Opportunity Information: Apply for P21AS00509
The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP) Program is a National Park Service (NPS) competitive grant opportunity that sits within the broader LWCF State and Local Assistance Program, which Congress created in 1964. The overall purpose of LWCF State and Local Assistance is to help preserve, develop, and ensure public access to outdoor recreation resources for current and future generations, supporting community health and quality of life. In practical terms, LWCF funding supports projects that expand outdoor recreation by acquiring land and water for parks and recreation areas, building new recreation facilities, or renovating and modernizing existing ones so they remain usable, safe, and accessible to the public.
ORLP is a distinct, nationally competed LWCF grant program that NPS launched in 2014 in coordination with Congress and the Secretary of the Interior. While the traditional LWCF State and Local Assistance funds are distributed to states by a formula, ORLP is designed to target a specific need: creating new or substantially improving outdoor recreation opportunities in larger urbanized areas where parks and recreation resources are lacking, especially in economically disadvantaged communities. Projects are selected through an NPS-led national competition, but states play a gatekeeping role because proposals must be solicited and nominated by the states before NPS considers them. A key feature is that ORLP awards do not count against a state’s normal LWCF formula apportionment, meaning they are effectively “above and beyond” the regular state allocation.
Eligibility and the application path are very structured. The only eligible applicant to NPS is the state’s designated LWCF lead agency (the agency identified by the governor or in state law to administer LWCF). That lead agency can apply either for itself or on behalf of an eligible subrecipient (also called a project sponsor). Applications sent directly to NPS by anyone other than the state lead agency are rejected without review. Private entities are not eligible: individuals, nonprofits, and other non-governmental applicants cannot apply and cannot be subrecipients. Eligible subrecipients are limited to state agencies, local units of government (such as cities, counties, and special purpose districts like park districts), and federally recognized Indian Tribes.
Project sponsors must meet location and size thresholds intended to keep the program focused on major urban settings. To be eligible, the sponsor must represent a jurisdiction of at least 50,000 people and must be located within, or contiguous to, one of the Census Bureau’s designated Urbanized Areas (UAs). The opportunity references 497 UAs identified in Census materials and published in the Federal Register in 2012, and it points applicants to Census maps for confirming UA boundaries. If the sponsor is a county or a state agency, the project must still serve an eligible 50,000+ jurisdiction within a designated UA. There are limited exceptions in certain states (the example given is Vermont) where the only UA may not contain a single jurisdiction of 50,000 people on its own; in those cases, applicants are expected to coordinate with the state lead agency and/or NPS contacts to confirm eligibility. If a proposed project site is outside a UA boundary, the application must clearly explain how the project will still serve the intended target populations, especially since access and proximity to the community factor into scoring.
The program is administered by NPS in partnership with state lead agencies across the 50 states and certain territories, but for ORLP eligibility in this competition the term “states” is limited to the 50 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Other territories listed as LWCF partners (American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) are not part of this ORLP competition as described because they do not have Census-designated Urbanized Areas. Separately, states must maintain an up-to-date Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP), updated at least every five years, as a baseline requirement for LWCF participation; SCORPs help states document recreation needs and set priorities for how LWCF dollars are used.
Key administrative details from the posting include that the agency is the National Park Service, the funding instrument is a grant, the opportunity is discretionary, and the CFDA number is 15.916. The listed award ceiling is $5,000,000, the original closing date was 2021-09-24, and the opportunity number is P21AS00509. Overall, the ORLP program is best understood as a competitive, urban-focused LWCF pathway aimed at delivering meaningful park and recreation gains for underserved communities, but accessed only through state LWCF lead agencies and constrained by Urbanized Area and jurisdiction-population requirements.Apply for P21AS00509
- The National Park Service in the other sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Land and Water Conservation Fund Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.916.
- This funding opportunity was created on 2021-05-10.
- Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-09-24. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $5,000,000.00 in funding.
- Eligible applicants include: State governments.
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