2023 Pacific Northwest Bay Watershed Education and Training | NOAA NOS ONMS 2023 2007704

Opportunity Information: Apply for NOAA NOS ONMS 2023 2007704

The 2023 Pacific Northwest Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) grant opportunity is a NOAA-funded environmental education program designed to bring locally relevant, hands-on watershed learning into K-12 education across the Pacific Northwest. The core idea is to move beyond classroom-only instruction by supporting projects that give students authentic, field- and community-connected learning experiences focused on watersheds and related environmental systems. Through competitive grants and cooperative agreements, the program funds Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs), along with teacher professional development that helps educators deliver those experiences effectively and integrate them into regular instruction. Overall, the program aims to build environmental literacy, strengthen regional education and conservation priorities, and give students memorable, real-world learning opportunities they typically would not have access to through traditional coursework.

For FY23, the announcement emphasizes climate resilience as a central theme and highlights two main priority areas. The first priority is systemic, classroom-integrated MWEEs for K-12 students that promote climate resilience and are paired with high-quality professional development for teachers connected directly to those MWEEs. In practice, this points toward projects that do not function as isolated field trips, but instead are built into curricula and instructional plans in a way that can be sustained and replicated. The second priority focuses on MWEEs that appropriately incorporate Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge while also promoting climate resilience, signaling an interest in projects that respectfully engage Indigenous perspectives, knowledge systems, and community relationships as part of watershed education in the region.

This opportunity is administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce through NOAA, with the funding opportunity title listed as "2023 Pacific Northwest Bay Watershed Education and Training" and the opportunity number NOAA NOS ONMS 2023 2007704. The assistance listing is associated with CFDA number 11.429, and the activity categories include education, environment, and natural resources. Awards are offered as grants and cooperative agreements, reflecting that NOAA may have an ongoing programmatic role in funded work depending on the project design and agreement structure.

Eligible applicants span a wide range of public and nonprofit entities, including state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; other Native American tribal organizations; and nonprofit organizations both with and without 501(c)(3) status (as long as they are not institutions of higher education). This eligibility structure supports applications from school-adjacent nonprofits, local governments, tribes and tribal organizations, and higher education institutions that may serve as partners, program developers, or regional conveners for K-12 watershed education.

The funding parameters indicate an award ceiling of $150,000, with an expected total of about six awards. The announcement was created on November 23, 2022, with an original closing date of February 27, 2023. In short, the program funds place-based watershed education projects for K-12 students in the Pacific Northwest that deliver MWEEs, strengthen teacher capacity through professional development, and align strongly with climate resilience, with a specific emphasis on classroom integration and, in a second priority track, the appropriate inclusion of Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge.

• The Department of Commerce in the education, environment, natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "2023 Pacific Northwest Bay Watershed Education and Training" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 11.429.
• This funding opportunity was created on Nov 23, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 27, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $150,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 6 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education.

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