This project provides funding to the grantee to implement its project, which will design, demonstrate, and disseminate environmental education practices, methods, and techniques, that will serve to…

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded a $101,097 Project Grant under the Environmental Education Grants Program (CFDA 66.951) to the Alaska Songbird Institute in Fairbanks, Alaska. This 2-year grant, which runs from February 1, 2025 to December 31, 2026, will fund the design, demonstration, and dissemination of environmental education practices, methods, and techniques to increase environmental literacy and encourage environmentally-beneficial behaviors in the Fairbanks community.

Key activities include building capacity, reducing economic barriers, and developing culturally responsive content for STEM mentoring and high school internship programs. The grant will also enable the grantee to provide five sub-awards to local organizations to help build their programs and provide transportation/support for low-income student participation. The project builds on an existing program to teach the effects of climate change and prepare students for STEM careers through a multi-age learning environment focused on songbird monitoring and community presentations.

This project provides funding to the grantee to implement its project, which will design, demonstrate, and disseminate environmental education practices, methods, and techniques, that will serve to increase environmental literacy and encourage behavior that will benefit the environment in fairbanks, alaska. This project builds on an existing program to teach the effects of climate change and prepare students for science, technology, engineering, and math (stem) careers. IT is a multi-age learning environment where older students learn about leadership, collaboration, and communication, and younger students see opportunities to learn and grow into greater responsibilities. This will be done by training underserved/disadvantaged students to participate in existing long-term songbird monitoring projects evaluating effects of climate change on songbirds. The data collected has been used in numerous publications. Students will also make presentation to the community. Student participants in the past have gone onto stem careers, become educators and become leaders in industry and the community. Activities:this project will increase public awareness and knowledge about environmental issues in fairbanks, alaska and provide students, teachers, and community members the skills necessary to make informed decisions and to take responsible actions. Activities to be performed during this project period include build capacity, reduce economic barriers, and develop culturally responsive content in the stem mentoring and high school internship programs and create a robust pathway to degrees and careers in stem fields through interconnected learning opportunities and an alumni network. Subrecipient:the sub-grant program will enable the grantee to give five subawards to organizations to build their programs and to help provide transportation and support to low-income students participating in the programs.outcomes:IT is anticipated that this project will result in the following deliverables: 90 middle school low-income students volunteer 2,000 hours on local projects, and 20 high school low-income students volunteer 1,800 on local projects . One-two new stem projects are created for the students to work on. And 20 high school stewardship projects are completed. 14 youth/teen led presentations are made for 420 people in the target communities, and 36 field trips for 900 students and 36 teachers are completed. Expected outcomes of the project include below: (short-term) - increased environmental and stem volunteer and leadership opportunities for youth and teens in the community and increase knowledge of boreal ecology and climate change; (medium-term) - develop key stem skills, observation, problem solving, collaboration and critial thinking and build confidence and self-efficacy in stem fields and increase climate and environmental literacy; (long-term) - mentoring alaska's next generation of stem and conservation leaders to be agents of sustainable change in interior alaska. The intended beneficiaries will be over 1,000 underserved students and 36 teachers in and 420 community members in fairbanks, alaska.