MERRILLVILLE — NIPSCO is awarding 15 local nonprofit organizations with grants—totaling $50,000—to help fund restoration and education projects throughout northern Indiana.

This year’s winners include:

• Boys & Girls Club of White County, community environmental education programming
• Challenger Learning Center of Northwest Indiana, Spaceship Earth education programming
• City of LaPorte Park and Recreation Department, erosion control project
• Clear Lake Township Land Conservancy, ecosystem education programming
• Highland Community Foundation, community tree canopy project
• Indiana Dunes Environmental Learning Center, scholarships for the Stewards of Tomorrow
• Little River Wetlands, urban turtle education and conservation efforts
• Michigan Area Council of Governments, Partners for Clean Air
• Michigan City Area Schools, high school environmental restoration team
• Porter Couny Parks Foundation, Sunset Hill Farm County Park Pond restoration phase IV
• Shirley Heinze Land Trust, educational guidebook project
• St. Joseph County Parks Foundation, nature education and literacy trail
• Tippecanoe Environmental Lake & Watershed Foundation, Winona Lake Limitless Park restoration project
• Trees Indiana, woodland trails urban forest education
• Wildcat Guardians, Waterworks Dam Portage trail

In its third year, NIPSCO’s Environmental Grant has donated $150,000, helping 44 projects come to fruition, including support for native species return at Sunset Hill Farm County Park Pond in Porter County, a community tree canopy project in Highland and ecosystem education programming for Fremont Middle School students at Clear Lake Township Land Conservancy nature preserve and Brennan Woods in 2018.