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 and to help change behaviors. Learn about water quality and backyard conservation practices in our online or in-person course. After you take the course, you can get a voucher to use on a new backyard conservation purchase! Your voucher will have information on your eligible rebate items, how to redeem your rebate, and requirements. Due to the amount of participation, vouchers are offered on a first-come, first-served basis and expire after
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. However, this is an annual program that we run each year from spring to fall, and you can participate every year.
Community Backyards participants will be invited 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! Visit
GreenSpot to learn more about sustainability and how you can be more green.
After you take the educational course, residents who live in participating tax districts in Franklin County, Ohio 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. If you live outside of Franklin County, visit your local county's Soil and Water Conservation District for available resources and programs.
Non-participating Municipalities in Franklin County: Brice, Grandview Heights, Harrisburg, Lockbourne, Marble Cliff, Minerva Park, Pickerington, Riverlea, Urbancrest, Valleyview, Whitehall. If you live in one of those communities, you are eligible for a rebate on a rain barrel or a SWACO compost bin, but you are NOT eligible for native plant or rain garden rebates.
If it has been 2 weeks since you participated, but you haven't seen your voucher in your inbox, CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER! They often get sent to spam and junk folders. If you can't find it after checking spam folders, reach out to us.
Questions? Check out our
Resources page. If you still need assistance, please contact us via email or give us a call at (614) 486-9613.