RAE’s Impact
Restore America’s Estuaries coordinates an alliance of organizations working within their communities to protect and restore our nation’s coasts, bays, and estuaries. Alongside our member groups and nonprofit, government, and private sector partners, RAE continues to be a leading voice for the advancement of science-based coastal restoration and policy to support coastal communities.
Restoration Funding
In 2024, RAE awarded more than $10 million in grants to 60 organizations in 14 states through seven grant programs. Working in partnership with funders in the public and private sectors, we facilitate on-the-ground restoration to better protect communities from floods and drought, improve water quality by mitigating pollution, protect blue carbon ecosystems, construct living shorelines, and fund innovative research to improve our knowledge and understanding of the valuable ecosystem services healthy estuaries provide.
More than $10 million in grants was awarded in 2024.
RAE awarded grants to 60 organizations in 2024.
Grantees were spread across 14 states through seven grant programs.
Expanding the Benefits of Coastal Restoration
In 2019, RAE updated our strategic plan to include a new core pillar explicitly focused on the need to change and expand how estuary and coastal conservation is practiced: We aim to engage a broader, more inclusive community to increase the scale of our efforts and achieve big wins that lead to healthy and resilient bays and estuaries.
We aim to engage a broader, more inclusive community to increase the scale of our efforts and achieve big wins that lead to healthy and resilient bays and estuaries.
Among other objectives, the Inclusive Coasts Initiative will produce two workshop series – one for grantmakers and one for project implementers – designed to target the four areas within the DEIJ acronym for grantmaking and project implementation processes. Additionally, a cross sectoral working group will guide and contribute to the creation of the material, with the ultimate curricula being designed by an experts in the field. RAE will also collaborate with the working group, consultants, and workshop participants to produce best practice guidance and tactical management plans for grantmakers and project implementers – all of which will be made available to the public.
Convening
The RAE Coastal & Estuarine Summit is the largest gathering of coastal restoration professionals, policy makers, and enthusiasts in the U.S. Every other year, more than 1,000 people have joined RAE and our member groups in various coastal cities. The Summit takes a deep dive into key topics such as coastal blue carbon, living shorelines, natural infrastructure, estuary ecosystems, and habitat restoration. Experts share their research and success stories through presentations, posters, and multiple networking events.
In addition to the Summit, RAE also hosts the Living Shorelines Tech Transfer Workshop, coming up this October 29-30 in New Haven, Connecticut. The Living Shorelines Workshop is aimed at sharing expertise and technical knowhow within the coastal restoration community to improve shoreline protection, shoreline armoring, and share site specific living shoreline examples with a national audience.
