Endowment to Release Forest Investment Zone RFP

Work of the Endowment over the past nine months will soon culminate in the release of a Request for Proposals (RFP) entitled “Forest Investment Zones: Co-Creating Innovation and Learning at the Regional Level.” This initiative will serve as a signature programmatic focus of the Endowment’s investments. The initiative has been built from the results of a national survey, national workshop and multiple conversations by Endowment Board and staff members with experts from across the nation. Forest Investment Zones is envisioned as a six-year initiative that will initially be rolled out in three areas, followed by two more after about 24 months. Diane Snyder, Vice-President, Community Development for the Endowment, shared her excitement about the initiative saying, “The concept of Forest Investment Zones highlights the Endowment’s commitment to work in concert with the environmental needs of the forest while addressing the economic needs of the communities in and around the forest.” The initiative will use existing regional organizations to implement the work with a broad array of their community partners. The Endowment hopes to make Forest Investment Zones “learning laboratories” that will serve to share learnings widely. “We anticipate that the RFP will be posted before the end of this month and plan to have selected the first three areas by the end of the year,” reported Endowment President, Carlton Owen.