New grant opportunities will direct funding to Recreation Economy for Rural Communities (RERC) community participants and rural Mountain West communities to turn outdoor recreation plans into local health, access, and community impact
Washington, D.C. — June 17, 2026— Today, Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR), the nation’s leading coalition of outdoor recreation associations, announced two new grant opportunities designed to help rural communities build, improve, and activate outdoor recreation assets and programs in order to strengthen local economies, improve community health, expand access to the outdoors, and enhance quality of life.
The new grant opportunities, made possible with support from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, LOR Foundation, and The VF Foundation, build on ORR’s longstanding rural development work and its continued partnership with the Recreation Economy for Rural Communities (RERC) program. The new grant programs are designed to advance ORR’s vision for America’s Outdoor Era, a national effort to position outdoor recreation as a cornerstone of health infrastructure. America’s Outdoor Era calls for expanded access to the outdoors, stronger partnerships between healthcare and the outdoor recreation economy, and greater recognition of time outside as essential to physical and mental health, particularly in rural America.
“Outdoor recreation is one of the most powerful tools rural communities have to improve quality of life, strengthen local economies, and support healthier, more connected residents,” said Jessica Wahl Turner, President of Outdoor Recreation Roundtable. “These new grant programs will help communities move from planning to action, whether that means improving a walking trail, launching an outdoor wellness program, building partnerships with local clinics or schools, or supporting outdoor businesses that create jobs and keep main streets vibrant.”
“The Recreation Economy for Rural Communities program enables critical Forest Service gateway communities to develop collaborative plans that leverage outdoor recreation and tourism to strengthen local economies, revitalize main streets, and enhance the quality of life for residents and visitors,” said USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources and the Environment Michael Boren. “These implementation grants serve as a strategic catalyst, bridging the gap between plans and action, and empowering local communities to transform ideas into lasting economic and community benefits.”
“The RERC program helps connect our rural Appalachian communities through outdoor recreation opportunities that bolster the region’s economy in both the tourism and outdoor gear manufacturing sectors,” said Appalachian Regional Commission Federal Co-Chair Gayle Manchin. “I’m pleased that these new implementation grants will not only help bring new, outdoor-based revenue to our rural communities, but also improve the health and quality of life of our current residents.”
“Economic development in rural communities is at its best when it is driven by partnership, a hallmark of the RERC program,” said Chris Saunders, Federal Co-Chair of the Northern Border Regional Commission. “The investments ORR is making to activate the ideas generated by RERC plans brings critical resources to NBRC communities and expands upon this collaboration.”
The two grant programs include:
ORR Implementation Grants for RERC Communities
ORR will provide implementation grants for communities that have participated in the Recreation Economy for Rural Communities planning process in prior cohorts as well as the current cohort. These grants are supported by the Richard King Mellon Foundation and The VF Foundation.
These grants are intended to help RERC communities take the next step in implementing locally developed outdoor recreation strategies. ORR will provide up to $15,000 in grant funding and up to $1,000 in in-kind assistance to selected RERC communities. In-kind support may include technical assistance, marketing and branding support, strategic planning, outdoor recreation infrastructure expertise, or other assistance aligned with each community’s implementation needs.
The RERC grant program continues ORR’s work to ensure rural communities have the resources, guidance, and catalytic funding needed to turn outdoor recreation planning into durable community impact. Previous ORR rural implementation grants have helped communities advance plans to grow resilient outdoor recreation economies, expand access to the outdoors, support community recreation days, develop gear libraries, and more.
Mountain West Rural Outdoor Health and Recreation Grants
ORR is also launching a new grant opportunity for rural communities in Mountain West states to support locally-led outdoor recreation projects that directly address community health, quality of life, and access to the outdoors. These grants are supported by the LOR Foundation and The VF Foundation.
This program is designed for rural communities seeking to build or improve outdoor recreation assets and programs that support healthier lifestyles, preventative care, mental and physical well-being, social connection, active aging, youth development, and local economic vitality.
The program will prioritize projects that are community driven, responsive to local health and quality-of-life priorities, and built through partnerships among local governments, public health departments, hospitals and clinics, parks departments, schools and daycares, senior centers, veterans organizations, outdoor businesses, community nonprofits, state offices of outdoor recreation, and rural residents.
The LOR Foundation makes it easy for regular people to lead projects that solve problems in their communities,” said Gary Wilmot, Executive Director, LOR Foundation. “We’ve funded thousands of locally led ideas that improve quality of life in the rural Mountain West, uniquely positioning us to understand what people really want and need. It’s not a stretch to say that time outdoors is not just a nice-to-have; it’s an essential part of rural American life and well-being.”
“The outdoors has the power to transform lives, and in rural America and beyond, that transformation starts with community,” said Gloria Schoch, Senior Director of Global Impact, VF Corporation & Executive Director, The VF Foundation. “These grants will help visionary local leaders across the Mountain West harness outdoor recreation as a force for better health, deeper connection, and lasting vitality. The VF Foundation is honored to join the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable and the LOR Foundation in investing in a future where every rural community can thrive through time outside.”
Both grant programs will emphasize measurable outcomes, including new or improved access to the outdoors, participation in outdoor programs, healthcare and community partnerships formed, rural resident engagement and leadership development, and economic indicators such as visitation, small business support, workforce engagement, and local job creation.
The announcement comes on the heels of ORR’s first-ever National Executive Forum on Health and Outdoor Recreation,which united leading outdoor recreation CEOs with CEOs from healthcare, experts on physical and mental health, wellness, and social vitality and state and national policy makers. Drawing on evidence-based research and lessons from the U.S. and abroad, the convening charted a forward–looking agenda for harnessing outdoor recreation as a solution to the nation’s pressing health challenges. ORR also recently launched the America’s Outdoor Era Commitment for outdoor businesses to commit to actionable steps to make time outside a driver of America’s physical, mental, and community health.
Applications for both grant opportunities will open on June 16, 2026 and close on July 10, 2026. Selected communities will be announced in late July.
For more information and to apply, visit the application page.