Grant Program

The Los Cerritos Wetlands Fund (Fund) supports projects that:

(1) Conserve, manage, restore, and enhance wetland and upland habitat, and facilitate environmental planning, permitting and public access;
(2) Advance healthy communities, social equity and climate resiliency and adaptation; and,
(3) Provide educational and research opportunities.

A “project” is an activity or series of activities taking place on the ground having a direct effect of conserving, managing, restoring, and/or enhancing wetland and upland habitat in the Los Cerritos Wetlands area and/or an activity or series of activities that indirectly, but clearly support a project. Examples include the following:

  • Purchase of strategic conservation easement or fee title of land based on priority assessment,
  • Carbon sequestration pilot project,
  • Invasive plant/non-native plant abatement and control,
  • Urban Run-off treatment system,
  • Tidal marsh restoration such as removal of rip-rap from forebays, slope recontouring and vegetation with salt marsh plants,
  • Native plant landscaping,
  • Habitat creation (e.g., burrowing owl),
  • Wetlands friendly public access improvements, based on adopted plan,
  • Stewardship and education projects complimentary to the Fund’s mission,
  • Sea turtle ecological modeling and monitoring, developing plans for projects, including wetlands-friendly public access, educational facilities, wetland restoration, or strategic acquisitions,
  • Educational programming, including developing model wetlands educational materials and curriculums,
  • Public access programming,
  • Conservation or research value assessments to identify or inform project priorities, and
  • Developing institutional capacity to more effectively implement projects.

Grant Criteria

Projects funded by the Fund must, in the Board’s judgment, meet the following criteria:

  1. The applicant is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Governmental entities, tribes and academic institutions that are part of a collaboration with eligible non-profits, or that propose projects filling a critical gap in advancing the Fund’s mission, may also be considered for funding.
  2. The project is located in and around the Los Cerritos Wetlands.
  3. The project advances the Fund’s Mission.
  4. The project does not substantially duplicate existing projects or programs supported by other organizations except for partnerships or matching requests described below.
  5. If needed for project success, the applicant has provided evidence it is working or will work with appropriate partners (e.g., the Coastal Conservancy, Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority) and has leveraged matching or other funding or support.
  6. The project does not involve direct political or religious activities or advocacy, direct debt reduction or loans, activities that are substantially funded or for which other principal funding is currently being sought, or activities that have been completed (other than existing or proposed matching funds described in the application).

Applying for a Grant

The Long Beach Community Foundation houses the grant application process for the Fund. Click on the link below to get a little more detail on the LWCF grant program steps before you apply. You’ll need to create an account, submit a pre-application, and then, if selected to continue you’ll be asked to submit a grant application.

Apply for a Grant