Outdoor Rec. Roundtable Launches 3rd Round of Grants – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR) announced the opening of the third round of its rural implementation grant opportunity for rural communities to grow their local economies and make them more resilient through outdoor recreation. These grants are made possible through funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation and are part of ORR’s commitment to provide support, information, and resources to rural communities seeking to create economic opportunities through outdoor recreation, according to a release.
“Outdoor recreation is a powerful economic driver to the tune of $1.1 trillion nationally and a major economic force in scores of rural communities in every state. These grants will provide vital resources and support to help communities expand access to outdoor recreation as a driver of economic development while also improving the health and well-being of residents and visitors alike. We are excited about the innovative projects that will come to life through these investments as well as the increased access to and inclusion in the outdoors,” stated ORR President Jessica Wahl Turner.
This marks the third round of ORR’s successful grant program that debuted in 2021 and comes on the heels of the release of the organization’s updated Rural Economic Development Toolkit at the beginning of 2024. Last year’s grants in California, Colorado, Georgia, Montana, and Vermont supported projects including a business support grant to help position a bike shop as a central hub for the community with contemporary renovations, a bilingual outdoor recreation marketing hub and campaign, a statue to mark the beginning of a trail and the region’s significance to the Cherokee people, a centralized/primary information website to provide information about an area’s recreation activities, and the restoration of a trail destroyed by catastrophic flooding.
This grant round is open to a wider audience with eligible applicants including any participants in either cohort of the Recreation Economy for Rural Communities (RERC) Program who have not yet received funding from ORR. RERC provides technical assistance to communities who are looking to build or grow sustainable recreation economies and RERC staff have recently completed workshops in all awarded communities. In two rounds of the program, nearly 300 applications were received, indicating the widespread demand for outdoor recreation economy development across the United States.
Four grants of $10,000 will be awarded alongside in-kind technical assistance from ORR and its members to rural communities with compelling recreation economy implementation proposals. For communities with big plans and limited bandwidth, grants like these can help unlock federal, state, and local match dollars from programs like USDA Rural Development, state infrastructure funds, and interest from private foundations.
ORR works to illustrate the benefits of outdoor recreation to rural communities as well as ongoing needs to support economic diversification and resilience through outdoor recreation. This includes a map of over 160 communities from across the United States actively seeking assistance to achieve their outdoor recreation and economic development goals.
Apply for the Grant Here
ABOUT ORR
The Outdoor Recreation Roundtable is the nation’s leading coalition of outdoor recreation associations representing the more than 110,000 outdoor businesses in the recreation economy and the full spectrum of outdoor-related activities. The most recent data from the U.S. Department of Commerce shows that outdoor recreation generated $1.1 trillion and 5 million American jobs in 2022, comprising 2.2% of the nation’s economy and 3.2% of all employees in the country.
