Transforming Urban Landscapes with CRWD Grants

As the snow melts, rivers of stormwater start to run along our streets and curbs, carrying polluted runoff to our lakes and the Mississippi River. Polluted runoff – stormwater that flows over hard surfaces like streets, sidewalks, and parking lots and into storm sewers – is a leading cause of water pollution in lakes and rivers in urban areas. Most of the land in CRWD has already been developed, so working with residents, non-profits, schools, businesses, and faith-based groups to build projects that prevent water pollution is essential for improving water quality.

Capitol Region Watershed District (CRWD) grant programs provide financial and technical assistance to help build and fund projects that protect local lakes and the Mississippi River by preventing stormwater pollution and increasing clean water knowledge and action.

Grant Programs Overview

Clean Water Project Grants

Clean Water Project Grants help build clean water projects that prevent stormwater pollution and promote water resource stewardship. Clean water projects like rain gardens, rainwater reuse systems, shoreline restorations, permeable pavement, and green roofs help protect our lakes and the Mississippi River.

Grant awards typically range from $500 – $200,000, and applications are accepted year-round. CRWD can reimburse a percentage of eligible project costs up to the grant award amount.

Get started now by visiting the Clean Water Project Grants page.

Curb-cut Boulevard Rain Gardens

Curb-cut boulevard rain gardens collect stormwater runoff from the street via a break in the curb. CRWD manages the coordinated construction of bundled sites while working with our municipal partners. We evaluate each site for project feasibility.  We’re accepting applications for the spring of 2026 curb-cut rain garden projects through October 2025.

Start by visiting the Curb Cut Boulevard Rain Gardens section on the Clean Water Project Grants page.

Clean Water Project Maintenance Grants

Creating stormwater improvements is only the first step in protecting the District’s water resources. Ongoing maintenance ensures that CRWD grant projects continue to capture and clean stormwater runoff. Maintenance Grants are available for eligible Clean Water Project Grant projects. The grant awards range from $200 -$2,000 annually for the project’s life, and applications are accepted year-round for past clean water projects.

You can learn more by visiting the Clean Water Project Maintenance Grants page.

Planning Grants

Planning Grants provide financial assistance for the feasibility and design of cost-effective and innovative clean water projects that protect and improve the water quality of waterbodies within CRWD. Typical projects funded through this program include feasibility studies and engineering services to identify, prioritize, and design capital improvement projects that benefit natural resources. Planning Grants typically provide much of the information needed to apply for construction funds through CRWD’s Clean Water Project Grants program.

Eligible applicants include public, private, and non-profit organizations working on a project in CRWD. The average grant award is $10,000 – $20,000; applications are accepted year-round.

You can learn more on the Planning Grants page.

Native Landscaping Grants

Native Landscape Grants provide technical and financial assistance to residents, non-profits, schools, businesses, and public agencies within CRWD’s Focus Area to build native landscape projects. These projects foster the expansion of native plant communities, provide pollinator habitat, and prevent stormwater pollution from entering our lakes and the Mississippi River.

Check the Focus Area Map to see if your property qualifies. The Native Landscape Grant is a one-time award of up to $1,000 for eligible project expenses, and there is no cost-sharing requirement.

Get started now by visiting the Native Landscape Grants page.

Partner Grants

Partner Grants support programs and projects led by public, private and non-profit organizations that increase clean water actions and knowledge. Since the program began in 2007, it has supported programming serving thousands of residents in CRWD.

Recent grant projects include educational programs, youth internships, performances, and community outreach initiatives. Learn more on the Partner Grants page.

More actions to protect clean water

We hope one of our grants caught your interest! There are many ways to care for our lakes and rivers, and our collective actions contribute to improved water quality. Here are some things you can do to protect water right now.

  1. Clean your curb: Keep leaves and grass out of streets and gutters to stop them from being carried to nearby lakes and rivers via storm drains. Organic debris in stormwater contributes to harmful algae blooms.
  2. Adopt a storm drain: Visit adopt-a-drain.org/ to find a storm drain near you and volunteer to clear it of trash and debris twice a month. Join nearly 13,000 people across Minnesota who’ve removed over 700,000 pounds of debris from over 22,000 storm drains!
  3. Scoop the poop: Put pet waste in the trash. Rain and snowmelt can carry harmful bacteria and nutrients from waste to lakes and rivers.
  4. Pick up trash: Collect litter in your yard, street, and gutter before rain carries it to a storm drain, which flows to our lakes and the Mississippi River.

 

Recent Grant Funded Projects

A garden with two basins connected by a rock channel and surrounded by dark gravel. The garden has native shrubs, grasses, and trees, and is filled with water during an active rainstorm.
A newly installed rain garden has two basins that capture runoff from the building’s roof.
A large garden in between an office building and a sidewalk is filled with native plants and dark brown mulch. There are rock swales located under three downspouts and a small rock overflow from the garden basin out to the sidewalk.
A large rain garden captures and infiltrates runoff from three downspouts of a large office building roof.
A boulevard garden alongside a street with a break in the curb. The garden has grasses and native plants with pink and orange flowers.
A curb-cut boulevard rain garden captures and cleans polluted runoff from the street.
Gravel and large rocks piled on a shade-dappled lakeshore. In the lake, a floating yellow containment boom is running parallel to shore, with a wooden dock on the outside of the boom. An construction vehicle with a claw to move the rocks is sitting in shallow water in the near side of the boom.
Mid-construction shoreline restoration project installing rip rap to stabilize the Lake McCarron shoreline.
A boulevard of White Dutch Clover with round white flowers. In the background, a yard sign identifying the garden as a Native Planting.
This boulevard bee lawn supports pollinators. While Dutch clover is not native to Minnesota, we allow it with our native landscaping grants because of its ability to fix nitrogen in the soil and provide quality food for bees and other pollinators.
Parallel strips of concrete for wheel tracks in a narrow driveway space between two houses. Brown mulch with rows of low green sedges is between the concrete strips.
Pennsylvania sedge was planted in the soil space of a ribbon driveway to add in native landscaping that helps soaks water into the ground through deep roots.
A person wearing a t-shirt kneeling in a lush garden with blooming blazing stars of spiky purple flowers, and tall clusters of pale pink Joe Pye Weed. The person is looking down and pulling up weeds that are growing along the garden edge. A residential street and houses and in the background.
A resident weeding to ensure their rain garden is maintained and has healthy native vegetation growth.
A smiling person squatting on a low stone wall while holding up two fingers in a peace sign with one hand and holding an evergreen shrub with their other hand as another person plants it.
Volunteers at Central High School maintaining the school's rain gardens. Photo courtesy of Transforming Central Committee.
A mulched rain garden with blooming spiky purple blazing star, and yellow, daisy-like black-eyed Susans, with clumps of grass-like green sedges. A small, square, green and blue sign in the garden's center says, “Rain Garden: We protect the Mississippi River.”
A curb cut boulevard rain garden.