KMTA Board Announces the 2022 Grant Recipients!

The Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area (KMTA) Board of Directors recently awarded seven grants, a total of just over $95,000 in funding, at their May 2022 Board meeting. The newly awarded grants will leverage around $100,000 of in-kind community support and are listed below:

1. Four Valleys Community School; Summer Adventure Camps; $5,514 – This will help continue the popular FVCS Summer Camps that promote outdoor recreation and education.
2. Girdwood Community Garden Improvements; $5,000 – This will help increase access to the Girdwood Community Gardens for those with limited mobility and increase the length of the growing season with the use of a greenhouse.
3. Alaska Trails; Chugach National Forest Trail Maintenance $18,450 – This project will support trail maintenance including brushing and drainage work on the Crescent Lake Trail. 
4. Alaska Geographic; Advancing Equity for Youth from Underserved Communities through Outdoor Recreation Stewardship in KMTA; $24,239 – This will open up opportunities for  underserved youth to grow in teamwork skills through trail building and backpacking.
5. Pickle Hill Public Broadcasting; Report for America; $10,000 – This project will support a rural radio reporter to serve the outlying communities of the Kenai Peninsula especially Cooper Landing and Moose Pass.
6. Chugach Regional Resources Commission; Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute Mural Installation; $8,159 – This grant will help fund a mural hung on the CRRC building displaying a map of Alutiiq lands.
7. Seward Iditarod Trail Blazers; Alfred Lowell Statue; $24,500 – This project would install another statue near the statue of Jujiro Wada which stands near the Alaska Sealife Center.

KMTA receives and administers federal funds to support locally initiated community projects. Through KMTA’s Community-Based Grants Program, the organization works to enhance, preserve, and protect the historic, cultural, scenic, and outdoor recreational resources of Alaska’s only designated National Heritage Area (NHA).

Past projects funded include an award-winning high school curriculum, new museum exhibits, trail restoration, interpretive signage, citizen science programs, and historic building restoration. KMTA has funded over 1.3 Million dollars towards community projects since it became a NHA in 2009.  To see past projects click here.