GCBSR awards educational grants to non-profit organizations in the Maryland/Virginia region of the Chesapeake Bay whose activities best align with our mission. Grants are funded through donations made in the name of the Schooner Adventurer during our Virtual Race and through the generous donations of GCBSR supporters throughout the year.
We are proud to support the programs of the organizations shown below, which benefit young, disadvantaged students in very significant and enduring ways, protect the water quality of the Bay, and promote a deeper understanding of, and connection with, the traditional maritime cultures they share.
Congratulations 2025 Grant Recipients
The World Ocean School Immersion Program for ASF Apprentices
Alexandria Seaport Foundation
Alexandria, VA
Awarded $3000
The Alexandria Seaport Foundation’s apprentice program is designed for young adults aged 18 to 23 who are eager to find a new path. The program uses woodworking and traditional boatbuilding to teach job skills and positive habits that apprentices need for success in both their work and personal life. The GCBSR grant will give these highly-motivated apprentices the opportunity to participate in the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race aboard the schooner, Denis Sullivan, operated by World Ocean School. While on board, the apprentices will rotate through three stations within their watch groups each day. In Active Watch, students are responsible for sail handling, steering and maintaining the ship’s deck while underway. During Seamanship Watch, students learn technical skills taught by our crew such as navigation and knot tying. On Reading and Reflection Watch, students take time to engage with the sea and appreciate their natural surroundings.
The Studio at Mermaid Grove
The Chesapeake Mermaid
Owings, MD
Awarded $3,000
For over 15 years, The Chesapeake Mermaid has offered environmental education through programs, books and activities focused on Chesapeake Bay wildlife and habitats. Grounded in first-hand experience with wildlife rescue and habitat restoration, their programs blend storytelling, sign language, movement, music and ways to take action—creating emotional connections and encouraging daily environmental stewardship. The Mermaid has appeared in venues including schools, parks, museums and festivals and reached up to 30,000 participants each year. The GCBSR grant will help the Mermaid complete the studio used to produce their recorded programming.
Young Mariners Education Sail
Living Classroom Foundation
Baltimore, MD
Awarded $3,000
The Living Classrooms Foundation provides innovative, hands-on learning experiences through education, job training, health and wellness, and community-based safety programs. The GCBSR grant will give a diverse group of under-served, academically-oriented juniors from Baltimore City College High School the opportunity to participate in the three-day Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race aboard Living Classroom’s flagship, Lady Maryland. Lady Maryland is an authentic reproduction of a Chesapeake Bay pungy schooner and the only pungy schooner in existence today. Most of the participating students will be their first time sailing and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This program will also support Lady Maryland’s re-entry into Baltimore’s sailing culture after several inactive years.
Downtown Sailing Center Sailing Diversity Initiative
Downtown Sailing Center
Baltimore, MD
Awarded $2,000
The Downtown Sailing Center is dedicated to creating an inclusive environment and providing access to the water, with a focus on youth, individuals with disabilities and those with limited opportunities. As part of its mission, the Center promotes participation in sailing among individuals that identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). Their approach is two-pronged: First, they created a BIPOC Sailing Program as an affordable and low barrier way to bring new individuals to sailing. Second, they identified the need to help participants in the BIPOC Sailing Program further their skills and become skippers. The GCBSR grant will support the Center’s efforts to attract and retain new sailors of color and help provide a pathway for participants to meet their sailing goals. It will also raise awareness of the shared watershed environment, deepen participants’ experiences in nature and the joy of being on the water, and increase the diversity in skippers and crew for the sport.
Breaking Barriers: Financial Aid Scholarships for Sailors
Norfolk Youth Sailing Assoc.
Norfolk, VA
Awarded $1,500
The Norfolk Youth Sailing Association sponsors skill development, varsity interscholastic sailing teams and regattas for students in Norfolk, VA. The Association currently focuses on Maury and Granby High Schools as well as the Hague School, a small Norfolk-waterfront themed, independent high school with a track-record of socioeconomic inclusion. The Association has proven that it is possible to reduce the financial and social barriers to entry to competitive high school sailing through close collaboration with the Sail Nauticus after-school program and a city-wide program that emphasizes support for Norfolk’s Title 1 student population. The GCBSR grant will help the Association continue these efforts.
Learn to Sail with STEM
Youth Sailing Virginia
Hampton, VA
Awarded $1,500
Youth Sailing Virginia‘s mission is to teach life skills to high school and middle school youth and their families through sailing programs. Their Beginner Learn to Sail with STEM program provides an immersive and comprehensive educational experience for participating students that inspire interest in physics, marine biology, environment, technology and more. YSV collaborates with community groups, non-profit groups, and public schools in Hampton and Newport News to recruit participants. The GCBSR grant will help Youth Sailing Virginia continue outreach to students in under-represented and under-served populations.
Expanding Access with Spanish-Language Maritime Education
Pride of Baltimore II
Baltimore, MD
Awarded $1,000
Pride of Baltimore II’s mission is to promote historical maritime education, foster economic development and tourism and represent the people of Maryland in every port she visits. The GCBSP grant will help Pride serve Baltimore’s Latino communities with limited access to outdoor education and maritime experiences. In partnership with Defensores de la Cuenca, Pride will offer a free, bilingual sail aboard Pride of Baltimore II featuring Spanish interpretation, translated educational materials and hands-on learning about the Chesapeake Bay, Baltimore’s maritime history and maritime careers. Participants will receive take-home materials in both Spanish and English, and those interested in maritime careers will be connected to follow-up resources. This program creates a welcoming, inclusive entry point for Latino families to engage with the Bay and its maritime heritage.
Past Recipients
- Alexandria Seaport Foundation: $3,000 The Apprentice Program in Alexandria, VA, serves critically disadvantaged young people, ages 18 to 23, who need direction and support by building skills, self-worth and community. Alexandria Seaport’s curriculum of mentoring, community support and career exploration give the Apprentices the positive environment they need.
- Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating (CRAB): $2,000 In cooperation with the Annapolis City and Anne Arundel County Police Departments, CRAB hosts a sailing camp where young people from underserved areas and police officers learn to sail. This opportunity helps increase and enhance student life-skills and forges a strong relationships between the police officers and the youth.
- EarthReports, Inc. dba Patuxent Riverkeeper: $2,500 The Nature Camp takes place at the southern end of the Patuxent River Park. Students age 10 to 16 learn practical outdoor skills and citizen science through hands-on activities such as fishing, hiking, orienteering, kayaking, water quality testing and more. Classes are small and focus on developing skills and confidence through their relationship with nature.
- Tidewater Wooden Boat Workshop (TWBW): $2,500 TWBW provides after-school and morning boatbuilding sessions throughout the week for youths, ages 12 to 18, Summer Camps for ages 10 to 18, and a Pre-Apprentice program for youth out of school ages 17 to 24. Participants develop life skills such as communication, teamwork, critical thinking, problem solving, self-confidence, self-esteem, creativity and others. At the conclusion of the program, weather permitting, students get to take the completed boats out on the water to row and sail.
- Downtown Sailing Center, Baltimore, MD: $3,000 Supporting a three-day sail aboard the Skipjack Sigsbee for Baltimore City teenagers participating in the summer Young Mariners program, in which they learn to sail, learn about maritime history and careers, and develop soft job skills.
- Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation, Annapolis, MD: $3,000 Supporting the “Emerging Careers in the Maritime Arts & Sciences” program for students in the historically Black beachfront communities in Annapolis and Cambridge.This program integrates classroom activities with water’s edge and on-the-water activities such as meeting Black marine scientists conducting eDNA work, taking field trips to Black historical, cultural and environmental facilities, and learning about career opportunities.
- Severn River Association, Annapolis, MD: $2,000 Supporting Operation Osprey in which middle school students will participate in an inventory of ospreys and osprey nest along the Severn River watershed.
- Nauticus Foundation, Norfolk, VA: $2,000 Sponsoring two educational sails for Norfolk Public Schools middle school students.
- Brendan Sailing, Washington, DC: $1,000 Supporting learn-to-sail programs for students ages 11-18 with learning differences.
- Bluewater Baltimore, Baltimore, MD: $1,000 Supporting the “Raindrops to Rivers” ecoliteracy and engagement educational program.
- 1781 Foundation, Williamsburg, VA: $500 Supporting tours for fourth graders of the Yorktown Tea Party Educational Experience,leading up to Yorktown Maritime Heritage Festival and Tea Party Reenactment.
- Watermen’s Museum, Yorktown, VA: $500 Onsite boatbuilding education programs.
- Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park $500 Skipjack Wilma Lee Push Boat restoration