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2022 Community Stormwater Solutions Grantees
9 grants totaling $320,736
Friends of Anacostia Park
The Friends Corps RSTOR initiative: Community-led watershed rehabilitation - $35,000
The Friends of Anacostia Park's (FoAP) project will enable FoAP to grow the Friends Corps, partner with Casey Trees and Ward 8 Woods to broaden watershed restoration expertise, pilot a community-driven stormwater management campaign, and educate youth and park-goers on the importance of watershed rehabilitation. The Friends Corps is FoAP’s workforce development program trains returning citizens and Ward 7 and 8 residents to lead the revitalization charge in Anacostia Park. Comprised of Park users from Anacostia, the Corps is uniquely positioned to lead the community in the rehabilitation of the watershed because they couple strong, personal ties to Anacostia neighborhoods with technical expertise in land and water management. The Corps RSTOR initiative, or “Reconnecting Stewards to Our River”, is a new initiative that will put Anacostians at the helm of the trash removal, invasives eradication, and tree planting effort in the Park—three focus areas that impact stormwater management and the health of the River.
Urban Learning and Teaching Center
Writing and advocacy in the Anacostia watershed: Wheatley Middle schoolers investigate environmental justice in Trinidad D.C - $25,000
Urban Learning and Teaching Center/Urban Adventure Squad’s project with Wheatley Education Campus will engage over 60 middle schoolers in a classroom-based, environmental justice project that moves watershed education into the English Language Arts curriculum. Through creative writing, outdoor science experiments, and neighborhood investigations, students will 1) explore the historical and current challenges to the Anacostia River, 2) understand the significance of stormwater runoff mitigation, and 3) practice environmental advocacy by creating written capstone projects.
The Anacostia Watershed Society
Mussel Power: Engaging DC students and community members in mussel restoration - $34,000
The Anacostia Watershed Society’s Mussel Power program will engage students and community members in a hands-on, authentic opportunity to help restore the population of native freshwater mussels in the Anacostia River. The school-based program will engage 6 DC schools in raising mussels in their classroom and releasing them into the Anacostia River. Community members will be engaged during a "Mussel May" month of outreach and educational activities in May 2023.
After School All-Stars
Let’s keep owning our communities! - $35,000
After School All-Stars’ project will build on the success of their previous “Own Our Communities” project by bringing programming to two new schools and a new watershed. Students from Hart Middle School and Kramer Middle School will explore the Oxon Run and Anacostia Watersheds, respectively, and then share, compare, and contrast their findings in “A Tale of Two Watersheds” culminating event. Students will research their neighborhood environments and draw connections between the history of how the environment and marginalized social groups intersect, and how they see their communities engaging with their physical environments today. Students will then create artistic projects to get their messages out into their networks and come together to build community and grow the reach of their calls to action.
Ward 8 Woods Conservancy
Ward 7 Woods remediation - $34,755
Ward 8 Woods Conservancy’s project will increase access to nature and creates green jobs for underserved communities in the District of Columbia by reclaiming a key woodland corridor on Federal Parkland in the Anacostia River watershed, currently beset by pollution and invasive plants. The removal of 100,000 pounds of trash and invasive vines choking hundreds of native trees will be accomplished by participants in the Park Steward program, which employs Ward 8 residents who face barriers to employment. The project will include door-to-door canvassing to raise ecological awareness among residents, discourage littering, and recruit at least five households or volunteers to “adopt” and steward wooded areas near their homes.
The Green Scheme
Ward 8 Water Watchers (W8WW) - $32,028
The Green Scheme’s project will offer an expanded series of family-oriented watershed events, further engaging and empowering the community, as well as strengthening our W8WW Ambassadors program and preparing residents to actively participate in planning for the restoration of Oxon Run and Oxon Run Park. The events include nature walks, water quality monitoring, a boat ride, litter pick-up, harvesting produce, and a final celebration to commit to staying a Ward 8 Water Watcher.
Capitol Rowing Club
Capitol Rowing Club: Row and clean the Anacostia Project - $34,677
Capitol Rowing Club’s project will increase access to rowing and organize workshops on cleaning up and protecting rivers for the disabled community and for students. This project will increase diversity in rowing; develop and implement new student-conceived and implemented technologies and ways to clean up and protect the Anacostia River; incentivize and provide mentoring to students to produce new social media and video content on the Anacostia Watershed and rowing; provide new pathways to internships and jobs in the “green economy” and social media sectors; and it will create a best practice model that can be replicated elsewhere in the United States and abroad.
Right Directions
Right Directions stormwater project - $30,000
Right Directions’ project will engage youth from the Washington Highlands community in Ward 8 by providing them with the technical support to test the water streams for quality and pollution running through the Anacostia and the Oxon Run waterway. The youth will take boat trips along the Anacostia River while learning how the trash from our community ends up in the water. Under this grant, approximately 450 pounds of trash and debris will be removed from our waterways.
My Seniors Keeper Foundations
Hybrid stormwater solutions hands-on workshops - $30,000
My Seniors Keeper Foundations’ project will conduct green workforce training for residents in Ward 7, returning citizens, and veterans on how to design, install and maintain green infrastructure projects. The training will focus on the Agritecture of installing a storm capture pavilion, solar panels, and turbines. Participants will also be involved in the design of a stormwater capture irrigation system. The results will be individuals who are trained in protecting their environment while developing transferable and marketable 21st-century green infrastructure workforce skills.
Homes for Hope
Let it rain! - $30,276
Homes for Hope’s project will raise awareness throughout the greater Anacostia neighborhood of DC about water conservation and green infrastructure in an effort to preserve and protect the Anacostia watershed from pollution. Homes for Hope clients and additional members of the community will participate in an educational program about water conservation that will occur twice a week for four months. Participants will also place 50 rain barrels on our site to collect fresh rainwater, and plant 10 trees to beautify the community and prevent surface runoff into the Pope Branch tributary. This will engage the community in beneficial conservation activities and facilitate a community-led green infrastructure project.
2021 Community Stormwater Solutions Grantees
12 grants totaling $342,339
After-School All-Stars: Let's own our community! ($30,000)
As a leading Out-of-School-Time (OST) organization in the District and a community partner for the most disadvantaged sections of the city, After-School All-Stars will engage students, parents, and the broader community in personally and ecologically healthy practices that speak to their values and foster stewardship of the District’s waterways. Modeled after their successful, evidence-based STEM + Arts programming, After-School All-Stars will give thirty middle school students a chance to combine scientific inquiry with self-expression, socio-emotional learning, and historical research into their local environment. Through a visual arts project and poetry/spoken word performance students will educate other members of the community on the challenges facing local waterways, efforts underway to improve water health, and how the entire community can be involved.
Casey Trees: Langdon Park Recreation Center ($24,339)
Casey Trees is proposing year-long project of tree care, renewal of green infrastructure, and construction of a community forest trail at Langdon Park Recreation Center. The project aims to engage community members with the existing forest space of the park through a series of volunteer opportunities focused on maintaining and enhancing the existing trees and other green infrastructure. Additionally, the project will connect the community with their park and the benefits that these trees and other green infrastructure provide including stormwater runoff mitigation, reduced surrounding temperatures, and increased air quality through the proposed community forest trail. Casey Trees will complete this project utilizing twenty years of experience restoring, enhancing, and protecting the tree canopy of the District in a way that is focused on community engagement and rooted in equity.
Constituent Services Worldwide Public Benefit Corporation: Green Infrastructure Environmentalist Apprenticeship Program ($30,000)
The District government has been at the forefront of the Green Infrastructure movement with many of the authors of the National Green Infrastructure Certification Program hailing from the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) Center for Agriculture Urban Sustainability and Environmental Science (CAUSES) Department. The District can seize the opportunity to create the first registered Green Infrastructure Apprenticeship Program in the United States. Constituent Services Worldwide Public Benefit Corporation is proposing a proof of concept pre-apprenticeship program for the creation of the first formal Green Infrastructure Environmentalist apprenticeship.
Designgreen LLC: RiverSmart Rooftops: Expanding Maintenance Capabilities and Inclusion ($30,000)
Green Roofs are a dominate Green Infrastructure technology in the District. The popular RiverSmart Rooftops program has installed about ten green roofs annually for the past fourteen years. The maintenance of most are unknown. Additionally, the Latino Landscape community is underrepresented in this growing share of sustainable job market. Designgreen partners with Chesapeake Conservation Landscaping Counsel – Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professionals and ecoLatinos to address these two shortfalls. Together the trio conducts market research, convenes focus groups to understand needs and communicate opportunities. This data is used to collectively shape a culturally aware Green Roof Maintenance training curriculum, train instructors and pilot a training session on a RiverSmart Rooftop and revise curriculum based on training outcomes.
Designgreen LLC: Takoma Community Collaborative: Implementing Resident Action Plan ($30,000)
Designgreen partnered with the Takoma Community Collaborative to implement the residential action plan an outcome of a series of community-based design charrettes to a long-term persistent flood issue. The flooding directly affects a block of single-family homes, a faith-based anchor institution, and an apartment building. The team worked collectively through a 2020 CSS grant to reach a consensus design and included local students in the process. This effort produced a Green Infrastructure Residential Action plan. The Collective is applying for implementation funds.
Flywheel Development LLC: Fairfax Village Hill Restoration ($23,881)
The Fairfax Village Condominium Community, located in Ward 7, spans 36 acres and consists of 926 residential units and approximately 1,600 residents. The project will involve the creation of consensus-based design drawings to divert and capture stormwater runoff and stabilize a deteriorating slope on the property. The project will involve a community-based process to engage the Fairfax Village residents and design professionals to co-create solutions to this long-standing stormwater erosion problem within the community. The work completed as part of this project will prepare the community to install stormwater remediation measures in a Phase 2 of the project.
Friends of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens: WELLderness: Rediscover Your Backyard Oasis ($18,000)
Friends of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens proposes implementing WELLderness, a year long, multi-faceted outdoor wellness series in the “wilderness” of the Gardens that encourages residents from the surrounding community to utilize this unique setting as the much-needed refuge it is. WELLderness will provide tailored wellness and stewardship projects designed to increase residents’ connection to the park, while improving both the watershed/park and personal health. Activities will include yoga in the park; meditative walks through the Gardens; boating excursions on the Anacostia River; art classes with local artists, using the park as a backdrop, and family volunteer events which deepen their understanding of the watershed.
Living Classrooms Foundation of the National Capital Region: Kingman Explorers ($29,997)
The Kingman Explorers program will bring ~250 under-represented, primarily BIPOC children, caregivers, and youth groups from communities east of the Anacostia River to Kingman and Heritage Islands for free inclusive and equitable out-of-school time (OST) environmental programming that immerses participants in their local urban green space. Programming will engage participants in informal watershed education that cultivates appreciation for the Anacostia and its native flora and fauna and encourages lifelong environmental stewardship. Educators will empower caregivers and youth group leaders to guide children through hands-on exploration and will provide tools and background information.
National Wildlife Federation: Sacred Grounds: Engaging the Hillcrest Community in Caring for Creation in the Anacostia Watershed Phase 2 ($35,000)
In phase 2, the National Wildlife Federation will apply lessons learned to three additional Ward 7 congregations including educational and restoration activities on congregation grounds and their members’ homes. The restoration activities include giving away native plants to 200+ homes and planting native plant gardens on two more congregation grounds. The educational activities will focus on the role of native plant landscaping to help people and wildlife, a community-wide garden tour, church-based and community wide learning activities. Importantly, the National Wildlife Federation will now have four congregations acting as a cohort of ambassadors increasing their effectiveness significantly within this Hillcrest community right alongside the Anacostia River.
Near Southeast Community Partners: 2021 Lluvia Verde: Green Career Recruitment and Training for DC Latinos ($30,000)
Near Southeast (Capital) Community Partners and ecoLatinos will conduct outreach and recruitment activities to introduce entry level participation of the District’s Latinos residents in workforce training on stormwater solutions and career pathways. Through targeted outreach, we will recruit up to 30 Spanish speaking students (age 17 and above) and provide training about stormwater solutions supported by the District of Columbia Department of Energy and Environment’s RiverSmart Homes program. Participants in this program will have an early career introduction to best management practices that will provide a pathway to green jobs focused on stormwater solutions.
The Green Scheme: Ward 8 Water Watchers Returns! ($29,122)
The grant will enable The Green Scheme to build on lessons learned and offer an expanded series of events, further engaging and empowering the community. To be held near Oxon Run and with expected attendance of 210 people, the events will include nature walks, water quality monitoring, an Anacostia River boat ride, litter pick-up, harvesting healthy produce, nature-focused art, and a final celebration to commit to staying a Ward 8 Water Watcher (W8WW). The Green Scheme will also create a curriculum/guidebook and train 3-5 community leaders as W8WW ambassadors who can conduct the activities in the future.
Washington Area Bicyclist Association: DC Youth Watershed Explorers ($22,000)
The DC Youth Watershed Explorers project will provide youth with opportunities to learn about the historical, recreational, and ecological aspects of our waterways, learn about the impact of community actions, and gain tools to explore and care for their watershed. Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) will engage 150 youth and 60 family members during the fall and spring of the 2021-2022 school year. All events will be free of charge, provide loaner bicycles and helmets, and will prioritize low-income households. WABA’s one-day and week-long bicycle explorer camps will coincide with DC Public School and Public Charter School breaks and staff development days, engaging youth in out of school time and providing parents with childcare.
2020 Community Stormwater Solutions Grantees
16 grants totaling $295,002
Anacostia Riverkeeper (ARK): River Service Today, River Stewards Tomorrow ($15,320)
ARK will organize a series of stream visits, trash cleanups, and educational activities with high school students and community members in the targeted sub-watersheds of the Anacostia River watershed in Wards 5, 6, 7, and 8. The project aims to educate students and the community about the amounts and types of litter, how it is brought to the river and shoreline by stormwater, impacts of microplastics pollution, and what students and their communities can do to lesson trash pollution.
Anacostia Watershed Society (AWS): Building Community through Service with Anacostia High School ($15,500)
The Anacostia Watershed Society will engage 20 Anacostia High School students to improve the water quality and habitat of the Anacostia River through interactive learning opportunities and action projects in their Ward 8 community. Through the project, students will learn about their watershed and learn why it is important to take care of the land near the river. Students will design and implement activities that focus on stormwater management, pollution prevention, and watershed restoration solutions. Through this program, students will earn up to 20 community service hours, helping them to meet graduation requirements.
Casey Trees: Trees, Water, and You: Fostering Stewardship on Kingman & Heritage Islands ($19,972)
Casey Trees aims to provide a new perspective of the trees on Kingman and Heritage Islands for youth and adults, demonstrating how trees contribute to the natural space along the Anacostia River. The project will result in digital and print educational resources to provide readily accessible information about the trees on the islands. Casey Trees will host a Community Stewardship Day to introduce these resources in April 2021.
City Blossoms: Environmental Education at the Farm at Kelly Miller ($20,000)
City Blossoms will engage and educate the community and students of Kelly Miller Middle School at the Farm at Kelly Miller on their local ecosystem, water pollution, native flora and fauna, and the Anacostia River. The goal of the project is to foster environmental stewardship through a sense of ownership of the local watershed and ecosystem.
Day Eight: Anacostia Swim Club ($20,000)
Day Eight will engage DC residents in the virtual Anacostia Swim Club, which furthers the goal of a "fishable, swimmable Anacostia River” and highlights the efforts by many partners towards this goal. The project will involve virtual poetry performances through the "DC Poets for DC Schools" program.
Designgreen LLC: Takoma Community Collaborative: Streamway to Greenway ($20,000)
Designgreen partners with the Takoma Community Collaborative to explore green infrastructure solutions through community-based design charrettes with the goal of producing a shovel ready solution to a long-term persistent flood issue. The flooding directly affects a block of single-family homes, a faith-based anchor institution, and an apartment building. The team has tried for ten years to find an existing city program that might solve the issue. Their conclusion, they must work collectively through a community process to reach a consensus design that educates all along the way and creates a cadre of students to help maintain the outcome. This effort produces materials and a process that fill a gap in the District's programs for other communities to follow.
Endangered Species Coalition (ESC): Quincy Entrance and Woodland Improvement Project ($10,000)
ESC is the fiscal sponsor of the Rock Creek Songbirds project, a unique conservation and outreach initiative in Rock Creek Park. Now in its seventh year, the Songbirds project has made significant progress in cooperation with the National Park Service, restoring habitat and engaging residents of one of the city’s most diverse neighborhoods. This project seeks to protect and expand a woodland area adjacent to a neglected major entrance to the park – known informally as “Quincy alley” -- while enhancing public recreation space. The new Songbirds project will see the installation of a natural play space and picnic tables, native tree plantings, and regular programs to make the Quincy alley area a vibrant community and park space.
Friendship Public Charter School: Friendship Collegiate Academy Giving Tree ($20,000)
Friendship Collegiate Academy will create the “Giving Tree,” an artistic vertical garden structure that celebrates and gives life while providing students a “living” platform for scientific discovery. The project will support Collegiate as it engages students and the communities in which they reside. It will also provide a platform to study water quality and stormwater management, pollution prevention, and watershed restoration.
Living Classrooms Foundation of the National Capital Region: Anacostia High School Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience ($19,996)
Living Classrooms will offer a Meaningful Watershed Education Experience (MWEE) to 60 Anacostia High School students focused on stormwater runoff pollution. The program will use Kingman and Heritage Islands in the Anacostia River as a field experience site, and also provides intensive Professional Development for 46 teachers. Students and teachers will learn about the stormwater issues affecting the Anacostia, consider what personal and school-wide efforts can be taken at Kingman and Heritage Islands and within the community to reduce the impact of stormwater runoff pollution, and conduct student-designed action projects, which may include litter collection, plantings, or community advocacy that raises the level of local awareness of and investment in Kingman and Heritage Islands and promotes lifelong watershed stewardship.
National Wildlife Federation: Sacred Grounds: Engaging the Hillcrest Community in Caring for Creation in the Anacostia Watershed ($19,612)
National Wildlife Federation (NWF) partnered with Interfaith Power Light (IPL) and East Washington Heights Baptist Church to educate and encourage the church congregation and Hillcrest neighbors to consider managing stormwater runoff from their property and planting natives to help restore wildlife habitat in the Anacostia River watershed.
Capital Community Partners: Lluvia Verde: Green Career Training for DC Latinos ($15,000)
Capital Community Partners and ecoLatinos will conduct outreach and recruitment activities to increase participation of District Latino residents in workforce training on stormwater solutions by recruiting up to 30 Spanish-speaking students and provide RiverSmart Homes trainings. Training will be conducted through the Catholic Charities’ Pre-Apprenticeship Green Construction Program offered at the Spanish Catholic Center in Columbia Heights. Participants in this program will have an early career introduction to best management practices that will provide a pathway to green jobs focused on stormwater solutions.
Pipkin Creative Communications: Beauty of the Bay Mural ($19,747)
Pipkin Creative Communications will create an original artwork wall mural on a highly visible public wall. The themes will be guided by a professional and experienced muralist who specializes in youth engagement and via public design charrettes. The input for the mural will be derived from several feedback sessions including student focus groups and public meetings. The mural will amplify the message of stewardship of the Chesapeake Bay through images of the plants and animals of the watershed and Bay as well as messages of proper trash disposal. In particular, messaging and themes of no littering and no disposal of trash in storm drains and catch basins.
The Green Scheme: Ward 8 Water Watchers ($19,995)
The Green Scheme and the Audubon Naturalist Society, along with other local partners, will engage 125 people living near Oxon Run in Ward 8 through six family-oriented activities that will include nature walks, harvesting healthy produce, collecting creek critters to determine stream health, picking up litter, nature-focused art, a boat ride exploring a larger waterway, and a final celebration to learn about ways to continue to be a Ward 8 Water Watcher. The ultimate project goal is a cleaner, healthier Oxon Run and a more engaged community that takes action to steward its natural resources.
The Urban Studio: The Virtual Studio: Designing for DC Stormwater ($20,000)
The Virtual Studio: Designing for DC Stormwater project is a series of five Masterclass style learning modules that will be hosted virtually using an interactive webinar format. The program will teach DC high schools students how to design for stormwater virtually on a real site in the Anacostia watershed. The project will connect students with practicing landscape architects, engineers, andurban planners, and will raise awareness around DC stormwater challenges by harnessing the expertise of leaders on the cutting edge of solving stormwater problems. DC students will learn that design is the solution to pollution and are connected to careers that can transform their lives and the city in which they live.
Urban Learning and Teaching Center: Lions in the City: Cleveland Elementary School Waterway Guardians in Shaw ($20,000)
This project is a partnership between Urban Learning and Teaching Center’s Urban Adventure Squad and Cleveland Elementary School. It will immerse the school's 4th and 5th graders in a long-term (SY 20-21), neighborhood-based, watershed education project that will connect them to the Anacostia River, beginning with the storm drain on their block and ending with an adventure on the river. These 4th and 5th graders will share their knowledge with the school's 2nd and 3rd graders to ensure that younger students at the school understand the connection between caring for their neighborhood and caring for their watershed, and so that the project creates a lasting culture of stewardship.
Ward 8 Woods Conservancy: Restore Fort Stanton Park ($19,860)
Ward 8 Woods will help restore Fort Stanton Park by removing litter, cutting back invasive plants, and conducting community outreach to engage residents in its revitalization.
2019 Community Stormwater Solutions Grantees
11 grants totaling $217,330
Anacostia Coordinating Council (ACC): Suitland Parkway Woods Project ($20,000)
ACC is the fiscal sponsor for the Suitland Parkway Woods Project, which will employ five residents of Ward 8 as Park Stewards to remove invasive plants and litter from the natural areas around Suitland Parkway. The project builds off the highly successful 2018 "Ward 8 Woods" Community Stormwater Solutions Grant by the same group.
Anacostia Riverkeeper (ARK): CleanSweep in Targeted Subwatersheds ($19,043)
ARK will conduct community trash cleanups and other outreach events with residents of the following targeted subwatersheds: Hickey Run, Nash Run, Watts Branch, Pope Branch. The project will educate citizens about the volumes of trash introduced to District's watersheds by stormwater runoff and the resulting impact on water quality. In addition, ARK will move its Litter Letters, a large 3D sculpture funded by a 2018 Community Stormwater Solutions Grant, from Anacostia Park to Kingman Island.
Constituent Services Worldwide Public Benefit Corporation (CSWPBC): Green Infrastructure Pathways Project ($20,000)
CSWPCB will employ seven District residents who face significant challenges to employment in a 100-hour post-certification, on-the-job training program. Participants will gain paid, interim work experience. Topics will include safety, tool handling, green infrastructure maintenance, invasive species removal, tree maintenance, and rain barrel installation.
Design Virtue: Studio DC: Developing Community Stormwater Solutions ($20,000)
Design Virtue will engage ten high school students on how to apply design thinking to water quality issues right in their own watersheds. The project will take place over ten Saturday workshops where students will explore Hickey Run, Nash Run, Watts Branch, and Kingman/Heritage Islands. Students will choose, create, and present their own watershed design projects to members of their families, communities, and design professionals and on social media to help raise awareness and bring about behavior change.
Earth Conservation Corps (ECC): Anacostia Raptor Watch Pilot Program ($20,000)
ECC will engage with students from the Houston Elementary School after-care program as they together explore the Nash Run subwatershed through direct service and hands-on citizen science programs including a school litter clean up and waste audit. Youth will learn about water quality issues, including the impacts of litter, invasive species, and green infrastructure.
Forma-i: Plastic Upcycling Workshops ($18,890)
Forma-i will educate and engage children and adults about plastics consumption habits and the risks of waste production, littering, and ecosystem destruction through five hands-on workshops starting with a community litter clean-up event. Subsequent workshops would employ a plastic transformer machine that breaks down plastics making them into new forms like bowls, jewelry, tile, and waste baskets.
Friends of the National Arboretum (FONA): The Green Ambassadors Guild ($20,000)
FONA will expand the Saturday Guild Program into a six-week summer program. Youth participants will explore environmental stewardship, including litter clean-ups, invasive species removal, an Anacostia River boat tour, rain garden maintenance, water quality testing, and other educational workshops.
Living Classrooms: Kingman Island Access Beautification Community Arts Project ($19,397.39)
Living Classrooms will work with about 100 Ward 7 residents to beautify the approach of Kingman and Heritage Islands via the Benning Road Ethel Kennedy Bridge with a community arts project. Volunteers will stencil 88 concrete wall panels along the bridge with wildlife designs selected by the communities. The project includes litter cleanups and a community boat tour.
Step Afrika!: Step Fest, an Activation of Kingman Island ($20,000)
Step Afrika! will produce Step Fest, a one-day event in August 2019 on Kingman and Heritage Islands. Funding will support general operations, marketing the event to local communities, support dance troops performing at the event, and watershed activities taking place at the event.
Urban Learning and Teaching Center (ULTC): Geocaching DC’s Waterways ($20,000)
ULTC will work with students at DC Bilingual PCS, Elsie Whitlow Stokes PCS, and Creative Minds International PCS to create a Geocaching series that educates the public and raises awareness about stormwater runoff, its effects on the pollution of the Anacostia River, and how to mitigate it.
Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA): Trail Rangers Expansion and Engagement in the Watts Branch Corridor ($20,000)
WABA will engage residents in the Watts Branch corridor to connect them with nearby trails,(Marvin Gaye Trail, Anacostia River Trail, and Suitland Parkway Trail), through organized rides and signage. Funding will also extend the trail rangers seasons to include the month of October, when bike ridership levels in the community are still high. Trail rangers will conduct trash cleanups and invasive species removal in these areas as well.
2018 Community Stormwater Solutions Grantees
10 grants totaling $181,985.
American University: MGC Green Roof Redevelopment Project ($20,000)
American University will redesign and renovate an existing, poorly functioning green roof with the objective of improving the stormwater holding capacity, increase pollinator productivity, and promote educational opportunities.
Anacostia Coordinating Council: Engaging Ward 8 Residents In Forest Restoration ($20,000)
Anacostia Coordinating Council and the Committee to Restore Shepherd Parkway will launch a pilot program to hire Ward 8 residents as Park Stewards. The steward will engage and educate neighbors of Oxon Run, Suitland Parkway, and Fort Stanton about the importance of litter prevention and illegal dumping.
Anacostia Riverkeeper: Litter Letter Project ($20,000)
Anacostia Riverkeeper will create a temporary art installation with an anti-littering message for the 2018 Year of the Anacostia.
Anacostia Waterfront Trust: Anacostia River Mobile “ParKit” ($19,999)
Anacostia Waterfront Trust will build and deploy a mobile green infrastructure educational toolkit called the "ParKit". The ParKit will be a multifunctional mobile green infrastructure demonstration tool and green space community amenity kit.
Anacostia Watershed Society: Healthier Communities, Healthier Anacostia River ($20,000)
Anacostia Watershed Society will work with Lamond-Riggs Civic Association, Langston Civic Association, and Historic Anacostia Block Association to build watershed awareness and foster community among neighbors through environmental engagement opportunities during the Year of the Anacostia.
Bancroft Elementary Parent Teacher Organization: Piney Branch Restoration Project ($19,986)
Bancroft Elementary Parent Teacher Organization will engage students and the community to restore woodland habitat on the slopes of Piney Branch valley that have suffered years of neglect. The project will raise awareness through education, outdoor activities, and community partnerships regarding the effects of stormwater run-off and the importance of environmentally healthy parkland.
Changing Perceptions: Changing Perceptions-Building Opportunity and Awareness ($20,000)
Changing Perceptions will work with returning citizens in the skills to own and run a stormwater solutions business. The project includes litter cleanup events, and free community seminars on native plants and gardening.
The George Washington University: GW Litter Collection and Characterization ($2,000)
The George Washington University will perform three waste characterization studies to evaluate the success of their existing zero waste strategies and to assist with increasing campus awareness of pollution prevention and the negative impacts of pollution on water quality.
Urban Learning and Teaching Center: D.C.’s Hidden Waterways ($20,000)
Urban Learning and Teaching Center, Urban Adventure Squad will partner with Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School to develop and implement stormwater curriculum for students in grades kindergarten through 5th. The curriculum will include field trips and hands-on activities about hidden waterbodies, stream restoration, and stormwater runoff.
Washington Parks & People: Think Outside Down by the Riverside ($20,000)
Washington Parks & People will expand their “Think Outside” campaign to incorporate invasive species removal, native trees, green infrastructure maintenance, perennial planting, and litter prevention.
The project includes organizing a community-led design workshop charrette to explore opportunities for new green infrastructure at Marvin Gaye Park.
2017 Community Stormwater Solutions Grantees
11 grants totaling $208,812,985.
Anacostia Watershed Society - Awareness through Art: Storm Drain Murals Project ($20,000)
Anacostia Waterfront Trust - Anacostia River Watershed Photo Database ($20,000)
Anacostia Waterfront Trust - Anacostia StoryMap: River of Resilience ($20,000)
Building Bridges Across the River - THEARC Living Classroom ($20,000)
Capital City Public Charter School - Trash Talk – Student-led Action Projects ($19,055)
Dance Place - 8th Street Arts Park Artistic Downspout and Trash Receptacles ($18,230)
Designgreen, LLC - Inspector Green ($19,980)
Earth Conservation Corps - Henson the Heron Plastic Bottle Sculpture ($19,987)
National Housing Trust – Enterprise Preservation Corporation - Copeland Manor Resident Engagement and Storm Drain Mural Project ($20,000)
Natural Resources Design, Inc - RiverTools: Training Maintenance Kit for Schools ($20,000)
Rooted and Sustained, LLC – Strengthening Community and Watershed Stewardship in River Terrace ($11,560)
2016 Community Stormwater Solutions Grantees
9 grants totaling $156,500.
Anacostia Watershed Society – Saving our Native Grasslands (SONG) - $13,000
Bona Terra – Sousa Middle School Rain Garden and Sculpture - $20,000
Dance Place – 8th Street Arts Park Native Gardens - $20,000
Endangered Species Coalition – Rock Creek Songbirds -$18,500
Forest Hills Neighborhood Alliance – Broad Branch and Linnean Stream Restoration and Education - $19,650
George Washington University – GroW Garden Rainwater Catchment System - $5,900
Landscape Architecture Foundation – RiverSmart Homes Rain Garden Evaluation - $19,990
Living Classrooms – Watershed Watchers - $20,000
University of the District of Columbia – East Capitol Urban Farm GZEP Education and Green Roof Project - $19,460