More Funding, More Fun on Philadelphia’s Circuit Trails
Authored By: Emilia Crotty | PEC Director of Trails and Equitable Access in Southeast Region | June 25, 2025
This blog first published on the Pennsylvania Environmental Council’s blog on June 25.
The Circuit Trails Community Grant Program continues to grow thanks to new funding from the William Penn Foundation. This year, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) will support a total of 25 nonprofit organizations doing incredible work along the Circuit Trails network, offering thousands of people welcoming outdoor experiences.
PEC launched the Circuit Trails Community Grant Program in 2023. Since then, the program has invested over $516,000 into 27 organizations across the Greater Philadelphia and southern New Jersey region. Each grantee organization leads programming on or near multi-use trails that are part of the Circuit Trails network, which currently encompasses more than 415 miles of completed trails.
Initially established with funding from the William Penn Foundation to support 10 organizations, additional federal funds from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service allowed PEC to award two-year grants to another six organizations in 2024. Through the additional funding, Circuit Trails Coalition Community Grant Program grantees also gained access to fishing and birding programming in partnership with Mid-Atlantic Youth Anglers for 2024 and 2025.
Now, with an extension of the William Penn Foundation’s original funding along with a new Outdoor Programming award from the Foundation, the Community Grant Program welcomes 11 new grantee partners and 14 returning organizations to offer enticing outdoor programming on the Circuit Trails throughout 2025. Lead support is provided by the William Penn Foundation.
Since its inception, the Community Grant Program has improved access to and increased use of the Circuit Trails, particularly in historically disinvested communities and among marginalized groups. Grantee partners offer projects and events such as tree plantings, bike riding lessons, trailhead improvements, fishing, hiking, tactical urbanism, art installations, and more, that engage communities across Philadelphia, Chester, Camden, and Trenton.
One grantee partner, Hike + Heal, was founded in 2019 with the goal of connecting women, particularly women of color, with the outdoors. Through group hikes and trailside social gatherings, founder Brandi Aulston has seen members gain confidence, forge friendships, and pursue more ambitious outdoor activities like camping.
“The Community Grant supports us by keeping our offerings accessible,” Aulston said. “It also allows us to introduce people to all of the circuits that are in our city that are connected from Jersey to Philly to outside of the city.”
Grantees increase access to outdoor recreation in the region through community-based, culturally relevant projects and programs. We welcome the program’s new grantees, listed below. A complete list of Community Grant Program grantee partners can be found here.
2025 Circuit Trails Coalition Community Grantees
Latinas In Motion encourages, inspires and empowers women to get active, fostering a community of women living healthy lifestyles. With support from the Circuit Trails Community Grant Program, Latinas In Motion will host regular walks and an annual 5K run, introducing people to trails throughout North Philly, including the Tacony Creek Trail.
Since 1993, Camden Greenways, Inc. (CGI) has been dedicated to realizing the Camden Greenways Plan and stewarding it. Funding will allow CGI to expand its Camden Bikeshare initiative and collaborate with local partners on regular trail walks and family-friendly events on Camden County’s trails.
The Outdoor Equity Alliance (OEA) will beautify and revitalize trail connections in Trenton, enhancing a bridge that links the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park Trail to Trenton’s urban core. The project will transform the bridge into a more inviting gateway for the community and trail users by removing graffiti, repainting and planting vibrant native flowers along its edges. OEA will also install wayfinding signage to highlight the bridge’s connection to the larger canal path and Circuit Trails network, encouraging more exploration of these valuable outdoor spaces.
Philly Devo provides cycling development for women, trans and non-binary riders new to the sport, offering inclusive and welcoming road, mountain bike and gravel rides. Funding will support a six-week program where riders meet to ride twice weekly and are coached on bike handling skills, route building and navigation, safe riding practices, build riding endurance and more.
Chester Community Story Trail
Led by Brittani Hales, an engaged and outgoing Chester resident, the Chester Community Story Trail will create a story walk along the Delaware Riverfront Trail, featuring a collaboratively written and illustrated story that reflects the unique experiences and perspectives of local residents.
YJR Outdoors will hold youth and adult cycling events to North Philadelphia’s Tacony Creek Park and the Tacony Creek Trail in partnership with Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership, a Circuit Trails Coalition member organization. YJR will host a selection of public programming, including Learn to Ride classes for kids and adults, bike skills and safety coaching, pop-up bike parks and bike maintenance clinics.
Riverfront North Partnership and JSJ Food Bank
Riverfront North Partnership, a Circuit Trails Coalition member organization, will collaborate with JSJ Food Bank, located in the Frankford section of Philadelphia, to host a photography camp for local students from Frankford High School. The photography camp will introduce teens to the Delaware River Trail and the string of waterfront parks connected by the Circuit Trail.
Philly S.A.F.E., based in the Mantua neighborhood in Philadelphia, teaches service, agriculture, financial literacy and entrepreneurship (S.A.F.E.) to teen boys in West Philly. Philly S.A.F.E. will bring the program’s young men to Circuit Trails near and far to experience nature, decompress, engage in physical activity and strengthen their bonds in the outdoors.
For more than 12 years, Let’s Go Outdoors (LGO) has connected city communities to outdoor experiences across Philadelphia. Circuit Trails Community Grant Program funding will allow LGO to support other grantee partners with traditional neighborhood-based outreach, ensuring that the right audiences are aware of their programs. LGO will also provide outdoor activities to supplement grantee partners’ activities, making outdoor trail activities regularly available to Philadelphia communities.
Black Girl Joy Bike Ride is a non-competitive, gentle bike ride for Black Women that centers community, togetherness and joy. Led by Iresha Picot, Circuit Trails funding will allow Iresha to offer monthly bike rides for seven months each year, providing all equipment necessary for participants.
To learn more about the Circuit Trails Community Grant Program and to explore the Circuit Trails network, visit circuittrails.org. There, you can also learn more about the many organizations that have already benefited from the program, like Hike + Heal, which aims to make the outdoors more accessible to women through curated hikes and wellness events, and Healing Through the Land, which offers free workshops and resources to women of color intended to reconnect to historical practices and cultivate new traditions that promote health and community.
The Circuit Trails Coalition Community Grant Program is administered by PEC. To support our mission to improve access to the outdoors for every Pennsylvanian, visit pecpa.org/donate.
