Through its Environmental Education Grants Program, the Trust seeks to increase public awareness and involvement in the Bay and its rivers by providing environmental education grants that expand county-wide K through 12 Bay and river education programs and build green school ground projects that serve as models for schools across the state. The Environmental Education Grant Program was established to provide accessible funds to schools, universities, non-profit organizations, and agencies for projects that:

o Support comprehensive environmental education initiatives that engage large numbers of students in classroom learning and hands-on outdoor experiences that strengthen their knowledge about the Bay and its rivers;  

o Provide professional development teacher training opportunities to equip teachers with the information, methods, and experiences to teach high quality environmental education programs to students;

o Develop information and resources, such as curriculum and outdoor education programming, that assist administrators, principals, and teachers in aligning Bay education programming with student achievement standards;

o Support environmental education programming that provides issues-based learning experiences, promotes hands-on, field-based learning, and develops awareness, increases knowledge, and creates the capacity for positive action for the Bay and local environments. 

o Encourage students to get outdoors and to experience the environment by providing support for field trips to the Bay and local rivers, and for schoolyard habitat projects that reinforce classroom learning and that serve as living classrooms for students over time;

o Promote the use of assessments and evaluations to gauge the effectiveness of environmental education programming against established goals, and to adapt and make changes to programs to improve them over time.  

Environmental Education grant awards can be requested in two categories: Schoolyard Habitat grants awards are between $5,001 and $15,000, and Expanded Bay and River Education Program grant awards are between $5,001 and $35,000.