Jon Waterhouse Mini-Grant Program

 
 

Jon Waterhouse Mini-Grant Program:

As part of the Native Youth Community Adaptation Leadership Congress (NYCALC), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) National Conservation Training Center (NCTC), New Mexico Wildlife Federation (NMWF) and its federal partners will provide Jon Waterhouse mini-grants (up to $2,000) to support Indigenous high school youth to develop projects to address environmental resilience, adaptation and related natural resource conservation in their home communities.  

For the purposes of this grant program, environmental resilience is defined as the capacity for a Native community to absorb stresses and maintain function in the face of external stresses imposed upon it by environmental change and to adapt and evolve into a more desirable state that improves the sustainability of the community, leaving it better prepared for future environmental impacts.

These projects will serve to support the development of students in environmental leadership, public service and communication skills. Engaging tribal youth in addressing current and future environmental challenges will build capacity in the next generation of tribal land managers and leaders. These grants will support a limited number of NYCALC participants’ projects that meet our criteria. 

 
Criteria & Process
Application

Timeline

  • August 2026, Announcement of mini-grant opportunity.

  • August 2026, Guiding Document and Grant Application distributed (with other support materials attached). 

  • September 30th, 2026 Grant Applications due

  • September - October, 2026, Review Team reviews Applications. 

  • October 30th, 2026 Award Letters (and non-Award Letters) distributed.

  • February 1st, 2027 – Short Paragraph update on project status due to nycalc@nmwildlife.org and Carbon Copy (CC) to Jennifer_Hill@fws.gov via email. Second phase of funding received upon receipt of project status update.

  • June 11th, 2027 Date to submit Final Project Narrative Report with attached project photographs/video or other media to nycalc@nmwildlife.org and Carbon Copy (CC) and Jennifer_Hill@fws.gov; Projects not completed on this date must be preauthorized with the NWMF and FWS Review Team.