2023-2024 Civic Contributions Grant Recipients

The Brookwood Community  To provide funds to support Brookwood’s 2024-2025 Horticulture Education Series, ten horticulture workshops and events which will be open to the public.  These events will educate the community on the importance of beauty, sustainability, and conservation.

Child Advocates Fort Bend    To create a sensory Wellness Garden which will provide a mental health retreat for staff and clients. Features of the Wellness Garden will incorporate the five senses to create an environment that nourishes, relaxes, refreshes, and provides a retreat for self-care away from the very demanding trauma services that staff, children, and their families are engaged in.

Holly Hall   To revitalize an existing courtyard and create a Prayer Garden for use by all Holly Hall residents.  This will allow access for residents that are mobility challenged and provide a place for the residents to gather and reflect in a peaceful environment.

Joy School   Creation of a new granite pathway for safe and easy movement between two key school buildings and add two beds in front of a new building utility pole. These new beds will not only add to the beautification of the school grounds but will also provide a safety barrier to the utility pole.

Memorial Park Conservancy   To purchase new equipment to help maintain more than 300 acres of park land.

The Mercer Society   To purchase and install signage in the following gardens: Prehistoric, Tropical, Formal and Louisiana Iris.

ProVision/McNair Urban Farm and Community Garden   To purchase a walk in cooler and other related equipment.

Recipe for Success Foundation  To contribute towards the expansion of the pollinator areas at Hope Farms through the creation of a Wetland Wildflower Labyrinth.

River Oaks Elementary Parent Teacher Organization  For the addition and maintenance of the “Cottage Garden” to the Nature Center of River Oaks Elementary.

Urban Harvest   To expand their professional development workshop for school teachers through their, Edible Academy. Funds will subsidize teachers in underserved areas across Houston.

Westbury Area Improvement Corp.   Installation for 4 raised beds to support its “Gardening Within Reach” project. These beds will allow seniors and others with mobility issues to participate in the community garden.

Willow Waterhole Greenspace Conservancy  To contribute to the development of the 15-acre Prairie Management Preserve.  

2022-2023 Civic Contributions Grant Recipients

The Brookwood Community  To provide funds to support Brookwood’s 2022-2023 Horticulture Education Series, ten horticulture workshops and events which will be open to the public.  These events will educate the community on the importance of beauty, sustainability, and conservation.

Friends of River Oaks Park To upgrade and maintain landscape throughout the park. Live oaks, perimeter beds, pruning needs, removal of invasive vines and new sheet screening along Westheimer are primary needs.

Houston Botanic Garden  To purchase and install one 6’ live oak tree (Quercus virginiana) to expand the alley at the Garden’s entrance.

Main Street Ministries  To help with Community Garden projects as well as support the daily operations, which allows people of varied backgrounds, including the homeless community, to volunteer together to grow and distribute food.

Memorial Park Conservancy   To purchase and install 8 ebb and flow greenhouse production tables which provide irrigation, eco-friendly drainage, convenient mobility and significant reduction in water usage and waste.

The Mercer Society  To purchase and install 4 properly fitted greenhouse shade cloths.

Nick Finnegan Counseling Center Foundation   To beautify and maintain the outdoor garden space with seasonal updates, fountain maintenance and artificial turf installation. A bird bath in ROGC’s honor will be installed. This garden space is an extension of their client experience.

The Parish School To renovate their Thankful Garden which will feature 10 container beds with their own irrigation, a shade structure, a perimeter cedar post fence and will be ADA compliant.

ProVision/McNair Urban Farm and Community Garden To purchase a John Deere Tractor and a storage shed for the Farm and Garden.

Recipe for Success Foundation   To expand their gardening education opportunities at Hope Farms with a regular schedule of free open enrollment classes especially tailored to neighborhood children and families.

Urban Harvest   To expand their professional development workshop for schoolteachers, Edible Academy. Funds will subsidize teachers in underserved areas across Houston   

2021-2022 Civic Contributions Grant Recipients

Houston Arboretum and Nature Center To transform the Woodway Entry Garden into a perennial native garden that will support pollinators and serve as an educational tool.

The Brookwood Community  To provide funds to support Brookwood’s 2022-2023 Horticulture Education Series.

Houston Botanic Garden  For the renovation of the Carnivorous Bog Garden.

Hermann Park Conservancy  To purchase of native plants for The Commons at Hermann Park Entry Garden.

Holly Hall Retirement Community  To fund the renovation and re-beautification of the Healthcare Patio Courtyard gardens and the Chapel Entrance and rose garden.

Main Street Ministries  To support the daily operation of the MSM Community Garden.

The Mercer Society  To purchase informational signage and programming support for Mercer Botanic Gardens’ Bee Pollinator Garden.

ProVision/McNair Urban Farm and Community Garden   To fund improvements to the Pro-Vision/McNair Urban Farm.  Funds will also be used toward the completion of the Community Garden and Outreach Program.

Recipe for Success  To fund a rapid renewal of the Hope Farms Scott Street Pollinator and Perennial Garden.

Student Conservation Association To fund summer job opportunities for underserved Houston area youth working on conservation projects at local green spaces.

2020-2021 Civic Contributions Grant Recipients

The Brookwood Community   To provide funds for a series of horticulture education events, open to the public, to help fund Brookwood’s horticulture enterprise and to educate the community on the importance of beauty, sustainability, and conservation.

Friends of River Oaks Park   To conserve, upgrade and improve the landscape throughout the park, providing maintenance that is beyond the scope of the City of Houston Parks Department.

Houston Hospice   To help implement the master plan for the hard and softscape improvements to the historic Holcombe house gardens.  This project is a finalist for the 2021 GCA Founders’ Fund award.

Main Street Ministries  To support the daily operation of the MSM Community Garden, which allows people of various backgrounds, including the homeless community, to volunteer together to grow and distribute food.

The Mercer Society  To replace damaged and lost garden tables at the propagation center for added space to grow, and for use in educational workshops and plant sales.

The Parish School  To purchase and install an Overcup Oak tree in the Oak Creek Exploration Zone, a Certified Nature Exploration Outdoor Classroom for children with communication delays and learning differences.

Memorial Park Conservancy This is the second half of a two-year grant in support of the capital campaign for the Memorial Park Master Plan

2019-2020 Civic Contributions Grant Recipients 

Nature Discovery Center  The Nature Discovery Center plans to create a Butterfly Garden and an Edible Native Plant Garden in their four-acre nature park, Russ Pittman Park

The Mercer Society  The Mercer Botanic Garden has plans to safeguard the Mercer Botanic Gardens Native Plant Conservation Nursery, A National Collection of Endangered Plants Facility, by moving the current nursery to a new location.

The Monarch School  The Monarch School would like to make additions to their existing Organic Garden and Harvesting Education Program.

 HCHD Foundation  The Harris Hospital System is creating an Enabling Garden at the current Community Farm at LBJ Hospital, as well as expand the garden.

Memorial Park Conservancy  The first half of a two year grant in support of the campaign for the Memorial Park Master Plan.

Houston Botanic Garden   Assist in implementing the garden’s master plan.

2018-2019 Civic Contributions Grant Recipients

Brookwood Community  Support the operations of the Horticulture Enterprise, Brookwood’s largest enterprise. Providing learning and earning opportunities for over 60% of Brookwood citizens.

Connect Community  Donate a tree/cost of Softscape for a parklet adjacent to KIPP Connect Academy in the Gulfton area of Houston.

Friends of Field Elementary School  Assist with construction of a nature trail on the school grounds, accessible to the public after school hours.

Harvard Outdoor Classroom and Playscape  Support expanded garden and classroom for the site that is certified by the NWF as a schoolyard habitat site and monarch waystation.

InKids  Reinforce hardscape perimeter walkway at new campus damaged by Harvey.

Memorial Park Conservancy  Purchase lath tables to support the Native Plant Grow-Out Program.

Recipe for Success Foundation  Hope Farms Pollinator Garden (Final Phase)

Student Conservation Association  SCA Houston urban initiatives

Houston Botanic Garden  Assist in implementation of Phase I of the garden’s master plan.

2017-2018 Civic Contributions Grant Recipients

Bayou Preservation Association   Since its inception in 1966, the Bayou Preservation Association has: monitored regional waterways to assess and act upon potential threats; promoted non-structural solutions to flooding; removed invasive, exotic species along stream corridors and planted native species in their place; engaged thousands of volunteers in bayou clean-up projects; improved access to bayous by creating local paddling trails; educated the community on sound watershed management practices. The funds requested would support the Stream Corridor/Bayou Stewardship Program, which is a multiphase project to remove invasives and plants native species along Clear Creek and its back bays, in Challenger Seven Memorial Park.

Brookwood Community    Repair one of the greenhouses damaged during Hurricane Harvey.

 Chinquapin Preparatory School    Chinquapin is a private non-profit college preparatory school that serves over 160 economically disadvantaged youth in grades 6-12. The students perform most of the day-to-day jobs that help run the school. They are requesting funds to improve their “zero waste garden” and build a nponics structure.

Hermann Park Conservancy    Support the landscape portion of the 1933 historic clubhouse restoration

 Holly Hall Retirement Community    Construct three raised garden beds and purchase basic gardening tools for residents to use as they plant and maintain the gardens.

Houston Arboretum and Nature Center   The Arboretum and Nature Center is starting to implement the first phase of their master plan, which includes landscape restoration work in several areas of the park as well as re-introducing native grasses and wildflowers. The funds requested will be used for restoration of the Arboretum ravine.

Pro-Vision    Pro-Vision started in 1990 as an idea to help young men from Houston’s most underserved neighborhood, Sunnyside. For almost 27 years it has incorporated a holistic approach to education and included outreach programs in order to provide an all-inclusive curriculum that allows both young men and women an opportunity to realize their full potential academically, economically and socially. The funds requested will be used to support the expansion of the Urban Farm.

Student Conservation Association-SCA     Funding for Summer Community Crew and School Year Community Program

Urban Harvest   Urban Harvest is a non-profit organization that helps neighborhoods build communities through gardening, create school gardens that bring life to the core curricula, provides fresh, locally grown food and encourages responsible land use. The funds requested would be used to expand their seasonal hub distribution for community gardens as well as replenish the soil in gardens affected by Hurricane Harvey.