2019 Elizabeth Schultz Environmental Fund grants Awarded

A grant program designed to encourage organizations to create new and innovative ways to support and understand the local environment has awarded four local projects a total of $21,750 in grant support.

Retired KU professor Elizabeth Schultz created the environmental fund at the Douglas County Community Foundation in 2005 with a simple mission in mind, “I wanted our community to ‘focus on the crocus’,” said Schultz.

Schultz, along with a committed group of advisory committee members, reviewed grant applications in late October and grants were awarded at a special Douglas County Community Foundation event on November 13. Committee members include: Sharon Ashworth, Sarah Hill-Nelson, Nancy Jackson, Dan Nagengast, and Elizabeth Schultz.

The Elizabeth Schultz Environmental Fund (ESEF) awards grants each year to support a variety of local efforts to preserve and understand nature.

The four projects receiving support this year will all benefit the citizens of Douglas County in a variety of ways.

The 2019 grants were awarded to the following organizations and projects:
The Sunrise Project/LCFA, Sunrise Youth Program: Growing Roots, $9,000.
Friends of the Kaw, Inc., Water’s Journey: Discovery of the many paths, purposes and protection of our precious water, $6,000.
Bishop Seabury Academy, Protected Outdoor Learning Habitat, $5,000.
Children’s Learning Center, Inc., Natural Playscape and Garden Playground, $1,750.

DCCF will be following the progress of each of these projects over the next year. ESEF grants are designed to benefit all of Douglas County and nonprofits throughout the community, including Baldwin City, Eudora, Lawrence and Lecompton, are encouraged to apply. Applications will be available in September of 2020.