sustainable urban and community forestry programs at the local level.

## Urban and Community Forestry ## _The 2025 Green Campus Grant Application Period is **closed**_. Urban and Community Forestry Green Campus Grants are awarded through this program to encourage and promote the development and conservation of greenspaces on K-12 school, healthcare, and faith-based institution campuses through the use of native tree species.

Urban and Community Forestry Green Campus Grants encourage and promote citizen involvement in creating and supporting long-term sustainable urban and community forestry programs at the local level. The program aims to fund projects that might not otherwise be funded through existing budgets.

All projects selected for funding should be completed within one year and a final project presentation is required at the annual Grantee Showcase held every fall. Local and tribal governments, non profit organizations with a 501(c)3 status, including faith-based institutions and health care facilities operated as a 501(c)3, and public educational institutions qualify.

For-profit companies and individuals are not eligible, but citizen groups may work with our through and eligible organization. For more information on the grant application process or questions about DFFM's Urban and Community Forestry program contact Madeline Burton: mburton@dffm. az.

gov. _The 2024 Community Challenge Grant Application period is **closed**_. The Community Challenge Grant Program focuses on activities to encourage and promote citizen involvement in supporting long-term sustainable urban and community forestry programs at the local level. Local and tribal governments, non-profit organizations, and public educational institutions qualify.

Community challenge grants are intended for promoting and enhancing the quality of Arizona's urban and community forests. The program aims to fund projects that might not otherwise be funded through existing budgets and research projects funding is intended as 'seed grants' because of the limite4d funding available.

All proposed projects should be designed to improve long-term health and care of urban forest or initiate new urban forestry projects in Arizona communities.

In evaluating grant proposals, consideration will be given to projects that: * Improve understanding of the benefits protecting, maintaining, and preserving tree cover * Promote volunteerism, multi-cultural awareness, and involvement of nonprofit organizations, agencies, and the private sector implementing urban and community forestry program * Increase the number of communities assisted through technology transfer, training, and education in tree care of urban and natural resource management * Increase the number of partnerships and cooperators in urban and community forestry activities through technical, financial, and in-kind support * Increase the number of communities given technical, financial, or other forms of urban and community forestry assistance, (i.e., tree inventories, tree board establishment, ordinance development, management plans, or infrastructure) * Enhance the technical skills of individuals involved in the planning, developing, and maintaining urban and community forestry programs * Expand existing research intended to improve understanding of southwestern (a) tree growth and maintenance, tree physiology and morphology, and species adaptions; and (b) the role of urban trees in conserving energy and mitigating the urban heat island This grant is not open at this time.

If you have any questions about the program, contact DFFM's Urban and Community Forestry team at ucf@dffm. az.

gov ## 2024 Community Challenge Grantees **Theme:**Trees as Strategies for Climate Adaptation and Mitigation **Northern Arizona University** Project Title: Comprehensive inventory of trees and ecosystem service valuation on the Northern Arizona University Flagstaff Campus **Friends of Tucson's Birthplace** Project Title: Planting Tomorrow’s Garden: Urban Agroforestry as a Model and Educational Hub for Growing Food in "Aridamerica" **Watershed Management Group** Project Title: Cool Tucson 5 Degrees: Creating Microclimates with Native Trees Project Title: Restoring and Showcasing a Section of Privately Maintained Urban Creek in Prescott, AZ Project Title: Achieve 15% Urban Canopy at the Neighborhood Level **University of Arizona** Project Title: Tree Care and Maintenance for Climate Adaptation and Mitigation: Creating a Knowledge Hub for Public Education and Outreach **Town of Pinetop-Lakeside** Project Title: The Fruit Tree Path Project ## Grants Inflation Reduction Act Grants - How to Apply ### The 2025 Inflation Reduction Act Grant Application Period is Now Closed The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management is not currently accepting applications for the Urban Forestry Program's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Grant Program.

DFFM seeks to improve community forest conditions and low-canopy communities, address the backlog of local community forestry work, and position Arizona’s community forests as a valuable piece of mitigating urban heat impacts.

Activities aimed at prioritizing those most vulnerable by increasing tree canopy, long-term tree survival and stewardship, and career opportunities in the face of decreasing water availability, rising temperatures, and fast-paced urban development for residents will be prioritized.

2025 IRA Notice of Funding Application 2025 Urban and Community Forestry Grant Application Submission Guide2025 DFFM IRA Request for Grant Applications For more information on the grant application process or questions about DFFM's Urban and Community Forestry Program, please email Madeline Burton: mburton@dffm. az.

gov. ## 2023 and 2025 IRA Inflation Reduction Act Grant Recipients Project Title: Sembrando por el Futuro Project Title: Growing Together **Dunbar Springs Neighborhood Foresters & Tucson Audubon** Project Title: Stormwater-irrigated Traffic Calming Streetside Food Forests Project Title: Urban Forestry Integrated Management Project Title: Resilient Roots **Arizona Community Tree Council** Project Title: Arizona Arboriculture Pre-employment Program **Tucson Clean & Beautiful** Project Title: Planting the Future: Youth-led Neighborwoods **Arizona Sustainability Alliance** Project Title: Tree Stewards Program **Watershed Management Group** Project Title: Pathway to Improved Urban & Community Forestry Management Project Title: Aerial Operations Development **Watershed Management Group** Project Title: Restoring Riparian Forests & Natural Cooling for Underserved Neighborhoods Project Title: Southern Arizona Young Tree Accelerator Project Title: Stormwater Forests: Integrating GSI with Urban Canopy Regeneration Project Title: Growing Native, Drought-tolerant Trees in the Neighborhoods of Julia Keen and Barrio Centro *****Please note*** The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management will never ask you for money or gift cards in exchange for a grant or promises of future funding.

If you are contacted by anyone asking for money in regards to this Community Challenge Grant or any of our other grant opportunites - that is a scam - and we ask you to report that to theArizona Attorney General's Office Criminal Complaintdivision. **