The Skatepark Project Grants

NOTE: Letters of Inquiry are accepted on a rolling basis (anytime). Grant Award decisions are made by the Grants Committee on a quarterly basis.

If your skatepark project is located in one of the following counties, click here for the regional Built To Play Skatepark Grant program: Michigan (Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Monroe, Washtenaw, St. Clair and Livingston counties); New York (Allegany, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Erie, Genesee, Monroe, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming counties).

The Skatepark Project Grants

The primary mission of the The Skatepark Project is to help underserved communities create safe and inclusive public skateparks for youth. Only organizations seeking to build free, public skateparks in low-income communities in the United States may apply for a grant from the The Skatepark Project. International projects are considered on an invitation-only basis.

While we realize that not every community can afford to build big, expensive skateparks, we feel strongly that public skateparks should be designed and constructed by experienced contractors. We also believe that local officials should treat public skateparks the same way they treat public basketball courts or tennis courts, meaning that anyone may show up and use them anytime, unsupervised. The organization primarily considers skatepark projects that:

• Are designed and built from concrete by qualified and experienced skatepark contractors.
• Include local skaters throughout the planning, fundraising, and design process.
• Are in low-income areas and/or areas with a high population of “at-risk” youth.
• Can demonstrate a strong grassroots commitment to the project, particularly in the form of fundraising by local skateboarders and other community groups.
• Have a creative mix of street obstacles (rails, ledges, stairs, etc.) and transition/vert terrain (quarterpipes, bowls, halfpipes, etc.)
• Don’t require skaters or their parents to sign waivers.
• Encourage skaters to look after their own safety and the safety of others without restricting their access to the park or over-regulating their use of it.
• Are open during daylight hours, 365 days a year.
• Don’t charge an entrance fee.
• Are in areas that currently have inadequate skateboarding facilities.

Guidelines For Reapplying
There is no limit to the number of times an organization or community can apply for a grant from The Skatepark Project, though any applicant may only receive one grant from The Skatepark Project over $1,000 (per area skatepark). Grant recipients that have received no more than $1,000 from The Skatepark Project may re-apply for another grant.