Travel Grants

Open Outdoors for Kids – OOK Grants

Glacier National Park, Montana Environmental Education Association (MEEA), and Montana State Park Foundation (MSPF) are partnered together to provide students from across Montana the opportunity to engage with their public lands. The OOK Grants are administered by Glacier National Park Service, with MEEA, as the non-profit partner, providing assistance with determining awards and managing funds provided by the National Park Foundation.

OOK Grants are intended to lower or remove cost barriers for field trips to public lands. The funding provides primarily transportation assistance to elementary classes, with an emphasis on 4^th grade students. A further primary concern is providing outdoor education opportunities to Title I schools and those from underserved and disadvantaged areas of Montana.

The application process encourages schools and teachers to use a three-aspect approach to outdoor education by conducting pre- and post-visit activities in conjunction with their field trip. Teachers awarded grants are asked to submit an on-line post-visit survey with photos to the Glacier National Park offices who manage the program.

The OOK Grants aim to provide a positive outdoors experience on public lands and foster connections to the natural world, and allows students to see first-hand the relevance public lands have in their lives.

The OOK Grant application period opens in September/ October, and may remain open to May/June, depending on the number of grants awarded. In 2023-2024, funding was made available for 40 travel awards.