California Native Plant Society

The Rare Plants Inventory - RPI - is a database of information regarding all rare and endangered plants in California. To assist planners, consultants and resource managers, the SFF funded an effort to include all existing threat data for each species in the RPI. The app to use the RPI is free and available to everyone, allowing all users to have access to common information regarding current threats to native plant species and populations. CNPS Inventory of Rare Plants | California Native Plant Society.

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Occidental Arts and Ecology

Occidental Arts and Ecology is a non-profit organization working to develop sustainable and inclusive landuse practices. The SFF supported the OAEC in efforts to create and enhance wildlife habitat through invasive plant removal and habitat enhancements.

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Annie SwankGrant Cycle: 2022
Building Healthy Families - Wallowa Bicycle Playground Project

Building Healthy Families, a family support organization serving Eastern Oregon, spearheaded an effort to construct a bicycle park features rollers, tunnels, pump tracks, rock gardens and a wide number of areas for kids to ride bikes, scooters, skateboards and rollerblades. Funds provided by the Schwemm Family Foundation were used for the purchase of several features in the playground, including bike teeter totters and a snake tunnel, which help to make the park a unique green space for the children of Wallowa County to enjoy.  

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Eco Urban Gardens - Arroyo High School Farm Lab Herb Hügelkultur

The Farm to School program partners with local schools in the greater Los Angeles area to build farm labs and outdoor learning gardens for students to have access to project-based outdoor learning opportunities.  Funds provided by the Schwemm Family Foundation went to refurbish the culinary learning garden at Arroyo High School, supporting the AHS students taking part in this program to learn to grow their own organic food, and to cultivate and experience the setting of urban green spaces at their school.

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Lift Urban Portland: Supper Club

Supper Club, a part of the larger Lift Urban Portland Adopt a Building program, provides on-site food security services in low-income apartment buildings in Northwest and Downtown Portland, Oregon. The Schwemm Family Foundation partnered with Lift Urban Portland to help fund the Supper Club program in two high need, low-income buildings in the City of Portland, providing a healthy eating, multi-part workshop series focused on nutrition education, cooking skills, and healthy meal preparation.

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Museum of Ventura County – Bootleggers, Rumrunners, and Blind-Piggers: Prohibition in Ventura County

The Foundation’s funding helped the Museum of Ventura County research, create and disseminate a scholarly journal, titled Bootleggers, Rumrunners, and Blind-Piggers: Prohibition in Ventura County. The Journal tells the story of the impact of Prohibition on Ventura County residents. The journal complemented the Museum’s major history exhibit All That Glitters is not Gold, which grew out of the same historical research into the county’s history during the 1920’s.

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Josephy Center for Arts and Culture - The Confluence: where the Nez Perce and Settlers met

The Josephy Center teamed with the Wallowa History Center and Nez Perce elders from three reservations, to document and explore the places and occasions of first meetings of white settlers and the Nez Perce Indians—often in the Oregon Wallowa Country. Local historians and tribal elders, met to examine the “Confluence” of two rivers where Whites and Indians met first met.

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Annie SwankGrant Cycle: 2022
Applegate Partnership & Watershed Council - Grow Youth

Formed in rural Southern Oregon in 1992, the APWC has evolved to become a national model for agency-community collaboration and innovation. One of their newest collaborative projects, Grow Youth, combines riparian restoration with monitoring education at a popular county park. In 2021, funds from the SFF were used to support this program in their efforts to enhance a section of the Applegate River for fish, beaver, and other wildlife while involving students in monitoring the removal of a variety of invasive species and the growth and survival of numerous native plants.

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Urban Rivers - Chicago River Indigenous Perspectives

This organization makes a unique urban environment - the Chicago river - more accessible and scenic for the benefit of those living or visiting downtown Chicago. Through a sustained, multi-year series of partnerships with private and public entities, Urban Rivers creates programming and experiences to help people of all ages experience something familiar in a new way. The Schwemm Family Foundation was proud to work with Urban Rivers to support their mission through funding field trips and other visits near and on the river.

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The Wetlands Conservancy - Minthorn Enhancement Collaboration

The Minthorn Springs Preserve is a wetland in urban Milwaukie, Oregon home to birds, mammals, snakes, salamanders, butterflies and dragonflies. The Schwemm Family Foundation partnered with the Wetlands Conservancy to help fund the Conservancy’s work to reduce non-native species and improve the natural spaces in the 6.52 acre wetlands for use by the public as well as a habitat for the native flora and fauna thriving there.

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Santa Barbara Zoo - California Condor Conservation Program

Endangered California condors continue to face threats in the wild. A factor identified as especially harmful is the amount of trash and plastic that adults may bring to the nest. As curious, scavenging birds, condors are attracted to microtrash such as broken glass, bottle caps, and can tabs, which may be mistaken for nutrient-rich bone fragments and can be deadly if ingested. In association with the Santa Barbara Zoo and other condor recovery program participants, SFF provided funds to purchase nest monitoring supplies such as cameras and binoculars to support the Nest Guarding Program. This program seeks to identify and mitigate nesting behaviors and threats that limit successful condor breeding.

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San Diego Parks Foundation - Tree Planting in Parks Serving Marginalized Communities

Outdoor spaces in urban settings are often highly developed and trees are often absent. The presence of vegetation – ‘Urban Greening’ – has been shown to increase a sense of community, decrease summer temperatures, improve air quality, increase bird and insect diversity and reduce crime. With support from SFF, the San Diego Parks Foundation initiated a planting effort that in 2020 and 2021 planted over 200 trees in selected urban neighborhoods. GPS data were collected on all the trees and tree survival rate was nearly 95%.

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Joseph Branch Trail Consortium - Joseph Branch Rail-with-Trail

The Foundation contributed towards the efforts of the Joseph Branch Trail Consortium. They are in the initial stages of developing and building a non-motorized, multi-use, publicly accessible trail in the scenic Wallowa-Union Railroad Corridor. The complete trail will begin at the train depot in Elgin, Oregon, and wind its way through river canyons, prairies, and picturesque farmland in the Wallowa Valley, terminating 63 miles later in the mountain town of Joseph, Oregon. The trail will provide a critical link for walkers and bicyclists, allowing residents to recreate, commute, and connect.

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Eugene Debbs Potts Foundation - 43 All-Weather Historical/Educational Signs

Eugene Debbs Potts Foundation: Pottsville is home to thousands of items commemorating Oregon's history, and the Eugene Debbs Potts Foundation is dedicated to preserving and making improvements to the historical Pottsville pioneer town and museum. The Schwemm Family Foundation supported the purchase and installation of 43 all-weather historical signs for the EDPF’s outdoor and indoor displays. These historical informational signs provide visitors with the opportunity to "take a walk through history" and learn about the fascinating history of Pottsville.

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Eco Urban Gardens - The Foraging Cafe at The Arroyo High School Farm Lab

Eco Urban Gardens is committed to combating food insecurity in the great Los Angeles area through urban agriculture and regenerative living. One of the ways they are doing this is by helping to create and maintain a Foraging Café at one of the local high schools where students can learn to forage for edibles and then prepare them into a healthy meal. In 2021, the SFF supported the Foraging Café as they expanded the planting and irrigation of a variety of edible, medicinal, and pollinator-friendly plants while at the same time integrating numerous hands-on educational workshops for students and the community at large.

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