DCR's Recreational Trails Grant Award for Forest Park

This event is celebrates the $29,315 DCR Recreational Trails Program (RTP) grant being awarded to the City of Springfield for their "Forest Park Trails Project." This is one of eight additional RTP grants being awarded from the 2011 grant round. The total amount to be awarded for these grants is $188,722. The matching grants are awarded to federal, state, municipal and non-profit organizations across the Commonwealth.

Speaking Program ******** The City of Springfield has received a Recreational Trails Program Grant Award in the amount of $29,315 to improve and upgrade key points along the trail system at Forest Park, Springfield's largest and most diverse park, offering both active and passive recreational activities for city residents and visitors alike. There are more than ten miles of urban trails within Forest Park, which provide users with green space to exercise, learn and explore.

As match for this grant, the City of Springfield will provide staff management time and volunteer labor through various youth-centered organization partnerships. The Springfield Parks, Building and Recreation Department will work with several groups on this project, including Youth Build, a local nonprofit organization that takes disadvantaged teenagers and puts them to work on various projects, including trail and conservation projects; the ROCA group, a Boston-based non-profit organization that recruits at-risk juveniles from the ages of 17-24 and gives them work opportunities as well as counseling to help them stay on the right track; and Boy Scouts Pack 11 Troop 32, which has already conducted extensive and countless conservation and trail projects within Forest Park. This RTP grant will provide the materials and funding needed to manage and conduct the trail repairs, therefore allowing these local youth groups to work together and participate in outdoor trail work days within the park.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHA) administering the funds from the Federal Highway Trust Fund,which allows DCR to promote the Recreational Trails Program. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the Massachusetts Recreational Trail Advisory Board (MARTAB) are also partners on this program.