Nantucket is a place where ideas are tried and tested and often can be transformed into tools to solve significant challenges. In partnership with island nonprofits and the Town of Nantucket, Remain has been able to support and launch a wide variety of impactful initiatives through grants. The categories for grant support include community education, multimodal transportation, housing and the environment, including plastic reduction, waste management, coastal resilience and green energy. These grants are different than the Community Foundation for Nantucket (CFN)’s Remain Nantucket Fund Grants and the Nantucket Chamber of Commerce Rock Solid Grants.

Some examples of the environmental projects supported by Remain grants include the building of a wind turbine at the Nantucket High School in 2010, fifteen years of support for the Nantucket Regional Transit Authority including a recent purchase of a charging station for electric buses, the development of bike paths and improved biking infrastructure with the Town of Nantucket and the construction of a solar parking pergola at the Housing Nantucket’s property on Wiggles Way. Recently, Remain has supported the Town’s efforts, in partnership with the Nantucket Land Bank, to prepare for the impacts of sea level rise on Nantucket’s critical transportation corridor along Washington Street. A grant provided to the Town funded a schematic design and planning effort developed by SCAPE and the Woods Hole Group that will bring resilience, storm water management, increased protection of critical infrastructure and improved multimodal transportation opportunities to the corner of Washington and Francis Streets.

Other Remain Nantucket grants are intended to expand access to data or research tools—knowing that better decisions are a result of well-researched data. With the partnership of Nantucket Data Platform and Community Data Platforms, Remain Nantucket funds studies to understand the effectiveness of Nantucket’s waste stream management, traffic and congestion research, improvements to the Wave’s shuttle bus programming, a variety of data dashboards for Town managers and several population studies.

Additional collaborations include grants for a two-part study to look at opportunities to salvage useful building materials through deconstruction. In partnership with Nantucket Preservation Trust, the research group EBP provided fascinating and impactful studies that have led to an increased effort to reduce the island’s construction and debris waste. Additional grants have supported the Preservation Institute of Nantucket’s research projects in coastal resilience and affordable housing. More recently, Remain Nantucket grants have funded opportunities to better understand the island’s food system. In partnership with Nantucket Resource Partnership, Remain Nantucket has underwritten several studies with Process First to study food insecurity, the transportation of food on the island and how data can improve the communications supporting the demand for food and growing schedules for island farmers.

Grants intended to promote or model sustainable practices have frequently given rise to partnership with cultural organizations. Recently, Remain grants have supported the Nantucket Historical Association’s efforts to understand the impact of climate on historic building materials. Other examples include support for enhanced educational opportunities  for all ages in partnership with such organizations as the Nantucket Community School and the Nantucket Community Music Center. A study conducted by EBP, led to the buildout of a new website and information kiosks for the Nantucket Office of Culture and Tourism and the Nantucket Cultural District. For the last two years, Remain has provided a grant to support the launch of the Nantucket Film Festival’s Green Carpet Cinema—promoting films that underscore the importance of sustainability and environmental conservation.

Remain does not advertise or promote its grant opportunities. Grants programs like the examples described stem from project partnerships with Remain staff and a shared vision for tackling significant challenges facing the island. Remain does not accept unsolicited grant applications.