Fiscal Year 2019 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Education and Training Program | NOAA NMFS NCBO 2019 2005918

Opportunity Information: Apply for NOAA NMFS NCBO 2019 2005918

The Fiscal Year 2019 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Education and Training (Chesapeake B-WET) Program is a federal discretionary grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Commerce (NOAA) designed to strengthen K-12 environmental literacy and stewardship across the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The program focuses on helping students understand the Chesapeake Bay system and the local watersheds that feed it, including rivers, small streams, and surrounding natural habitats. Its core purpose is to move beyond classroom-only instruction by supporting hands-on learning that connects students directly to real environmental conditions and challenges in their own communities, building both knowledge and a sense of responsibility for local and regional water resources.

A central feature of this opportunity is funding for Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs). These are structured learning sequences that blend classroom instruction with outdoor fieldwork and student-driven projects. In practice, MWEEs guide students through defining an environmental issue, conducting investigations outdoors (such as field sampling, observations, or habitat assessments), analyzing what they find, drawing conclusions, and then completing an action project that applies their learning in a concrete way. The intent is to create authentic, locally relevant experiences where students engage with real watershed questions rather than simulated or purely theoretical exercises, and to make the experience sustained and educationally coherent rather than a one-time field trip.

The opportunity is administered as a cooperative agreement, which generally means NOAA expects an active partnership role during the project period, such as coordination, technical input, or collaboration on program direction and outcomes. The funding activity aligns with environment, natural resources, science and technology, and related research and development goals. The program explicitly supports broader regional and national strategies, advancing the environmental literacy goal in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement and aligning with the NOAA Education Strategic Plan, emphasizing measurable improvements in student understanding and stewardship behaviors tied to watershed health.

Key administrative details include the funding opportunity number NOAA NMFS NCBO 2019 2005918 and CFDA number 11.457. The announcement was created on December 4, 2018, with an original application closing date of February 13, 2019. Individual awards were expected to be up to $150,000, with approximately 7 awards anticipated. Eligibility is listed as "Others" with additional clarification referenced in the full announcement, indicating that eligibility may extend beyond traditional categories and should be confirmed using the detailed eligibility language in the grant notice.

Overall, this grant opportunity supports organizations that can deliver high-quality watershed education programs for K-12 students throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed, especially programs that combine classroom learning, outdoor investigation, reflection and synthesis, and student action. The larger outcome NOAA is aiming for is a pipeline of students who not only learn how watersheds function and why the Chesapeake Bay matters, but who also practice stewardship in ways that are relevant to their own local environments and communities.

• The Department of Commerce in the environment, natural resources, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Fiscal Year 2019 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Education and Training Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 11.457.
• This funding opportunity was created on Dec 04, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 13, 2019. (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 7 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for NOAA NMFS NCBO 2019 2005918

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