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Big Green School Garden Grant Opportunity Jumpstart San Antonio

Big Green is thrilled to announce our partnership with the San Antonio Independent School District and Gardopia Gardens to offer a second round of school garden grants for the 2024-25 school year. Connect your students to the life-changing power of growing food with a Jumpstart Grant!

JUMPSTART CASH GRANTS & LEARNING GARDEN KITS

Jumpstart grants are available for schools in San Antonio. There are 2 grant opportunities schools can choose to apply for; Learning Gardens and Jumpstart cash grants.

Jumpstart Grant:

  • $2,000 grant to support garden education
  • Perfect for schools looking to support an existing garden or those looking to begin planning to grow food at school without installing new garden beds.

Jumpstart Learning Garden Grant:

  • Full raised bed garden kit
  • $2000 cash grant
  • Perfect for schools that are ready to grow food and bring outdoor education to life with a full school garden

Jumpstart grants can be flexibly applied to support any and all elements of garden-based programming. We encourage schools to consider extending or adding programming and support offered by Gardopia Gardens.

Who Can Apply

Schools interested in applying for this grant are expected to take on full ownership of the garden. Successful school gardens have strong administrative support, a team dedicated to leading and organizing school garden education, clear programmatic or curricular integrations, and a school-wide commitment to facilitate outdoor education for all students. In order to participate, schools have to meet the following criteria:

  • Serve students meeting 65% FRL or another metric of economic disadvantage.

  • Have a plan of action that ensures youth will consistently and strategically use the Learning Garden as a regular part of the school day.

  • Have the full support of the school and district and a multi-member team dedicated to the integration of the Learning Garden into the goals, structures, and overall culture of the school.

  • Be able to participate in all required professional development sessions. (2 virtual sessions for all grantees and 1 additional in-person session for Learning Garden grantees).

How to Apply

The short and simple 20-minute application can be found on our grant portal.

  1. Step one

    Jumpstart: Teacher Resources

    Review these Jumpstart Resources available on our website to give you a feel for the grant opportunities, and the resources available. Decide which grant opportunity is best for your school.

  2. Step two

    Apply Now

    Complete the application. You can easily share it with multiple people on your team to collaborate. The deadline for grants that will be distributed in the fall is January 5, 2023.

Grant Calendar

  • April 1, 2024 Application Opens
  • May 31, 2024 Application Closes
  • May-July, 2024 Grantees Announced
  • June-August 2024 On-Demand Grant Courses
  • August-September 2024 Grants and Materials Distributed
  • September 2024 In-Person Kick-Off Event

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Eligible schools (requirements listed above) in San Antonio will be invited to apply based on a series of criteria determined in collaboration with Gardopia Gardens and San Antonio Independent School District.

  • A full list of everything that comes with a Learning Garden can be found here.

  • There are several options of federal/state programs that people frequently use to represent low income and other considerations that can be used to represent the socio-economic demographics of your school. Schools can also include percentages of students with Disabilities and/or English Language Learners to demonstrate needs.

  • The Jumpstart Mini-Grant requires schools to attend 2 virtual professional development sessions. Both sessions are asynchronous modules available in our online learning portal. One is an introduction to the grant and guides teams to best practices in garden education. The other is a one stop shop for teaching outdoors called Jumpstart: Organizing the Outdoor Classroom.

    Schools receiving the Learning Garden Grant will be required to attend 3 live professional development sessions. 

    • Orientation and School Garden Leadership Team Webinar (Virtual)
    • Getting your Garden & Planning the Kickoff Event (Virtual)
    • Build a Garden! Get Kids Learning (In-Person) DATE TBD Fall 2024 , Farm-fresh lunch included!