DEP, Partners To Offer Environmental Education Grant Writing Workshops

The Department of Environmental Protection and its partners — the Department of Education, Wildwood Park, Lake Erie-Allegheny Earth Force and the Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve at St. Vincent College — will offer three workshops, “Successful Environmental Education Grant Writing Strategies,” to be held on the following dates and locations across the state:

-- September 2 Wildwood Park’s Benjamin Olewine III Nature Center, Harrisburg, in partnership with Wildwood Park;

-- October 5 Tom Ridge Environmental Center, Erie, in partnership with the Lake Erie-Allegheny Earth Force: and

-- October 22 Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve at St. Vincent College, Latrobe, in partnership with WPNR at St. Vincent College.

The workshops will be held from 8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

These workshops, available at no cost, are geared for teachers, school district curriculum specialists, intermediate unit staff, nature center and other environmental educators, county conservation district staff, college and university outreach staff and other non-profit conservation, education organization staff.

Workshop participants will learn about changes to DEP’s 2010 Environmental Education Grants Program and strategies to prepare a successful grant application. Attending teachers will be eligible for 5.5 Act 48 credit hours.

“These workshops are designed to help organizations better understand the goals and objectives of DEP’s Environmental Education Grants Program," DEP’s Director of Environmental Education Jack Farster said. "There are major changes in DEP’s Environmental Education Grants Program, and workshop participants will not only learn about the program changes, but also identify topics and strategies to prepare a winning proposal.”

To register for the other workshops, individuals should contact Ann Devine, in DEP’s Environmental Education and Information Center, at 717-772-1644 or send email to: adevine@state.pa.us by August 26. Space is limited, so registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis.

For more information, visit the Environmental Education Grants Program webpage.