Our NYC Community Schoolyards are more than just green spaces — they’re living classrooms. Across the city, schools in the program are home to thriving gardens, outdoor classrooms, greenroof gazebos, stormwater infrastructure, and trees that provide shade, beauty, and essential habitat. Now, thanks to the 10th Annual NYCPS Sustainability Project Grant, your school has an opportunity to bring these spaces to life in new ways.

The NYCPS Office of Energy and Sustainability is offering up to $5,000 to support achievable and impactful sustainability projects. This year’s grant can be the spark that helps your school deepen its commitment to outdoor learning, tree care, and environmental stewardship.

💡 Ideas for Using the Grant in a Community Schoolyard

Each of our schoolyards offers unique opportunities for creativity and engagement. Your project could:

• Launch a student-led garden care program or expand your existing green space with themed plantings, like a pollinator or sensory garden
• Develop tree stewardship projects that teach students about urban forestry, watering, and climate resilience.
• Use your outdoor classroom to pilot a new curriculum focused on sustainability, nature-based climate solutions, or biomimicry.
• Create signage and wayfinding that help families and neighbors find your schoolyard on evening and weekend for community hangs or events, learn about your schoolyard’s green infrastructure and how it supports NYC’s larger ecosystem.
• Host community stewardship days that invite families, students, and staff to learn, plant, and care for the schoolyard together.

📚 Curriculum Resources to Power Your Project

Whether your goal is to deepen science instruction, enhance outdoor learning, or celebrate local ecology, we’ve curated several curriculum options that can align with your grant project:

• TPL Lenapehoking Climate Curriculum – Explore climate resilience and local ecology through the lens of Indigenous knowledge and stewardship.
• Teaching with Green Roofs (Green Roofs NYC) – Hands-on lessons that connect greenroof structures to sustainability, energy, and biodiversity.
• Understanding DEP’s Water Story (NYC Department of Environmental Protection) – A curriculum that brings water infrastructure and stormwater management to life.
• Biomimicry Science Lessons (EcoRise) – Inspire students to look to nature for design solutions to modern challenges.

Each of these programs can complement a Sustainability Project Grant — helping you connect your physical space to rich, inquiry-based learning.

🌳 Stewardship as a Schoolwide Value

Many of our Community Schoolyards have already shown what’s possible when schools and communities come together. At several sites, garden clubs, teachers, and community partners have collaborated to create watering plans for trees, design student-led composting systems, and host family planting days that connect children’s learning with neighborhood care.

The Sustainability Project Grant can help sustain and expand that energy — supporting supplies, training, educational materials, and small infrastructure improvements that make outdoor learning accessible year-round.

🗓️ How to Apply

• Deadline: Monday, October 27, 2025, at 11:59 p.m.
• Grant Amount: Up to $5,000 per school
• Who Can Apply: NYC public schools (Pre-K Centers with Galaxy accounts are eligible; charter schools are not)
• Key Contact: PKeyes@schools.nyc.gov

👉 Learn more and apply through the NYCPS Sustainability Project Grant Portal.

If you have questions about potential projects or curriculum partnerships, reach out to us for support.

Together, we can transform every schoolyard into a living, breathing example of sustainability education — rooted in community, discovery, and care for the natural world.