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<br />Page 10 of 24 <br /> <br />and educational signage discussing the benefits of <br />Piedmont prairies and reforestation and how these <br />types of ecosystems can be created in their <br />backyards. These ecosystems will be used as sites for <br />educational opportunities for school groups, our Eno <br />Climate Champions program, and our summer Field <br />Station camp. To ensure we reach a diverse audience <br />for our programming, we focus our efforts on <br />partnering with Title One schools who serve the <br />majority of low-income and BIPOC students. Through <br />these partnerships, we actively recruit students with <br />an interest in science and the outdoors to attend our <br />summer camp programming. We provide need-based <br />scholarships to low-income families for their children <br />to attend our camps. <br />The surrounding farming communities will benefit <br />from this project due to the increase in pollinator <br />species associated with Piedmont prairies and diverse <br />forests. Pollinators play a significant role in the <br />production of more than 150 food crops in the United <br />States, and studies have found that pollination <br />enhances the yield and quality of a variety of <br />important economic crops. Most of this economic <br />benefit is attributed to pollination by wild bees <br />(Piedmont Environmental Council). Additionally, a <br />study from NC State University and published in <br />Frontiers for Ecology and Evolution found that there <br />was an increase in bee abundance and diversity with <br />high quality early successional habitats which has <br />positive impacts to North Carolina ecologically and <br />economically. Agriculture in North Carolina is huge, <br />accounting for one fifth of the state’s workforce and <br />an economic impact of $103.2 billion, according to a <br />2023 report from the N.C. Department of Agriculture <br />and Consumer Services. Positive farmland production <br />impacts of pollinators from the rich, restored habitats <br />at the Confluence Natural Area will be seen in this <br />local community, many of whom fall below the <br />National 50th percentile for low-income households <br />and people of color. <br /> <br />7. Please describe any ways in which low‐income or <br />marginalized communities/households were <br />engaged in the creation of this project proposal. <br />This project was born out of our strategic <br />conservation planning effort conducted in 2023-2024. <br />ERA conducted a comprehensive community <br />outreach initiative, aimed at engaging a broad <br />Docusign Envelope ID: 044C3299-6F90-4782-B8F5-C4A7339F0897