Unity Gardens is currently accepting proposals for native gardening projects in Anne Arundel County through August 1, 2024. Unity Gardens awards grants to homeowners associations, houses of worship and local nonprofits to complete citizen-led conservation landscaping projects in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. These projects include stormwater gardens, erosion prevention projects and pollinator gardens, all using Maryland native trees, shrubs, perennials and grasses.
In this grant cycle, Unity Gardens is offering grants of up to $3,000 for the planting of native trees and shrubs in addition to the standard grant of up to $1,000 for native perennials. Priority is being given to applications for native trees and shrubs in this grant cycle.
Eligible applicants should create a plan and budget for their potential project and apply online. The Unity Gardens website provides information on how to plan a garden and where to purchase native plants. Additionally, Unity Gardens volunteers will meet with potential grant recipients to discuss their ideas and advise them on next steps. Interested parties can visit unitygardens.org. The fall application deadline is Aug. 1.
Unity Gardens also encourages the use of funds to support the creation of the Maryland Pollinator Corridor, an effort to establish habitats and food sources for bees, butterflies and other pollinator insects along a series of continuous corridors along the East Coast. The effort began in Connecticut in 2017, and this year Anne Arundel County residents began certifying existing pollinator-friendly habitats and planting new ones.
Unity Garden is a nonprofit based in Anne Arundel County that helps build community partnerships through its grassroots grants program.
Since 2003, Unity Gardens has provided grants to schools, religious organizations, homeowners associations, scout troops and other nonprofits that need plant funds to realize their conservation landscaping plans. In the past 20 years, Unity Gardens has donated more than $600,000 to more than 600 organizations in Anne Arundel County.
Unity Garden's mission is to empower and educate Anne Arundel County's diverse communities, one native garden at a time, to create and sustain healthy ecological spaces that enrich lives.
