Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program (ORLP)

The National Park Service (NPS) has announced the availability of funding through Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP) Program. The ORLP Program is a competitive grant initiative under the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Act, aimed at enhancing parks, recreational opportunities, and conservation areas in urban, underserved communities.

Applications must be submitted to the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) through this application link. General steps to apply are available in the Notice of Funding Opportunity and Guidance Documents listed below.
The grant opportunity for:

• Federal Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) issued December 12, 2024.

• OPRHP Application period 1 Opens Monday, March 17, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. EST.
• OPRHP Application period 1 Closes Friday, May 2, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. EST.

• Federal Application submission 1 into Grants.gov Friday, May 30, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. EST
• NPS Project Selection for funding Award: September 1, 2025*

• OPRHP Application period 2 Opens Monday, June 30, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. EST.
• OPRHP Application period 2 Closes Friday, August 29, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. EST.

• Federal Application submission 2 into Grants.gov Friday, October 31, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. EST
• NPS Project Selection for funding Award: February 1, 2026*

Complete applications and those that most meet the criteria/goals of the ORLP program will be submitted to NPS for participation in the national competition. All projects recommended by OPRHP may require additional materials prior to submission to NPS. There is no guarantee that applications submitted by OPRHP will ultimately be selected for award by NPS.

Multiple-Step Application Process

The application process for ORLP is multi-step:

• Each State solicits proposals from eligible project sponsors and selects and submits abbreviated applications, as described in the funding opportunity, to NPS for projects they find to be eligible and meet the goals of the ORLP program.
• Each proposal is reviewed and scored by an independent merit panel and technical reviewers.
• Based on the reviews of an independent merit panel, the Director of the NPS determines which projects are selected and invited to submit a full application for NPS review.
• States work with the project sponsors of the NPS selected projects to prepare a full application for NPS’s final review and funding determination.

Final applications (listed as Step 4 above) must be submitted to NPS within one year of the NPS public announcement of the project’s selection to remain eligible for funding.

Eligible Applicants

OPRHP has been designated by the Governor as lead agency to implement the LWCF Program for New York State. Only OPRHP is eligible to submit applications for ORLP Grants. OPRHP will submit applications on behalf of eligible sub-recipients (aka project sponsors). Sub-recipients/project sponsors can include state agencies, local units of government such as cities, towns, counties and special purpose districts (park districts) and federally recognized Indian tribes.

Although private individuals, not-for-profit organizations, for-profit corporations, planning and engineering firms and other non-public entities are not eligible, they are strongly encouraged to partner with eligible public entities to plan and submit proposals.

Parks/sites that are currently receiving an LWCF formula grant, or that received an LWCF formula grant that closed within the last seven years (even if the scope of the project is different) and, parks/sites that received more than one previous ORLP award are not eligible.

Program Goals

The objective of the ORLP Program is to improve parks, recreation opportunities and conservation areas in urban underserved communities, consistent with the requirements of the LWCF Act To meet ORLP objectives and goals, projects must be:

• located within a community having a population of 25,000 or more in the 2020 Census, https://www.census.gov/data.html, and
• located within a community that is determined to be underserved. (This status can be demonstrated through documentation of need for the project.)
• developed in collaboration with the communities they serve.
• supported through public-private partnerships to leverage project support.
• beneficial to communities through local public green space investment and providing recreational and economic benefits.
• promote, protect and incorporate the distinctive character of a community and its unique contexts.

Timeline

Further information is available in the documents below.

• Microsoft Form ORLP 2025 Application Link
• LWCF Federal Financial Assistance Manual Vol 72 (PDF)

NPS Opportunity Number: P25AS00189

CONTACT

Diana Carter, Director of Planning and Analysis/LWCF Alternate State Liaison Officer
LWCFGrants.info@parks.ny.gov