Lakewood Kids Climate Grant

1. Brainstorm ideas for a project with your group.
2. Submit application (adult advisor can help; ideas and work should be initiated and completed by the kids).
3. Get approval, adult advisor complete contract.
4. Implement your event/project.
5. Work with adult advisor to complete the event evaluation, submit receipts, and photos.
6. Adult advisor will receive reimbursement. 

Our goals for this Grant Program are:

• to empower the City’s youth to demonstrate that their actions make a positive difference for sustainability.
• to encourage and support new ideas from the City’s youth.
• to engage youth in making the City a more sustainable place. 

Grant applications will be accepted on a rolling basis starting Aug. 31, 2025 throughout the 2025-2026 school year, for as long as funds are available. This year is a pilot of the grant and we hope it will continue in the 2026-2027 school year. 

Before submitting your application, please be sure to read all of the rules and guidelines on this page. Please contact Sustainability@Lakewoodco.gov if you have questions.

1. Applicants must be eighteen (18) years old or younger to apply for the Grant Program. If a student is 19 years old but still enrolled in high school, they may apply for the grant as long as they meet all other criteria.
2. If the Applicant is an individual, the individual must be resident of the City of Lakewood (the “City”). If the applicant is a group, the group must be based within the City and have a majority of members who are City residents. If the applicant is a school group/club/class, the school must be located within the City.
3. All Applicants must have a designated adult advisor (“Advisor”) for their project that is at least eighteen (18) years of age. The Advisor shall be responsible for ensuring the project is completed, that the funds are used to fulfill the requirements of the Grant Program, and that reporting is completed in a timely manner.
4. Grant recipients must complete a follow-up evaluation form that will be provided to them by the City.
5. Grant recipients must include the following information in the follow-up evaluation:
   1. A brief summary of the project, how many people were involved, who was involved, what you did, and how it went;
   2. Whether the project achieved its intended outcomes, and what were the outcomes;
   3. Lessons learned and recommendations that can be used to help other kids groups working on this type of project;
   4. An approximation of how many youth and adults were reached or involved in this project; and
   5. An accounting of how the funds were spent. Original itemized receipts must be uploaded with the follow-up evaluation.
6. Grant recipients must document and share with the City’s Sustainability, Climate and Zero Waste division at least five (5) photos connected to their project/event. These photos may be shared with our larger community or publicity to promote the Grant Program. Please note: Photos showing youths’ faces are not required to be submitted with the follow-up evaluation and will only be used with the permission of parents or guardians. If you have photos that include pictures of youth, we will need a signed photo waiver from each student’s parent/guardian. When grants are awarded we will provide adult advisors copies of the photo waiver form.
7. Grant funds will be provided as a reimbursement of expenses after the project and follow-up evaluation are completed.
8. Funds may not be used for a direct donation to a cause.      

The City’s metrics for grant awards will be based on the project or proposal’s mission, idea, budget, reach, and scope.

• Mission-based: Proposal is an action-based project that is directly related to sustainability, in particular greenhouse gas reduction, in Lakewood, CO.
• Clear idea: The proposal, project, and intended outcomes are realistic and well thought-out.
• Thoughtful budget: How the money will be used makes sense for the project goals.
• Reach: How many people will participate in the project.
• Scope: The project can reasonably be completed with the funds within the timeframe during which the grant is provided.

Applications can be found and submitted online (here). The application information is provided here so you can see the questions before submitting the form online. Kids, teens, and youth clubs, classes, and organizations are encouraged to seek help from advisors/parents in preparing their application and in submitting it online, however, City staff members are looking for the content, thoughts, and planning in the applications to come from and to be in the words of the kids, teens, and youth clubs, classes, and organizations who are applying.

Here are the questions that you will be asked to answer in the online form:

1. Name of Climate/Sustainability Project
2. Names and grades of kids/teens involved in the project;
3. Name of applicant’s school or organization (if applicable);
4. Name of applicant’s group/club/class (if applicable);
5. Address of school or organization (if applicable);
6. Lakewood connection:
   1. If the applicant is an individual, is the applicant a City resident?
   2. If the applicant is a group, is the group based within the City and does it have a majority of members who are also City residents?
   3. If the applicant is a school group/club/class is applying, is the school located within the City?;
7. Describe what your project is all about: What will you do for your project? Describe your final project (include details). How will you know your project is successful? How will you measure the impact of your project?;
8. Project timeline;
9. Provide details and an itemized budget for how you will use the funds
10. Explain why you are excited about this project and what impact you hope that your project will have;
11. How many people do you expect to participate or to be impacted by this project;
12. Grant amount requested (up to $500);
13. Adult advisor first and last name;
14. Adult advisor phone;
15. Adult advisor email;
16. Adult advisor’s relationship to applicant(s) (parent, teacher/school staff, etc.);
17. If this is a school-based project, school principal’s name and email;
18. Any additional information you’d like to include.

Here is an example of a Kids Grant Application so that you can see one type of project we’re considering, and you can see the information that kids are including in their applications.

Example Kids Climate Grant Application

1.  Name of Climate/Sustainability Project
   Raising Butterflies in Our Classroom

2. Names and grades of kids/teens involved in the project
Mrs. Barker’s 2^nd Grade Class

3. Name of applicant’s school or organization (if applicable)
Sun Valley Elementary School

4. Name of applicant’s group/club/class (if applicable)
Mrs. Barker’s 2^nd Grade Class

5. Address of school or organization (if applicable)
123 Elementary Street, Lakewood, CO 80227

6. Lakewood connection:
Our school is in Lakewood, our students are Lakewood residents.

7. Describe what your project is all about: What will you do for your project? Describe your final project (include details). How will you know your project is successful? How will you measure the impact of your project?
We are learning about pollinators in 2^nd grade. Bees, wasps, bats and butterflies are pollinators. For this project, we would like to buy a kit so we can raise painted lady butterflies from the larval stage to adults, and then we will release the butterflies outside our school. Using the butterfly kit, we will watch the butterflies grow and we will write about our observations of the life cycle of the butterflies. We will know that we are successful when the butterflies hatch and are released into the wild. We will measure the impact of our project by counting how many butterflies we release into the wild.

8. Project timeline
Spring semester.  February- order kit. March- start growing larvae. April- release the butterflies.

9. Provide details and an itemized budget for how you will use the funds
We will order the “Live Butterfly Kit for Classrooms, Complete Kit, 32 small cups” from Nature Gifts, for $66.99. This provides everything we need for raising butterflies.
https://www.nature-gifts.com/shop/grow-butterflies/butterfly-kit-for-classroom/

10. Explain why you are excited about this project and what impact you hope that your project will have
Students say:
“I can’t wait to have my own butterfly.” 
“Butterflies are my favorite pollinator.” 
“I want to learn about the life cycle of butterflies so that I can help butterflies live and grow.”

11. How many people do you expect to participate or to be impacted by this project
50 students in two classes

12. Grant amount requested (up to $500)
$66.99

Here are a few examples of grants that have been awarded with this program so far:

• Recycling Bins at Foothills Elementary School – students in the Flying Falcons Club are putting recycling bins in every classroom at Foothills Elementary in order to improve recycling at their school.
• STEM Capstone Projects at Green Mountain High School – students in the STEM Capstone class are building and testing water filtration devices to help keep our environment clean.  One will filter microplastics and nanoplastics and the other will filter algae in order to prevent algae blooms.
• Book and Toy Swap – Jefferson County Urban Tractor 4-H Club members are hosting a book and toy swap to encourage re-use of books and toys. Check back here for details about their event coming up around Earth Day 2026.
• Raising Trout in our Classroom at Alameda International Junior/Senior High School - students raised trout from eggs, learned about water quality, and are taking a field trip to release the trout in Evergreen. 
• Zero Waste Event Kit for Classrooms at Rose Stein International Elementary School - the IB Ambassadors created kits with reusable dishes, cups, utensils and napkins in order to reduce waste at classroom parties. 
• Earth Day Birdhouse Painting at Carmody Middle School - Students in the Changemakers Club are hosting a birdhouse painting lunchtime activity on Earth Day. Students will paint birdhouses to take home and provide spaces for birds to live throughout the area. 

Congratulations to these impressive and hard-working Lakewood kids for making a difference! We can’t wait to see YOUR application and how you will make a difference in Lakewood too!