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Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation

Virginia Office of Environmental Education (DCR)

Virginia's Office of Environmental Education, part of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, administers the annual Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience grant program, which funds up to $45,000 per proposal for hands-on watershed education; in 2025 it awarded $250,000 across 9 recipients, reaching more than 8,200 K-12 students. The office also runs EnviroLearn, a residential professional-development program for K-12 educators, and maintains an interactive map of environmental-education programs across the state.

Visit Virginia Office of Environmental Education (DCR) ↗

What you will find there

  • Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE) grants of up to $45,000 per proposal
  • EnviroLearn, 3-day residential sessions at Virginia State Parks offered up to three times a year, with food, lodging, materials, and a project budget provided
  • An interactive statewide map (iseeVA) of environmental-education programs and providers
  • Links to outside funding, including NOAA Chesapeake Bay B-WET environmental-literacy grants

Our take

The MWEE grant requires funded projects to give students a hands-on watershed experience in addition to classroom lessons. These are competitive grants rather than ready-to-use lesson plans, so a school needs a project partner and a written proposal, and each EnviroLearn cohort is limited to 15 or 20 participants.

Pairs well with our materials