Project Learning Tree Gets Grant

CONCORD, NH - The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation announced $83,900 in grant awards from its Wellborn Ecology Fund to provide support to place-based ecology education programs throughout New Hampshire and Vermont’s Upper Valley, according to a press statement.

Since its inception in 2001, the fund has awarded grants totaling more than $5 million to 120 organizations and programs throughout the Upper Valley.

These place-based ecology education programs increase knowledge of natural systems, provide opportunities for “hands-on” nature study, increase environmental skills, create links and networks among people and institutions and expand overall environmental education capacity in the region.

The Wellborn Ecology Fund was established at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation through a bequest by the late Marguerite Wellborn, a former Hanover resident and avid naturalist with an enduring passion for studying and protecting the natural world.

According to the press statement, the NH Project Learning Tree of Concord was awarded $5,000 to support training for teachers in Newport on field investigations and using science notebooks. The Newport School District also received $5,000 to repair a boardwalk that provides access to the Sugar River and nearby wetlands for school curriculum and nature study.

In 2013, the Foundation announced it would utilize Wellborn grants and other resources to increase access to high-quality, place-based ecology education in schools, with particular emphasis on K-8 education in underserved New Hampshire school districts, such as Claremont, Mascoma and Newport.

“We are working closely with leaders in the Mascoma, Newport and Claremont school districts to develop a long-term partnership to offer more place-based ecology education opportunities in their schools,” said Kevin Peterson, senior program officer and Wellborn program manager at the Charitable Foundation. “Many of these grants enhance hands-on, nature-based learning in these three districts, as well as ongoing professional development for teachers, thereby advancing Marguerite Wellborn’s vision of greater ecological literacy.”

For more information about the Wellborn Ecology Fund, visit nhcf.org/wellborn or contact Kevin Peterson at 603-225-6641 ext. 21270 or kp@nhcf.org.