Established by Congress in 2014 and administered through the National Park Service, the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP) Program is funded by LWCF. ORLP is a nationally competitive grant program that delivers funding to local communities – jurisdictions of at least 25,000 people – with priority given to projects located in low-income areas and lacking in outdoor recreation opportunities. These awards help address outdoor recreation deficits by supporting projects in cities and local communities that create new outdoor recreation spaces, reinvigorate existing parks, and form connections between people and the outdoors. Over $488 million in ORLP grants have been awarded to improve close-to-home access to the outdoors.
ORLP was recently codified into law through passage of the Outdoors for All Act which was included as part of the EXPLORE Act.
Nonprofit partners can collaborate with states and municipalities to identify community needs, develop a strong grant application, and secure matching funds from a variety of public and private sources.
Eligibility
- Only state lead agencies are eligible to submit applications for ORLP grants, although they may do so on behalf of themselves or another entity via a sub-grant.
- Eligible sub-recipients include other state agencies, local units of government (cities, counties, and park districts), and federally-recognized Tribes.
- To meet ORLP objectives and goals, projects must be:
- located within a community having a population of 25,000 or more in the 2020 Census, and
- located within a community that is determined to be underserved, see Merit Review Criteria in the current NOFO below.
Grant Announcements
ORLP Round 8 - 5 Year Grant Period with Rolling Applications
ORLP Round 7 - Closed 4/30/24
ORLP Round 6 - Closed 5/31/23
ORLP Round 5 - Closed 9/24/21
ORLP Round 4 - Closed 7/20/20
ORLP Round 3 - Closed 9/14/18
ORLP Round 2 - Closed 5/20/16
ORLP Round 1 - Closed 8/15/14
