In 2021, with a growing budget surplus due to pandemic-related limitations on hosting Section events and activities, the ENR Section voted to include in its 2022 budget $3,000 to fund an employer matching grant through the OSB Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Department. The ENR Section-funded employer matching grant is designated for an Oregon law student working in a summer position focused in environmental or natural resources law and will be matched by the qualifying employer. All students enrolled in Oregon law schools are eligible for the grant and the D&I Department administers the grant to ensure compliance with Keller and Fisher limitations and selects grant recipients. The 2022 recipient of the ENR Section-funded grant is Jenna Ayers, a student at Willamette Law School; Jenna spent her summer working with Western Environmental Law Center.

Supporting an employer matching grant through the D&I Department furthers OSB and the Section’s mission of improving the quality of legal services and increasing access to justice in the field of environmental and natural resources law. The ENR Section will consider funding the grant again as part of its 2023 budget at its November 2022 meeting. If the Section votes to continue funding the grant, it will request that the D&I Department rotate the grant recipients between each of Oregon’s law schools and among different sectors of employment in the environmental and natural resources practice.