The Outdoor Recreation Legacy Program (ORLP) provides new or significantly improved recreation opportunities in economically-disadvantaged communities. ORLP projects are selected through a National Park Service-led national competition of projects solicited and nominated by the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) State Lead Agencies.

Funding Opportunity - OPEN

A five-year Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the ORLP was released by the National Park Service (NPS) on December 12, 2024. State LWCF lead agencies may request grants on behalf of the state or eligible local jurisdictions. Interested applicants should contact Justin Hancock at 803-734-1747 or jhancock@scprt.com. This NOFO provides for two rounds of ORLP applications each year.

The first deadline for submission of an application to SCPRT is March 14, 2025. NPS anticipates announcing selections for the first round of ORLP by September 1, 2025.

The second application deadline will be September 12, 2025. NPS anticipates announcing selections for the second round of ORLP by February 1, 2026.

If an application is selected by NPS, a full application must be submitted by SCPRT to NPS within one year of the selection announcement in order the application to remain eligible for a grant award.

NPS reviews and makes final award decisions for ORLP.

Project Sponsor Eligibility

Eligible project sponsors include state agencies, local units of government (state political subdivisions such as cities, counties, and special purpose districts such as park districts), and federally-recognized Indian Tribes.

Project sponsors must match the grant award 1:1 with non-federal dollars.

• Grant Minimum: $300,000
• Grant Maximum: $15,000,000

Project Eligibility

ORLP projects must be consistent with the purposes and requirements of the LWCF Act and LWCF Manual. In addition, ORLP project must meet all of the following requirements:

To meet this objective a proposed project must be:

• located within a community having a population of 25,000 or more in the 2020 Census (link to the United States Census Bureau’s maps and tools: Data), and
• located within a community that is determined to be underserved, see Merit Review Criteria below for how to document community eligibility. Proposed projects must align with ORLP purposes to be considered for selection.

The complete Notice of Funding Opportunity for this round of ORLP can be found here. Applicants are strongly encouraged to review the entire Notice of Funding Opportunity prior to developing an application.