Route to Parks Grant Program is a grant from Parks California that funds local organizations working to overcome transportation barriers and connect historically marginalized California communities to California State Parks and outdoor recreation.

Launched in 2020 through a public-private partnership with the California Department of Parks and Recreation's Waterway Connections Initiative, the program has supported 85 organizations over four years. Eligible applicants include nonprofits, community development organizations, and youth-serving groups working along the California coast and inland areas.

The program now includes expanded opportunities for water-related outdoor access, aligned with the California Natural Resources Agency's Outdoors for All initiative. Applications support programs that create authentic, transformative connections with nature.

Route to Parks – Parks California At Parks California, we believe everyone deserves a world-class park experience and the opportunity to create a lifelong connection with nature. However, barriers like limited transportation options can prevent many from enjoying the great outdoors. To bridge this gap, we launched the Route to Parks grants program in 2020.

This initiative supports local organizations in overcoming transportation challenges, ensuring historically marginalized communities can visit and enjoy California State Parks. Together, we’re fostering connections with nature. In just four years, we’ve supported 85 organizations to create transformative outdoor experiences.

This program is made possible through a public-private partnership, supported by private fundraising by Parks California, and the California Department of Parks and Recreation’s Waterway Connections Initiative. Route to Parks is aligned with the goals of California Natural Resources Agency’s Outdoors for All program.

Through this partnership, Parks California is excited to expand the Route to Parks grants program this year with increased opportunities for water-related outdoor access and experiences. Through this program, we aim to improve park access for all Californians so they can create authentic connections with nature.

City Heights Community Development Corporation The mission of Hearts for Sight Foundation (HFS) is to break down barriers to health and fitness that restrict the blind and visually impaired, so that they may pursue physical, mental, and emotional wellness.

White Cane Leaders In State Parks would provide Southern California’s poorest disabled youth and adults with an introduction to nature, many of whom would never otherwise have the opportunity to visit state parks and beaches such as Topanga State Park, Malibu Creek State Park, Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area (Stoneview Nature Center), Will Rogers State Historic Park, Leo Carrillo State Park, Los Angeles Historic State Park, Crystal Cove State Park, Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve and State Beach and Placerita Canyon State Park.

Through this healthy activity, they will develop their confidence and self-esteem. They will learn about wilderness, develop their imagination and creativity and, above all, have fun! Adventure Risk Challenge (ARC) is a youth development and outdoor education non-profit committed to expanding equitable access to literacy and leadership development and to nature-based and recreational experiences.

ARC engages high school students from rural communities in Central and Northern California through a multi-year program progression. Academic-year programming is embedded within four rural high schools and includes weekly cohort meetings and monthly outdoor trips. Immersive, month-long summer courses incorporate multiple backpacking trips and hundreds of hours of literacy and leadership curriculum.

ARC aims to provide many entry points to program participation, to eliminate as many barriers to engagement as possible, and to offer increasingly individualized leadership development opportunities to students the longer they remain engaged.

ARC’s most unique characteristics are the integration of writing and public speaking (literacy skills) with outdoor leadership experiences, the long-term programming approach, and the relationships formed within. This grant will fund 16 weekend trips for marginalized youth to eight California state parks.

Land Together (formerly known as Insight Garden) restores connections to self, community, and the natural world and cultivates spaces that embrace our diverse, interconnected, and multifaceted humanity. Grounded in the belief that access to nature is a human right, IGP’s mission is to transform the lives of people in prison, prison environments, and the communities to which people in prison return.

IGP operates in 10 California state prisons, 7 of which are located in rural communities (specifically, Stockton, Lancaster, Avenal, Ione, Chowchilla and Folsom, CA).

Our integrated in-prison curriculum and reentry activities include mindfulness activities, working in gardens, community outings into nature, stress-reduction skills, strategies for developing personal resilience and understanding the healing benefits that nature can provide them, their families, and communities.

This allowed them to deepen the work we are doing in our “Ground and Grow” reentry program, serving formerly incarcerated individuals by connecting them with state parks through virtual sessions, planning sessions, a bald eagle and boat tour at Millerton Lake State Recreation Area, and camping trips to Folsom Lake State Recreation Area with hiking and mountain biking.

City Heights Community Development Corporation City Heights Community Development Corporation BLVD to Beach 2. 0 was led by City Heights Community Development Corporation (CHCDC) in partnership with Outdoor Outreach and the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition. The program offered experiential bike rides for participants from inland, economically disadvantaged communities to access and enjoy Silver Strand State Beach (SSSB).

These engaging and empowering bike rides taught participants how to reach the coast via alternative modes of transportation and increase participants’ coastal access abilities. CHCDC will coordinate 3 community bike rides and 3 overnight camping experiences in state parks. We celebrate our grantees for their local and authentic approaches to creating lasting experiences in nature.

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