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Keep Maryland Beautiful Grants (including Clean Up & Green Up Maryland Grant, Margaret Rosch Jones Grant, Bill James Environmental Grant, Community Stewardship grant, Capacity Building for Land Trusts grant, Tree Planting on Agricultural Lands grant) is sponsored by Maryland Environmental Trust (Maryland DNR). These grants help volunteer-based, nonprofit groups, communities, and land trusts in Maryland to support environmental education and stewardship projects, litter removal, and to protect natural resources in urban and rural areas.
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2024 Keep Maryland Beautiful Grants Total $236,276 2024 Keep Maryland Beautiful Grants Total $236,276 Grants Supports Communities, Land Trusts, and Nonprofits Living Classrooms at Masonville Cove Environmental Education Center in Baltimore received a Keep Maryland Beautiful Grant in 2023. Photo Courtesy of Living Classrooms Foundation.
Maryland Environmental Trust has approved 18 grants totaling $236,276 to be awarded for environmental education, community cleanup, and beautification projects through the Keep Maryland Beautiful program . Grants through the Keep Maryland Beautiful program are awarded to volunteer-based and nonprofit groups, communities, schools, and land trusts in Maryland.
The grants are designed to support environmental education projects, litter removal, community stewardship, and to help protect natural resources in urban and rural areas. Presented annually since 1986, the grant program is managed by the Maryland Environmental Trust – a unit of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources – and administered on the department’s behalf by the Chesapeake Bay Trust.
Maryland Environmental Trust’s Board of Trustees voted to approve the grants after staff completed the application and review process. The grants are funded by the Maryland Environmental Trust , Maryland Department of Transportation , and the Maryland Department of Agriculture .
“The Keep Maryland Beautiful Program continues to be a strong partnership between our communities and state, and on behalf of the Trust and the department I thank everyone who contributes to its success,” said Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz.
“This program fosters stewardship in every corner of Maryland and underscores that no effort is too small to support the larger goals of cleaner water and access to green space for all Marylanders. ” “It takes all Marylanders working together to improve the health of our communities,” said Maryland Department of Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld.
“The Keep Maryland Beautiful grants bring together an important coalition of state agencies, schools, nonprofits, and Maryland residents to increase awareness for the importance of environmental stewardship. The Maryland Department of Transportation is proud to help fund these important grants to improve environmental education in our state and work to build greener, healthier communities.
” “The Maryland Department of Agriculture is excited to partner with the Maryland Environmental Trust to support the Keep Maryland Beautiful grant program,” said Department of Agriculture Secretary Kevin Atticks. “These grants have a meaningful impact on communities and non profits organizations that promote education and awareness of environmental impact throughout Maryland.
Further, MDA’s support demonstrates the ag community’s pledge to continue to be good stewards of the land. ” “The Chesapeake Bay Trust is a proud facilitator of the Keep Maryland Beautiful program,” said Jana Davis, president of the Chesapeake Bay Trust. “The program’s history of community stewardship, land trust capacity building, and focus on diversity aligns with our core mission and beliefs.
Partnership programs such as this help us all work to engage and empower our local communities and ensure the health of the Bay watersheds. This way, everyone can enjoy the benefits of our treasured natural resources. ” Keep Maryland Beautiful recipients included schools, nonprofit groups, municipalities, and land trusts in 10 counties.
Many of these grants focus on developing and supporting communities, families, youth and students who take personal responsibility for the health of their communities, protecting nature in their backyards and seeking ways to help reduce or resolve environmental challenges.
Awards given this year were: One Aileen Hughes Grant award totaling $5,000, awarded to an individual representing a Maryland land trust for outstanding leadership, partnership and innovation in a conservation project. The grant is awarded to the Maryland land trust in recognition of the individual’s efforts and good work. The grant is given annually to honor the late Aileen Hughes, a true leader in the conservation movement.
8 Community Stewardship awards totaling $34,439, given in honor of State Senator Bill James , who drafted the legislation that founded Maryland Environmental Trust in 1967, and Margaret Rosch Jones , former executive director of the Keep Maryland Beautiful program before it became part of MET.
These grants are awarded to schools, nonprofits and other community organizations whose missions are centered upon directly engaging community members in environmental education and stewardship. These grants also support organizations that demonstrate active engagement as defenders of the environment by developing innovative solutions to local environmental problems.
7 Capacity Building for Land Trusts awards totaling $46,869, given to Maryland land trusts to increase capacity, support community programing and innovation and foster stronger, better connected land trusts. The grant is given in memory of Janice Hollmann , who exemplified citizen leadership of local land trusts in Maryland.
2 Tree Planting on Agricultural Lands awards totaling $149,968, given to organizations that will implement cost-effective reforestation or afforestation projects on qualifying agricultural land. These projects will increase tree canopy, create forest habitat, provide livestock shade, improve water quality, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
By increasing tree cover and expanding green areas, erosion can be reduced, water and soil quality can be improved, airborne pollutants such as particulates, nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide can be filtered, and summer temperatures and resulting ozone pollution and energy use can be decreased.
2024 recipients of Keep Maryland Beautiful Grants include: Charting Careers Inc. – Community Stewardship Grant Scenic Rivers Land Trust Inc. – Capacity Building for Land Trusts Grant Chesapeake Rivers Association – Tree Planting on Agricultural Land Grant NeighborSpace of Baltimore County Inc. – Community Stewardship Grant Gunpowder Valley Conservancy – Tree Planting on Agricultural Land and Hollmann grants American Chestnut Land Trust Inc. – Capacity Building for Land Trusts Grant Conservancy for Charles County Inc.– Capacity Building for Land Trusts Grant Imaginate – Community Stewardship Grant Catoctin Land Trust – Capacity Building for Land Trusts Grant Lower Susquehanna Heritage Greenway – Community Stewardship Grant GreenTrust Alliance Inc. – Capacity Building for Land Trusts Grant Patapsco Heritage Greenway Inc. – Community Stewardship Grant The Howard County Conservancy – Community Stewardship Grant Alice Ferguson Foundation – Community Stewardship Grant Choose Health.
Be Happy Inc.– Community Stewardship Grant Patuxent Tidewater Land Trust – Hughes Grant Lower Shore Land Trust – Capacity Building for Land Trusts Grant Details about the individual grants and their recipients can be found on the Maryland Environmental Trust – Keep Maryland Beautiful website . 580 Taylor Ave. , Annapolis, MD 21401 Call toll-free in *Maryland* at 1-877-620-8DNR (8367) Out of State: 410-260-8DNR (8367)
According to the current listing, eligibility includes: Volunteer-based, nonprofit groups, communities, land trusts, school groups, science and ecology clubs, and other nonprofit youth groups in Maryland. Confirm the full requirements in the official notice before applying.
The current listing shows clean Up & Green Up Maryland Grant: Up to $5,000; Margaret Rosch Jones Grant: Up to $2,000; Bill James Environmental Grant: Up to $1,000; Tree Planting on Agricultural Lands: Up to $50,000. Verify award ceilings, matching requirements, and allowable costs in the official notice.
Keep Maryland Beautiful Grants (including Clean Up & Green Up Maryland Grant, Margaret Rosch Jones Grant, Bill James Environmental Grant, Community Stewardship grant, Capacity Building for Land Trusts grant, Tree Planting on Agricultural Lands grant) is funded by Maryland Environmental Trust (Maryland DNR). Verify program details on the funder's official page before applying.
This opportunity targets applicants in Maryland. If your organization operates elsewhere, check the official notice for location requirements.
Start from the official opportunity page linked in this listing — it carries the sponsor's submission instructions.
On June 11, 2026, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel ruled that the EPA's February 2025 termination of the $2.8 billion Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant Program — created by Section 60201 of the Inflation Reduction Act — was arbitrary, capricious, and unlawful. The ruling voids the termination but does not order the EPA to resume the program, leaving the September 30, 2026 statutory deadline as the binding constraint. For the 116 grantees and the coalition of nonprofits, cities, and tribal partners that were already in award negotiations, the next 105 days will determine whether the program survives in any operational form or migrates entirely to the Court of Federal Claims as a damages action.
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Read articleOn June 1, Maryland's Department of Housing and Community Development announced $73.3 million in FY2027 awards across six State Revitalization Programs supporting 247 projects in disinvested communities. $50.7 million — 69% of the total — went to Just Communities, geographic areas the state has designated for equity-focused investment. Another $18.6 million went to ENOUGH-eligible census tracts where childhood poverty is concentrated. The new round opens June 22 with an August 6 deadline. The Maryland model establishes a state-led framework for equity-targeted funding that operates outside the federal DEI restrictions the OMB Uniform Guidance rewrite will impose on federal grants beginning October 1, 2026.
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