Applications are now being accepted for the Judy Beck Grant. The grant is available to non-profit groups or individuals with projects focusing on environmental conservation, sustainability, community engagement or youth development. Grant funding will be awarded for a single project or multiple smaller projects. The Beck and Hurvis Families have generously provided the 2025 grant of $10,000.

All submissions are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, January 31, 2025, and winners will be announced in March. The application packet can be found at glenviewparks.org.

In 2020, The Beck Family Foundation and Hurvis Family launched the Judy Beck Grant program to support generations of new conservation leaders to continue the great work and legacy of building and strengthening our local community. A dedicated environmentalist, Judy Beck served as a park board commissioner for 32 years, and was a village natural resources commissioner and member of the Glenview/Glencoe League of Women Voters. In addition to her local leadership, Judy also worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for 30 years, served as the Illinois Association of Park Districts (IAPD) Board President in 1994 and was named IAPD Commissioner of the Year in 1996.

Projects that received grant funding last year included: Glenview Clean Energy Fair and Electric Vehicle Show and Neighborhood Ambassador programs from Greener Glenview; River Rats Cleanup from The Grove staff member Mitch Ransdell; Tree Seedling Distribution from Boy Scout Troop 55; and a project designed to teach middle school students about the Pike-Root Watershed from Cool Learning Experience, an anti-poverty initiative formed by the First Baptist Church in Waukegan. The Judy Beck Grant program has funded 25 projects since its inception in 2021, totaling over $42,000, donated by the Beck Family Foundation and Hurvis Families.