Yesterday at the fourth annual International Symposium on Conservation Impact, the Salazar Center for North American Conservation announced the launch of its Peregrine Accelerator for Conservation Impact, a new program designed to spur innovative solutions for ecological and human health in the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo River basin.
“This new program is all about accelerating the pace and scale of conservation innovations,” said Gloria Schoch, Senior Director of Global Impact and Executive Director of the VF Foundation; VF. “And not only will this program provide much-needed funding to groups working on the ground, it will also bolster participants’ organizational and leadership capacities through opportunities such as mentorship, workshops, and peer learning.”
For the inaugural year of the program, the accelerator invites proposals for conservation solutions in the Rio Grande River basin, which spans three distinct ecoregions and delineates more than half of the international border between the United States and Mexico, with approximately half the watershed in each country. The Salazar Center, along with a diverse group of advisors and partners from across the US-Mexico border region, chose to focus on the Rio Grande basin for a variety of reasons: “The basin is a rich ecological, economic, and cultural landscape, but it also faces threats from climate change, drought, and population growth,” explained Salazar Center director Beth Conover. “At the same time, the Rio Grande has seen a dearth of attention, resources, and philanthropic investment in comparison to the Colorado River. All of these factors combined pose unique set of challenges—but also opportunities—for new and different approaches to conservation.”
The Peregrine Accelerator program will provide $10,000 seed grants for up to each of 12 project teams, which will then receive tailored mentorship, training, and feedback over a period of six months. At the conclusion of the program, each team will have developed an actionable implementation plan for its proposed innovation, and a final presentation event will offer participants the opportunity to receive one of several implementation grant awards.
The program builds on the evolution of the Salazar Center’s two previous funding challenges, the Connectivity Challenge and the Thriving Cities Challenge, which together awarded more than $600,000 to support 16 different innovation conservation projects across North America in 2020 and 2021. Over the course of these programs, the Center learned from applicants and partners that more robust resources, monetary and otherwise, are needed to mobilize new conservation solutions, and that traditional grant funds could be more impactful when coupled with mentorship, training, and leadership development opportunities for grantees. In response, the Peregrine Accelerator is designed to specifically address these needs by providing funding, wraparound implementation support, and connections to peers and investors.
Applications are now open through November 21, 2022 and there are two opportunities for interested applicants to join informational webinars to learn more about the program, see a demonstration of the application portal, and ask questions.
To learn more, visit peregrineconservationimpact.org. Questions may be directed to Catie Boehmer.