Sweet Water Announces 2017 Mini-Grant Program Winners

Sweet Water’s annual Water Quality Mini-Grant Program distributes grants between $1,000 and $5,000 to non-profit organizations, community, and civic groups for projects or activities that improve water quality, enhance conservation, restore habitat, and educate people about ways to protect and restore our watersheds.  Every spring, Sweet Water is proud to honor these winners at our annual Clean Rivers, Clean Lake Conference.

Sweet Water distributes a request for Mini-Grant proposals each fall.  We receive an average of 25 to 35 project proposals from which to select those most likely to succeed and meet our goals of protecting and preserving our shared water resources.  The number of grants awarded each year averages between 12 and 15, and depends on the amount of funding we have available to distribute.   

The proposals submitted throughout the years have represented a variety of types of organizations, falling into some of the following categories:  schools; community initiatives; parks; non-profits; conservancies; volunteer; religiously-based; land trusts; and nature centers.  The pool of proposals received for the 2017 program again reflected that variety.

In January of this year, Sweet Water’s judging panel selected the projects that will be funded in 2017.  We congratulate the organizations that are listed below on their project planning success.  They will commit to implementing their projects this spring, summer, and fall.  Sweet Water is also committed to their success, and we are excited to see the fruits of their labor in the coming months.