By Dana Steward, Youth Grants Committee
The Ozark Society Youth Grant Committee has announced its grant awards for this year. Nine school and non-profits agencies have received $11,700 in grants ranging from $370 to $2,500. Students in kindergarten through grade twelve from the Ozarks Region and chapter regions are eligible for Ozark Society Youth Grants, with this year’s nine recipients coming from Arkansas, Missouri, and Louisiana.
The Ozark Society initiated its Youth Grant awards in 2020. Recognizing that education in hands-on conservation and environmental sustainability is critical to our future, the Society determined to inspire the next generation to take part in protecting the Ozarks and nearby natural areas. With the addition of this year’s awards, since its inception, the Youth Fund has distributed $62,482 to 42 schools and non-profit groups, which have involved 9,500 children and youth engaged in building gardens and greenhouses, community clean-up and restoration, interactive education, watershed conservation, trail building, and more.
This year’s winners and their exciting projects include:
PTA Arkansas Congress Pulaski Heights Elementary, $2200…Birds In Our Backyard
Ozark Natural Science Center, $970…Turtle Tracking
Leverett Elementary School, Fayetteville, $573.85…Native Plant Pollinator Garden
Trail Mix NWA, $2531.47…Backyard Habitat Builders Series
Old Main Middle School, Bentonville, $533…Wings and Things (Butterfly) Pollinator Garden
Fayetteville High School Environmental Science, $1,750…No-Mow Pollinator Garden
Ozark Resource Center, West Plains, MO, $700…Farm Unfixed (Restoring springs)
Dickerson Park Zoo, Springfield, MO, $1500…Songbird Habitat
Caddo Parish, LA 4-H, $1,500…Environmental Awareness Project.
The Youth Grant Fund is supported by The Walton Family Foundation and the Ozark Society membership.
Applications for the next cycle of funding begins in November, 2025. You can help the Grant Committee in two ways in supporting the Youth Fund Grants. First, please promote the grant to your local youth groups and schools and encourage them to think of worthy projects that fit the criteria of youth involvement in environmental education and conservation. And second, help this project grow by supporting the Youth Fund with your gifts, so that more grants can be awarded. Gifts to the fund make excellent honorariums or memorials. Pass it on.
Information about the how to apply for a grant or how to give are on the Ozark Society Youth Grants Web Page.
www.ozarksociety.net/ozark-society-awards-grants-scholarships/ozark-society-youth-grants/