The NOAA Office of Education has issued a competitive funding opportunity for projects designed to build environmental literacy of K-12 students and the public so they are knowledgeable of the ways in which their community can become more resilient to extreme weather and/or other environmental hazards, and become involved in achieving that resilience. 

This funding opportunity is soliciting two types of projects through separate competitive priorities.

Priority 1 will support new projects ($250,000 - $500,000 per project) located in the Southern and Western Regions of the United States. 

The Southern Region includes the following states and territories: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Texas, and the United States Virgin Islands. 

The Western Region includes the following states and territories: Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. 

Priority 2 will support the evolution of projects funded under the 2015-2016 funding opportunities from this program. The list of awards that are eligible can be found here: https://go.usa.gov/xVGzr. Funding levels for this priority are $100,000 - $500,000 per project.

For both priorities, eligible applicants are:

• institutions of higher education; 
• K-12 public and independent schools and school systems; 
• other nonprofits, including community-based organizations and informal education institutions, such as museums, zoos, and aquariums; 
• state and local government agencies; and 
• Indian tribal governments in the United States. 

Please note that we do not anticipate issuing a solicitation for applications next year. Rather, applications to this funding opportunity may be funded with fiscal year 2020 and 2021 funds. We plan to issue a funding opportunity, including a priority to support new projects from the Eastern and Central regions, which comprise the remainder of the country, in fall 2021.

Deadlines

For Priority 1, pre-applications are required and will be used to determine which institutions are invited to submit full applications to this priority. The deadline for pre-applications is 11:59 pm EST on November 25, 2019 and the deadline for Priority 1 full applications is 11:59 pm EDT on March 26, 2020. 

For Priority 2, only full applications are requested and the deadline for Priority 2 applications is 11:59 pm EST on February 11, 2020.

Informational Teleconferences

For Priority 1, two informational teleconferences with the program officers will occur on Thursday, October 17, 2019 from 3:00 to 5:00 pm EDT and Monday, October 21, 2019 from 3:00 to 5:00 pm EDT.

An informational teleconference for Priority 2 with the program officers will occur on Wednesday, October 30, 2019 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm EDT.  Interested applicants may obtain the phone number and related teleconference information by visiting the Apply webpage.

Whenever possible, individuals from the same institution should try to join the teleconference from the same phone line to maximize our ability to host as many interested institutions as possible.

Additional Information

Read the full funding announcement (NOAA-SEC-OED-2020-2006190) in Grants.gov for additional requirements.