The Greater Irvington Land Trust (GILT) is launching its 2026 Community Grant Program this week. In this, the third year of this program, GILT is once again providing financial support for local, community-based projects that support the preservation and protection of open space and promote environmental sustainability in Irvington and its surrounding communities.
For 2026, GILT will provide up to six small grants (collectively valued at $10,000 in total) for local projects that advance and promote the following goals and priorities:
- Preserving and maintaining existing open space, including protecting and advancing the health and environmental sustainability of that open space.
- Promoting awareness and education about the need for and the benefits of preserving and protecting open space.
- Supporting equal access for everyone in our communities to funding regarding the preservation, maintenance, awareness, and educational potential of open space, including giving consideration to under-served areas and neighborhoods.
These projects must be based in the greater Irvington area, which includes the villages of Irvington (including East Irvington), Dobbs Ferry, Tarrytown and Hastings. They should be completed within 12 months.
The aim of the program is to build on the success of GILT’s 2025 Community Grant Program supporting open space: Last year, GILT
- provided $515 in funding to the O’Hara Nature Center and Changing Forest Students program to expand the existing sustainable shiitake mushroom cultivation program using repurposed invasive trees.
- provided $2,000 to Irvington Girl Scout Troop 1719 to develop with the Irvington High School Environmental Club a more sustainable program for keeping the area around Split Rock in the Irvington Woods cleaner and free of glass and litter.
- provided $500 to the Zion Episcopal Church in Dobbs Ferry to create a native woodland garden on the Church’s property adjacent to the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail and south of Cedar Street.
- provided $2,000 to the Dobbs Ferry Conservation Board to expand a native plant pollinator garden in Chauncey Park in Dobbs Ferry and install a permanent, deer-proof fence.
- provided $2,000 to the Irvington Green Policy Task Force to restore a part of the OCA North of Main Street by planting deer-resistant native trees, shrubs and plants and restore a native plant garden on the grounds of the Irvington Historical Society.
- provided $2,000 to Livable Tarrytowns to construct a new trail through the woodlands west of the Tappan Hill School, a Tarrytown public school for first graders and kindergartners, that will provide students and teachers with access to this area.
Applications can be submitted beginning Thursday, January 29 through March 13, 2026. To download a PDF of the application, use this link where the Application and Fact Sheet are available electronically.
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