Grants
At a Glance: Grant Programs in North Carolina
local governments
assisted through PARTF
local government projects
funded with PARTF assistance (as of Jan. 1, 2024)
PARTF grants
awarded to local government projects (as of Jan. 1, 2024)
local governments
assisted through LWCF
local government projects
funded with LWCF assistance
LWCF grants
awarded to local government projects
Types of Parks and Recreation Grants
Parks and Recreation Trust Fund Grant
The PARTF grant cycle begins in the fall, with the application due in late spring or early summer of the following year. Grant recipients are announced in early fall.
Land and Water Conservation Fund Federal Grant
In order to streamline the application process, the Division of Parks and Recreation is moving to a single application date beginning in the 2025 application cycle. All applications for funding are due on Aug. 1, 2024. Recommended projects will be submitted to the National Park Service during the 2025 application cycle.
RRS Grant Locator Tool
The map below can be viewed in a full window on the ARCGIS website.
Recreation Grants and Outreach
About the Program
The Recreation Grants and Outreach team with the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation provides local governments guidance in applying for and managing grants that "help build happiness" all over the state of North Carolina through land acquisition for and development of parks and recreation facilities. Our goal is to assist communities all across the state in their efforts to improve their parks and recreation services, which in turn improves the quality of life for their citizens and helps make their communities more inviting to businesses, new residents, and visitors.
Recreation Grants and Outreach Staff
| Manager | Vonda Martin vonda.martin@ncparks.gov 919-707-9338 |
|---|---|
| Grants Specialist (PARTF, AFP) | Lillian Heaton lillian.heaton@ncparks.gov. 919-707-9362 |
| Grants Specialist (LWCF, ORLP) | Vacant grants@ncparks.gov |
| Mailing Address | 1615 Mail Service Center Raleigh, NC 27699-1615 |
| Physical Address | N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation Nature Research Center, 2nd floor 121 W. Jones St. Raleigh, NC 27603 |
Recreation Resources Services
About RRS
Recreation Resources Service is a technical assistance program jointly administered by the Division and North Carolina State University's Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management.
With its team of consultant, RRS regularly helps local governments submit grant proposals and follows through with project inspections, application processing, conversion issues, and closeout processing.
Technical assistance also includes: assistance with the establishment of new parks and recreation departments; organization and training for new parks and recreation advisory boards; benefits-based programming; playground safety; Job Service Bulletins; grants; and workshops.
Grant funds are distributed through a reimbursement program with RRS consultants processing the reimbursement requests and forwarding them to the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources for payment.
RRS annually conducts the North Carolina Municipal and County Parks and Recreation Services Study. Three research themes (salaries, fees/charges, facilities inventory), budget data, and special interest area data are sought from every public parks and recreation department. With roughly 50 percent responding, about 35,000 data points are collected. That is used to generate an executive summary and is used to generate special request studies, such as salary and fee comparisons.
Annually, RRS also sponsors continuing education opportunities for parks and recreation professionals and citizen board members.