Healthy Soils Challenge Grant Initiative

The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs has announced a Healthy Soils Challenge Grant Initiative to implement the Massachusetts Healthy Soils Action Plan. This initiative is a direct result of long standing advocacy efforts by a coalition of healthy soils advocates. Funding has been provided by a $1.02M FY24 budget appropriation championed by Senator Comerford, Representative Schmid, Senator Gobi and Representative Duffy.

Grants range from $3,000 to $100,000 with grant durations of 6–18 months.

The primary objectives of the Healthy Soils Challenge Grants are as follows:

a. Promote Soil Health: Support demonstration projects that document, prioritize, and implement practices aimed at improving soil health and fertility.
b. Sustainable Land Management: Encourage innovative approaches to sustainable land management that minimize environmental degradation, enhance biodiversity, and/or restore degraded soil health.
c. Community Engagement: Foster community involvement and education in sustainable land practices and soil health improvement.
d. Refine Tools for Municipal Soil Mapping, Assessment + Planning: Update and distribute assessment and planning tools to enable municipalities, regional planning districts, and conservation organizations to visualize and integrate soil health into regular workflows.

The full Request for Responses (RFR) can be found on the Commonwealth’s Commbuys site.

Applications are due Friday, January 19th, 2024.

An online information session for interested parties is being held on Tuesday, December 19th at 2:30 pm. To register, email Executive Secretary Thomas Anderson at: thomas.anderson@mass.gov.