What is Community Backyards?
Community Backyards is an educational rebate program that was created to teach Franklin County, Ohio residents about how you can improve water quality beginning right in your own backyard. Residents can earn up to $50 for your yard by partcipating in the online course and quiz or attending an in-person workshop. After participation, you will receive a voucher with details on your eligible rebate items and how to redeem your rebate. Due to the amount of participation, vouchers are offered on a first-come, first-served basis and expire within
30 days. Vouchers and rebates are limited to
one voucher/rebate per household per year to ensure we can reach as many households as possible! Funding for the program is limited, and the program might close early if rebate funding for your community runs out.
Community Backyards participants will automatically be enrolled to be a City of Columbus
GreenSpot after receiving their voucher. Why? By implementing one of the backyard conservation rebate practices, you're already working on going green anyway! Additionally, funding for the program is provided by the City of Columbus and our other participating communities. Without their support, funds would not be available for rebates. Visit
GreenSpot to learn more about sustainability and how you can be more green.
Who is eligible for a rebate?
Residents who live in the following tax districts are eligible for a rebate. Do you know what your residence's primary tax district is? In Franklin County, your mailing address or school district is sometimes different from your tax district! Because of this, we verify every single participant's tax district via the
Franklin County Auditor - which residents can do too! Please see the list of participating communities below.
2023 Participating Communities
BEXLEY • COLUMBUS • CANAL WINCHESTER • DUBLIN • GAHANNA • GRANDVIEW • GROVE CITY
HILLIARD • NEW ALBANY • OBETZ • REYNOLDSBURG • UPPER ARLINGTON • WESTERVILLE • WORTHINGTON • UNINCORPORATED FRANKLIN COUNTY TOWNSHIPS
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Not within a participating community listed above but still in Franklin County? You are eligible for a rebate on a rain barrel. If you live outside of Franklin County, please contact your local county's Soil and Water Conservation District for available conservation assistance and programs. Like the
Del-Aware Rebate Program for Delaware County residents!
How do I participate in Community Backyards?
- Fill out the online course page with your most up to date information including home address, phone number and an email address that you check regulary.
- Take the online course with a focus on residential use of rain barrels, rain gardens, composting, native plants and lawn care.
- After the course, take the short quiz on what you've learned. Don't forget to hit submit! Pass the quiz, and your information is sent to the team at Franklin Soil and Water.
- We manually verify your eligibility and send you a voucher with your eligible rebate items and instructions within approximately 2-3 weeks of taking the course. You will NOT receive your voucher immediately after taking the class. This is because we have to manually verify your information and tax district, and then create the voucher based on your information. If you have not received your voucher via email after 3 weeks, please check your "other" and spam folders before reaching out.
- Follow the instructions on your voucher for how to redeem your rebate & receive your reimbursement.
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OR | - The Community Backyards workshops are FREE for anyone to attend, and offer information, interaction, and answers to your questions with staff or volunteers knowledgable about backyard conservation.
- To attend, please register online in advance through the registration links below or call our office at (614) 486-9613.
- We will manually verify your eligibility prior to the workshop and email you to confirm your registration and meeting information.
- You must attend the class for the entire duration of about an hour and a half. After the class, you will receive a voucher with your eligible rebate items and instructions on how to redeem your rebate.
- Follow the instructions on your voucher for how to redeem your rebate & receive your reimbursement.
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