2021 Urban and Community Foresty Challenge Cost Share Grant Program | USDA FS UCF 010 2021

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA FS UCF 010 2021

The 2021 Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost Share Grant Program is a competitive, discretionary grant opportunity from the USDA Forest Service (Urban and Community Forestry Program) designed to strengthen urban and community forests across the United States. The program is framed around the idea that healthy city forests and green infrastructure are essential public assets that support economic stability, environmental quality, and human health, including mental and physical well-being. The funding is meant to address growing pressures on urban tree canopy and green infrastructure, especially threats such as invasive insects and diseases, extreme weather, and other climate-driven hazards. A central theme is that underinvestment in prevention and mitigation has real consequences, including urban flooding and dangerous heat exposure, and that these impacts often fall hardest on vulnerable and environmental justice communities. The Forest Service is looking for systemic, scalable solutions that place trees and green infrastructure in the right locations and at the right scale, while also considering social, economic, ecological, and historical context.

The grant competition is organized into two main project categories. The first category, Increasing Resiliency of Urban Forests through Reforestation and Management, supports innovative approaches to establishing and managing climate-resilient urban trees. Proposals are expected to focus on long-term forest health and durability, including careful species selection, increased species diversity, and improved genetic diversity to avoid overreliance on single-genotype cultivars that may look good short term but can fail under future pest, disease, or climate stress. The Forest Service encourages projects that use native species and emphasize genetically diverse, locally sourced seed stock, along with new or improved planting and propagation protocols. Projects in this category should also build community capacity by sharing power with local partners and stakeholders, and by providing education, training, outreach, and monitoring methods that communities can sustain. Importantly, funded work is expected to translate into on-the-ground implementation tied to a comprehensive city or community master plan. Project timelines should include installation, maintenance, and monitoring, and generally cannot exceed five years. This category is aligned with Goal 4 of the National Ten Year Urban and Community Forestry Action Plan (2016-2026), which focuses on strengthening urban forest health and biodiversity for long-term resilience.

The second category, Planning Disaster Mitigation Strategies for Urban Forests, focuses on disaster risk reduction, climate preparedness, and community resilience through better management of existing and future urban forests. Proposals are expected to integrate urban forestry into broader disaster mitigation planning, with a strong emphasis on benefits for environmental justice communities where trees can provide equitable access to shade, reduce heat exposure, improve air quality, and help manage stormwater to reduce flooding. The Forest Service is seeking projects that convene cross-sector partners such as residents, planners, city and state officials, urban forestry professionals, and resilience and sustainability experts. Eligible activities can span prevention, planning, policy, preparedness, implementation, best management practices and maintenance standards, risk mitigation, recovery strategies, social equity approaches, and reforestation. The agency is looking for replicable models, not one-off plans, and expects on-the-ground implementation elements such as building local capacity to incorporate green infrastructure into public-space planning, infrastructure projects, and private development decisions, along with cost-benefit comparisons, monitoring, and reporting of results. If tree planting is included, it should be connected to (or become part of) an overall community tree planting plan within a comprehensive master plan, and proposals should account for maintenance needs in both the workplan and budget. This category aligns with Goal 1 of the National Ten Year Urban and Community Forestry Action Plan (2016-2026), which emphasizes integrating urban and community forestry into all scales of planning.

Across both categories, proposals must fit the Urban and Community Forestry Program authorities established by Congress under the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act (Section 9) and must clearly align with either Goal 1 or Goal 4 of the national action plan. Partnership and collaboration are mandatory: projects must involve at least two related stakeholders, include formal letters of partnership, and may also include letters of support from additional stakeholders where relevant. Applicants are also directed to contact their Forest Service Regional Coordinator (Urban Forestry Program Manager) before applying to get program guidance and resolve questions, which signals that alignment with program intent and eligibility requirements is a key part of a competitive submission.

Funding is provided as a national cost share grant program. Based on the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. 116-260), the Forest Service indicated up to $1,000,000 total may be available nationally depending on proposal quality and overall funding availability, and funds are intended to support projects on non-federal public land with national or multi-state impact and applicability. Individual awards list a ceiling of $300,000, with an expectation of about six awards. Typical project performance periods average two to three years, with the possibility of extending up to five years if approved. The application-to-award process itself is noted as taking roughly four months.

Eligibility is broad and includes nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)), public and private institutions of higher education, federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations, and a range of local and state government entities (including cities, counties, special districts, school districts, and certain housing authorities). The opportunity also notes eligibility for state organizations representing multi-state or national proposals, reflecting the emphasis on broader impact beyond a single neighborhood or city. An important restriction is that an organization may apply under both categories, but it can receive no more than one award.

A strict matching requirement applies: grant funds must be matched at least dollar-for-dollar with non-federal contributions. Acceptable match can include in-kind services, volunteer time, and non-federal public or private cash contributions, but other federal funds cannot be used to satisfy the match requirement (even if other federal dollars or technical assistance may support the broader effort). Applicants must also be prepared for standard federal registration requirements, including maintaining a current DUNS number (as stated in the notice) and registration in the System for Award Management (SAM). The notice also emphasizes ensuring indirect cost rates are current where applicable and advises applicants to allow at least two weeks to establish or renew required registrations. The original closing date for this specific 2021 opportunity was April 16, 2021, under Funding Opportunity Number USDA FS UCF 010 2021 and CFDA 10.675.

• The Department of Agriculture, Forest Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "2021 Urban and Community Foresty Challenge Cost Share Grant Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.675.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 10, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 16, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $300,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 6 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for USDA FS UCF 010 2021

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