Youth Watershed Education Grants

Background

The City of San José Environmental Services Department has a vested interest in conserving water and protecting our waterways. The Department provides four major water-related services to the community:

1. The San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant, located in Alviso, treats wastewater from homes and businesses in eight South Bay cities.
2. South Bay Water Recycling supplies treated wastewater for outdoor landscaping and industrial uses.
3. The municipal water system supplies water to the Evergreen, North San José, Alviso, Coyote, and Edenvale communities.
4. Environmental enforcement inspectors help prevent pollution by providing education, outreach, and technical assistance to businesses and residents and by enforcing federal, state, and local regulations regarding industrial waste and stormwater runoff.

Purpose

Youth Watershed Education Grants are designed to promote understanding and stewardship of the Santa Clara Basin Watershed among South Bay youth (in grades K-12) by supporting innovative projects for youth education, curriculum development, adoption and implementation of published watershed-based curricula, and teacher/youth leader training. Project development should address at least one of the following key concepts:

1. We need to protect our watershed. After we finish using water, it doesn't just go away. There are two main paths by which our wastewater eventually goes to the Bay: (1) the storm drain system that flows through neighborhood creeks and (2) the sanitary sewer system that flows to the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant for treatment. Both our creeks and the Bay are part of our watershed, which provides us with benefits worth protecting. The way we use water and chemicals impacts the health of our watershed. We're sending too many pollutants to the Bay. We need to prevent pollution by properly disposing of chemicals we commonly use (i.e. motor oil, pesticides, and paint).
2. The San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant is important. This state-of-the-art facility protects the Bay by treating and cleaning about 100,000,000 gallons of wastewater each day from homes and businesses in San José, Santa Clara, Milpitas, Cupertino, Campbell, Los Gatos, Saratoga, and Monte Sereno. Most of the treated water is released into the Alviso marshlands of the South Bay as fresh water to support aquatic life. Some is piped back to the community as recycled water for use in outdoor landscaping or in industry.
3. Water conservation is important in the South Bay. We're sending too much fresh water into the salt marshes, the habitat of two endangered species (California clapper rail and salt marsh harvest mouse). We need to live in harmony with our watershed, and we need to save endangered species habitat by conserving water -- drought or no drought. Recycled water is important resource and part of our water supply future.

Goals

1. To provide educators and youth leaders with resources to pursue age-appropriate, watershed educational activities that encourage hands-on, interdisciplinary learning.
2. To foster creative and self-sustaining pilot projects that can later be shared and replicated by a wider audience of youth educators.
3. To encourage partnerships and collaborations among existing organizations that promote stewardship of the Santa Clara Basin Watershed.

Funding Cycle

The City of San José, Environmental Services Department has set aside up to $50,000 as a donor-advised fund with the Community Foundation Silicon Valley for the fiscal year July 2007 through June 2008. Grant requests for watershed projects may range from $500 through $5,000. Funds will be disbursed over the course of one grant cycle as follows:

Funding will be distributed only to the schools or nonprofit, nonsectarian organizations with which the applicant/project manager is affiliated - not to individuals.

Who May Apply

To be eligible for a Youth Watershed Grant, the applicant/project manager should be an educator or youth leader affiliated with a school or a charitable, nonprofit, nonsectarian organization (e.g., PTA or educational foundation) serving youth in grades K-12 within the cities of San José, Santa Clara, Milpitas, Cupertino, Campbell, Los Gatos, Saratoga, or Monte Sereno.

The applicant/project manager or those involved in implementing the project should have experience in at least one of the following areas: (1) conducting hands-on environmental education activities for youth; (2) implementing curricula or developing new curricular activities for youth between the ages of 5 and 18; or (3) training educators or peers in curricular activities.

What We Support

• Innovative classroom projects that promote understanding and stewardship of the Santa Clara Basin Watershed
• Watershed action projects for youth
• Watershed-based curriculum implementation (existing or new), including interdisciplinary approaches
• Watershed education training for educators (K-12) or youth activity leaders
• Hands-on experience and involvement with the watershed as related to curricular activities, such as field trips to local creeks or wetlands

What We Don't Support

• Purchase of supplies or equipment not related to watershed education activities
• Costs of receptions
• Events where fund-raising is a primary purpose
• Deficit or debt reduction efforts
• Ongoing operational costs
• Project components already fully supported by the Watershed Management Initiative's Water Action Fund funding
• Funding to individuals
• Program activities affiliated with a sectarian organization
• Program activities for youth outside the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant Tributary Area (San Jose, Santa Clara, Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Milpitas, Monte Sereno and Saratoga)

Funded Projects

How to Apply

Complete ALL three steps below:

Step 1: Return the completed application, including Cover/Budget Form, Proof of Charitable Organization Status, and answers to all Application Questions, by 5 PM Friday, October 19, 2007. Both electronic files and hard copies are required as noted in Steps 2 and 3.

Download the 2007 Grant Application Questions and Cover Form (MS Word format, 75 KB).

Step 2: E-mail your completed Cover/Budget Form and answers to all Application Questions (as either MS Word or pdf document attachments) to: tamara.gilbert@sanjoseca.gov

Step 3: Mail or hand-deliver 10 copies of the entire application package to:

City of San José — Environmental Services
Attention: Tamara Gilbert
200 E. Santa Clara Street, 10th Floor Tower
San José, CA 95113-1905

We encourage you to ask any questions you may have before applying for a grant. Please direct your questions on Youth Watershed Education Grants to:

Kara Novogradac
Phone: (408) 277-2807
Fax: (408) 277-5775
Email: kara.novogradac@sanjoseca.gov

Reporting Requirements

Grant recipients will be required to submit a final report on the outcome of the implementation their grant project and grant award expenditures.

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