DOC NOAA - NOAA-NMFS-GARFO-2021-2006802 - 2.16.2021 (revised).pdf

Notice of Federal Funding Page 1 of 50

FY2021-FY2022 NOAA New England Bay Watershed Education and Training (New England B-WET) Program

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Funding Opportunity Description 4

A. Program Objective 4 B. Program Priorities 14 C. Program Authority 20

II. Award Information 20 A. Funding Availability 20 B. Project/Award Period 21 C. Type of Funding Instrument 21

III. Eligibility Information 22 A. Eligible Applicants 22 B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement 23 C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility 23

IV. Application and Submission Information 23 A. Address to Request Application Package 23 B. Content and Form of Application 24 C. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management (SAM) 38 D. Submission Dates and Times 39 E. Intergovernmental Review 39 F. Funding Restrictions 39 G. Other Submission Requirements 40

V. Application Review Information 40 A. Evaluation Criteria 40 B. Review and Selection Process 42 C. Selection Factors 43 D. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates 44

VI. Award Administration Information 45 A. Award Notices 45 B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements 45 C. Reporting 49

VII. Agency Contacts 49 VIII. Other Information 50

Notice of Federal Funding Page 2 of 50

NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Federal Agency Name(s): National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce

Funding Opportunity Title: FY2021-FY2022 NOAA New England Bay Watershed Education and Training (New England B-WET) Program

Announcement Type: Initial

Funding Opportunity Number: NOAA-NMFS-GARFO-2021-2006802

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 11.008, NOAA Mission-Related Education Awards

Dates: Dates: Complete applications must be received at http://www.grants.gov, or postmarked, or provided to a delivery service, with appropriate documentation, no later than 11:59 p.m., Eastern Standard Time (EST), on the closing date, April 1, 2021. Electronic submission via Grants.gov is preferred. If use of Grants.gov is not feasible or practical, paper copy applications will be accepted, but use of the U. S. Postal Service or other delivery service must be documented with a receipt. Private meter postmarks are not acceptable. Postmarked applications received more than five (5) business days after the closing date will not be accepted.

Any application not adhering to the postmark or submission deadlines will be rejected and returned to the sender without further consideration.

Submission via w.w.w.Grants.gov is preferred. Electronic submission is complex, with several preliminary registrations which must be completed before the application itself can be submitted.

Allow sufficient time to submit your application electronically and to accommodate possible computer delays. Validation or rejection of your application by Grants.gov may take up to two

(2) business days after submission.

Funding Opportunity Description: Funding Opportunity Description: NOAA’s Bay Watershed Education and Training Program (B-WET) is an environmental education program that promotes place-based, locally relevant, experiential learning for kindergarten through grade 12 students and their classroom teachers and educators. Its signature methodology is Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs), which include multi-stage activities, in the classroom and outdoors, to increase environmental literacy of all participants. This Notice of Funding Opportunity addresses the unique need for innovative strategies to support K-12 outdoor environmental education within the context of a global pandemic and constrained educational resources.

http://www.grants.gov/

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New England B-WET is one of NOAA’s seven (7) regional, outdoor environmental education programs. It promotes high quality environmental education for all, including underserved populations, fosters innovative programs, and encourages capacity-building and environmental education partnerships within the six New England States: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Successful projects advance ocean, climate, and other environmental literacy goals and incorporate the goals of the NOAA Education Strategic Plan through (1) K-12 student, hands-on environmental education in New England watersheds and (2) teacher/educator professional development and support during student MWEEs.

Each proposal submitted to this competition must address and identify one of the two priorities:

(1) Backyard B-WET in a Pandemic and (2) Second Glance: Capacity Building for Sustainability. This Notice of Funding Opportunity includes information on the application process and evaluation criteria for proposals which may request up to $300,000 in total Federal funding for a maximum project period of three (3) years.

Grants resulting from this competition depend on the availability of annual Federal funding, as provided in enacted Appropriation Acts. Successful applicants are not guaranteed a specific level of funding. If funds are not available in FY2021, applications submitted in FY2021 may be carried over for consideration in FY2022 should funds become available then and if these applications remain relevant to New England B-WET priorities.

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FULL ANNOUNCEMENT TEXT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Program Objective

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Bay Watershed Education and

Training (NOAA B-WET) Program is an environmental education program that promotes locally relevant, experiential learning, and outdoor investigations integrated into formal classroom learning, from kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12). Established first in 2002 in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, B-WET programs exist today in the Chesapeake Bay, Gulf of Mexico, California, Hawaii, Pacific Northwest, Great Lakes, and New England. New England B-WET began in 2008.

Students receive hands-on, place-based, outdoor education related to issues affecting watershed, coastal, and ocean ecosystems. Teachers, administrators, and other educators who serve in-school K-12 audiences receive professional development training to support student learning based on B-WET’s signature methodology – Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs). MWEE methodology integrates field experiences with classroom activities and instruction in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), using NOAA assets, e.g., datasets, reporting, websites, curricula, experts, National Estuarine Research Reserves, National Marine Sanctuaries, and so forth. MWEEs are the foundation of the NOAA B-WET experience, for students as well as educators, and are used by all seven B-WET regional programs.

The MWEE Please familiarize yourself in depth with NOAA B-WET’s recently updated (summer, 2020), MWEE definition (below), also available at:

https://www.noaa.gov/education/explainers/noaa-meaningful-watershed-educational-experience

MWEEs are learner-centered experiences that focus on investigations into local environmental issues that lead to informed stewardship actions. They are composed of multiple elements that include learning both outdoors and in the classroom, and are designed to increase the environmental literacy of all student participants. All students, regardless of where they live or their social or economic status, should have the opportunity to participate in and benefit from MWEEs.

The MWEE model applies multidisciplinary practices in order for students to understand how the environmental systems they are investigating relate to their community’s social or http://www.noaa.gov/education/explainers/noaa-meaningful-watershed-educational-

Notice of Federal Funding Page 5 of 50 cultural systems. MWEEs help connect students with their local environment and enable them to take actions and make decisions that contribute to stronger, sustainable, and equitable communities. These experiences, grounded in best practices for learning, academic standards, and the context of the local watershed and community, help increase student interest and engagement for learning, support student achievement, promote 21st century skills, and achieve environmental stewardship.

For the purposes of this funding opportunity, the MWEE consists of four essential elements and five supporting practices that build upon each other to create this comprehensive learning experience for students. This process should be tailored to each audience and be age appropriate with practices growing in complexity and sophistication across the grades, starting with teacher-guided investigations and progressing to student-led inquiry. Teachers should support and assist students in their inquiry and investigations of local environmental issues that are of interest to them throughout the MWEE. To support teacher implementation of MWEEs, B-WET has also included five practices that are recommended to be in place for teacher professional development activities

NOAA has adopted this definition of the MWEE to assist with the development of effective projects founded in best practices determined through environmental education evaluation and research. This definition builds on the work of the Chesapeake Bay Program Education Workgroup and is further informed by over a decade of B-WET project implementation and evaluation work across the country. While these criteria represent standard national guidelines, each B-WET regional program will continue to craft and refine its own priorities that build on this MWEE definition and are tailored to the local population, geography, culture, and natural, financial, and human resources.

MWEE Essential Elements The MWEE consists of four essential elements that describe “what students do.” These elements promote a learner-centered approach that emphasizes the role of the student in actively constructing meaning from the learning experiences. The order of the elements depends on project design and is not always linear. For example, some elements, such as Synthesis and Conclusions, should occur repeatedly throughout the MWEE.

Issue Definition Teachers and students work together to define a locally relevant environmental issue or phenomenon affecting watershed, coastal, or ocean ecosystems. Throughout the MWEE, students focus on a driving question that guides their inquiry and investigations of the defined issue and leads to stewardship actions. During Issue Definition, students learn about the issue through classroom instruction and are actively involved in planning and conducting

Notice of Federal Funding Page 6 of 50 background research and investigations focused on understanding the driving question (e.g., making observations and/or measurements; carrying out investigations; talking to experts or relevant stakeholders; reviewing credible resources; reviewing current environmental policies or community practices; exploring models; using tools). Students also reflect on personal and public values and perspectives related to the driving question. Teachers should ensure that the driving question is open-ended, relevant to the students’ lives, and meets their learning objectives.

Outdoor Field Experiences Students participate in multiple outdoor field experiences sufficient to investigate the driving question. Within appropriate safety guidelines, students are actively involved in planning and conducting the field investigations, including developing supporting questions to explore the driving question in the field. During field experiences, students use their senses to make first-hand observations, gain experience using equipment or technology to collect data or measurements, and conduct experiments necessary to answer their supporting questions and inform student stewardship actions.

Outdoor field experiences can take place on school grounds or at locations in close proximity to schools, such as streams or city parks. They can also take place at offsite locations such as state parks, wildlife refuges, or education centers that are staffed by experts and have access to field education materials and facilities. A range of individuals, including teachers, environmental educators, natural resource professionals, or trained volunteers, can help facilitate field experiences and ensure a safe outdoor learning environment. However, facilitators should co-develop and co-teach instruction with teachers so that field experiences are supportive of their learning objectives and/or academic standards.

Outdoor field experiences allow students to interact with their local environment and contribute to learning in ways that traditional classroom or laboratory settings may not.

Projects should employ methodologies used in fieldwork so students learn how to work in a natural, uncontrolled environment. Students who have opportunities to learn in, thrive in, and appreciate the outdoors can become informed and engaged champions for our natural resources.

Synthesis and Conclusions Students identify, synthesize, and apply evidence from their investigations to draw conclusions about the defined issue or phenomenon. They demonstrate understanding of their investigations and conclusions through communication to a variety of audiences such as other classrooms, schools, parents, or the community.

Synthesis and conclusions is an iterative process and should happen regularly throughout the MWEE. Throughout the process, teachers dedicate time for students to reflect on their experiences and investigations in relation to the defined issue or phenomenon. Teachers

Notice of Federal Funding Page 7 of 50 should facilitate opportunities for students to share their conclusions with each other.

Students’ conclusions should be used to help define and develop stewardship actions.

Stewardship Actions Students identify and implement a stewardship action as a solution that directly addresses the defined issue or phenomenon within their school, town, neighborhood, or community.

Students are actively engaged and, to the extent possible, drive the decision-making, planning, and implementation of the stewardship action, while teachers play a facilitation role by forming groups, moderating, and answering questions. Students reflect on the action and determine the extent to which the action successfully addressed the issue or phenomenon.

This element allows students to understand that they personally have the power to bring about change to environmental issues, take action to address these issues at the personal or societal level, and understand the value of that action. This can instill confidence in students and can contribute to students becoming environmental stewards in their communities.

Stewardship actions can take many forms and may fall into the following categories:

¿ Watershed Restoration or Protection: actions that assist in the recovery or preservation of a watershed or related ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed (e.g., plant or restore protective vegetation/trees; restore a local habitat; remove invasive plants;

clean up litter at local beaches, parks, or school grounds; develop a school garden, natural history area, community garden, or other sustainable green space; install rain gardens to help manage stormwater).

¿ Everyday Choices: actions that reduce human impacts on watersheds and related ecosystems and offer ways to live more sustainably (e.g., reduce/reuse/recycle/upcycle;

monitor and save water in the face of potential drought or reduction in water availability;

compost food or yard waste; research and implement energy efficient strategies or energy alternatives at school and/or at home).

¿ Community Engagement: actions that inform others about how to address community-level environmental issues (e.g., give presentation to local organizations; organize community events; record or broadcast public service announcements; share information on social media; post flyers in community; share posters at community events, fairs, festivals;

mentoring).

¿ Civic Action: actions that identify and address issues of public concern. Students acting alone or together to protect public values or make a change or difference in a student’s school, town, neighborhood, or community (e.g., present to school board or school principal;

attend, speak, or present at town meetings; write or meet with decision makers/elected officials of a students’ school, town, neighborhood, or community).

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MWEE Supporting Practices The MWEE also includes five supporting practices that describe “what teachers do.” B-WET recommends that these supporting practices be in place to ensure successful MWEE implementation with students.

Active Teacher Support MWEEs depend on teachers to facilitate and support student learning for the duration of the MWEE. Teachers help students make connections and draw on past lessons, serve as environmental role models, and ensure that the essential elements of the MWEE come together to support goals for learning. Even when environmental educators or other professionals are leading elements of the MWEE, the teacher should be actively engaged in answering questions and relating the experience back to the full arc of the MWEE.

To support this level of engagement, teachers should have access to professional development opportunities that support their content knowledge, understanding of the MWEE framework, and confidence and intention to implement MWEEs independently (see Teacher Professional Development for MWEEs for specifics).

Classroom Integration To be effective, MWEEs need to be embedded into what is already occurring in the classroom. MWEEs should be anchored to state and national academic standards and support goals for learning and/or student achievement. They are not meant to be something extra, but rather an educational approach that helps teachers meet their learning objectives. They can provide authentic, engaging interdisciplinary learning that crosses traditional boundaries between disciplines. Out-of-school activities (e.g., after-school clubs; summer camps) may provide MWEEs or complement and enrich traditional classroom-based MWEEs.

Local Context MWEEs use the local environment and community as a context for learning. Situating the MWEE within local contexts promotes learning that is rooted in the unique culture, history, environment, economy, literature, and art of a students’ school, neighborhood, town, or community. To enrich MWEEs, local resources (e.g., partners; expertise; field sites) should be incorporated. Partnerships, such as those with local community-based organizations, allow students to engage with members of their community of diverse cultures, values, and expertise for a more equitable and inclusive experience.

Emphasizing local contexts enables students and teachers to develop stronger connections and appreciation for their local environments and communities. This also enables students and teachers to explore how their individual and collective decisions affect their immediate surroundings and how their immediate surroundings affect larger ecosystems and

Notice of Federal Funding Page 9 of 50 watersheds.

Sustained Learning Experience MWEEs have multiple experiences that engage students from beginning to end. While a lesson may focus more heavily on one essential element, it does not stand in isolation from the others. Each essential element builds upon and reinforces the others to provide rich learning opportunities spread over the course of a unit or multiple units. All students should have the opportunity to participate in and benefit from each essential element.

NOAA Assets. For this funding opportunity, we strongly recommend that MWEEs use NOAA assets, such as data, resources, expertise, or places. NOAA has a wealth of applicable products, data, and services as well as a cadre of scientific and professional experts who can enhance student experiences both in the classroom and in the field. These resources complement the educator’s strengths and augment the educational resources. Additionally, NOAA personnel can serve as important role models for career choices and stewardship. For more on NOAA assets for education please see:

NOAA assets for education grants (https://www.noaa.gov/office-education/grants/noaa-assets) NOAA in your state (https://www.legislative.noaa.gov/NIYS/) NOAA in your backyard (https://www.noaa.gov/ education/noaa-in-your-backyard) NOAA Education portal (https://www.noaa.gov/education) NOAA National Weather Service Weather-Ready Nation (https://www.weather.gov/wrn/)

Teacher MWEE Professional Development Supporting Practices Professional development should empower teachers to confidently and competently use the MWEE approach to support standards-based learning that aligns with local education agency initiatives. In order to gain and maintain environmental education competencies, teachers benefit from sustained, high quality professional development that includes ongoing support and feedback. Teachers should gain confidence in the value of MWEEs and strategies for conducting them so that they will be able to implement MWEEs after the professional development has ended. Specifically, the following practices are recommended for professional development to support teachers implementing MWEEs.

Increases Teachers’ Knowledge and Awareness of Environmental Issues Teachers must have an adequate level of content knowledge for their MWEE topic area specific to their grade level and discipline, including an understanding of their local watersheds, interactions between natural systems and social systems, and human impacts on local watersheds and larger Earth systems. Recognizing that environmental issues often http://www.noaa.gov/office-education/grants/noaa-http://www.legislative.noaa.gov/NIYS/) http://www.noaa.gov/ http://www.noaa.gov/education) http://www.weather.gov/wrn/)

Notice of Federal Funding Page 10 of 50 include different perspectives and opinions, teachers must also have a deep understanding of the facts related to environmental issues, along with an understanding of the various stakeholder values. In addition, teachers who demonstrate environmentally responsible attitudes and behaviors may be role models for their students and increase their ability to guide students in stewardship actions to address complex environmental issues.

Models MWEE Framework Facilitators should utilize the same techniques and experiences in professional development that teachers are expected to use with their students, such as hands-on outdoor field experiences, critical thinking about environmental issues, and stewardship actions.

Professional development should also provide opportunities for teachers to understand the goals and rationale behind the MWEE as an approach to learning and stewardship.

Professional development should deliver workshops on both MWEE content and instruction, include ongoing support for teachers, and include time for teachers to plan how the student MWEEs will be implemented.

Allows for Adequate Instructional Time Professional development should be multi-day, occurring consecutively or over the course of several weeks or months. Professional development should include ample opportunity for teachers to reflect on their own teaching practices and plan how to use knowledge and skills gained from professional development in the classroom. Opportunities to share ideas and challenges with colleagues in a cohort creates space for dialogue that can provide teachers with additional support and inspiration.

Provides Ongoing Teacher Support and Appropriate Incentives Even in cases where teachers participate in robust multi-day workshops, such as summer or weekend courses, it is still essential that professional development providers have a structure in place for on-going teacher support and enrichment. This can take the form of follow up meetings, creating web-based forums for communication and feedback, establishing mentor teachers who can serve as points of contact, or including teams of teachers from one particular school. Continuing education credits and stipends can be used to encourage participation in on-going professional development opportunities. Outreach and training opportunities for school administrators may help increase high level support for both environmental education and continuing teacher professional development for teachers.

Meets Jurisdictional Guidelines for Effective Teacher Professional Development Each jurisdiction has established guidance and recommendations relevant to all forms of teacher professional development. When possible, professional development opportunities for MWEEs should adhere to the general guidelines set forth by local education agencies.

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The NOAA B-WET Program and the COVID-19 Pandemic

Since March, 2020, COVID-19 has significantly impacted the ability of environmental education providers to engage with schools and therefore to meaningfully reach students and teachers. This loss of programs will have lasting repercussions on the audiences targeted by these programs and on the institutions who support them. NOAA B-WET recognizes that support is needed to bridge the gap created by the loss of revenue, the cancellation of programs, and the inequities exacerbated by the pandemic.

Outdoor, place-based, environmental education faces multiple threats due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent survey of impacts on the field found that thirty percent of environmental education providers report they will definitely be unable or will very unlikely be unable to reopen. Organizations will need funding to support creative and alternative approaches so they can provide online or physically distant meaningful opportunities, especially in marginalized communities. In addition, the financial challenges many organizations are facing through the pandemic raises the risk that in the recovery they will prioritize majority audiences and paying participants, with the potential to set back years of efforts to engage more historically underfunded communities in these programs.

Challenges such as those imposed by the pandemic also offer creative opportunities. Shifts from in-person to virtual learning may enhance a project’s affordability, sustainability, and applicability, as well as articulating a renewed and strengthened appreciation of the value of outdoor spaces for the health of students and communities.

In response to these impacts, the NOAA B-WET Program will focus on capacity building to ensure providers can adjust and adapt to this changing environment. Capacity building is defined as building capacity within the school system to implement meaningful watershed educational experiences, or building capacity within the organization that is providing the meaningful watershed educational experience. Our intent is to allow the community to respond by articulating its own needs.

Some examples of capacity building could include:

¿ Innovative approaches to MWEEs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

¿ Support for environmental educators to be redeployed into schools and school systems to provide assistance to instruction in an outdoor setting.

¿ Support to promote the value of environmental education as engaging, effective, and essential during the COVID-19 pandemic.

¿ Support to acquire technology and professional training that will enable environmental

Notice of Federal Funding Page 12 of 50 education organizations to reimagine their programming so they can provide both high-quality and meaningful online and/ or physically distant learning opportunities, especially in marginalized communities.

¿ Development of partnerships that are a significant driver in ensuring equity and inclusion in environmental literacy planning activities or may bridge pathways between in-school MWEE implementation and complementary out-of-school activities.

We encourage applicants to partner with community-based organizations that will lead with equity during recovery. Such community-based partnerships may include:

¿ Organizations and institutions that are run by and/or serve marginalized groups, particularly minority communities.

¿ Partnerships that help to address a watershed issue or phenomenon by bringing in local expertise on existing environmental issues and creating innovative solutions.

¿ Partnerships that enhance the local context, cultural relevance, and cultural competence in professional development for all teachers.

We want the community to identify and respond with its needs. Applicants should clearly describe the demographics and need(s) of their target audience(s) and justify adjustments to foster successful meaningful experiences during COVID-19. The applicant should emphasize substantive partnerships with target audience(s), including them in project planning, implementation, and evaluation. The applicant should provide letters of support from its community-based partnerships and targeted school districts or school systems.

The New England B-WET Program

New England B-WET is managed by NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO), in Gloucester, Massachusetts. It supports projects within the six resource-rich New England states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. A project participant integral to the application may be based outside the boundaries of the New England B-WET region (we welcome collaborations and partnerships!), but proposed project activities must lie within New England, and field investigations must occur within New England watersheds.

Historically, New England B-WET funding opportunities have supported in-school K-12 environmental literacy through student MWEEs investigating New England watersheds, guided by professional development training for teachers, administrators, and other educators serving K-12 students. New England watershed communities offer excellent, abundant, resource-rich opportunities for accessible environmental education and STEM learning for all, including underserved populations. New England’s traditions and history, Notice of Federal Funding Page 13 of 50 our coastal and estuarine, tidal and non-tidal waters, and the landscapes which surround them provide available, hands-on, place-based laboratories where students (and their teachers!) can see, touch, investigate, and learn about their watersheds and the larger environment in a comprehensive, integrated fashion.

As in the past, successful applications for this funding opportunity will use MWEE best practices to advance ocean, climate, and other environmental literacy goals This funding opportunity identifies key aspects of what New England B-WET competitions have historically looked for in successful applications, namely, the option of supporting multi-year projects (most are for three years), requiring Teacher Professional Development Training and Student MWEEs leading to stewardship projects and sustainability after federal funding ends, documented partnerships, substantive evaluation and feedback, and the inclusion of targeted underserved populations.

Our intent with this funding opportunity is to encourage the community to define and respond with its needs. The B-WET program continues to promote multi-year projects focusing on MWEE implementation that prioritizes Teacher MWEE Professional Development Training and partnerships that foster long-term collaboration, networking, and capacity-building. However, in the interest of supporting our constituents during the pandemic to the maximum extent possible, applicants to this opportunity may limit their proposed projects to focus, for example on virtual learning, or to emphasize Teacher MWEE Professional Development Training. In the interest of capacity building, we ask that all applicants focus on establishing or enhancing existing local partnerships.

We want well planned, well written, thoughtful applications that address the difficulties imposed by the pandemic. We want to be supportive to the realistic, documented needs of educators, educational systems, and partnerships as they identify resources and strengths and the documented limitations, for example, in staff, electronic/virtual capabilities, materials, projects, and programming, experienced as a result of COVID-19.

Elements that remain central to New England B-WET programming include:

*Increasing equity in environmental education. New England B-WET has been and remains committed to expanding the participation and knowledge of low-income and underserved populations in ocean, watershed, and environmental STEM education. In your application, please provide demographic evidence if your project targets in whole or in part low-income or underserved populations, for example, Title I schools, minority groups, including Native American populations and tribal organizations, underrepresented communities, and rural

Notice of Federal Funding Page 14 of 50 schools.

*Building sustainable communities of support. Finally, New England B-WET urges collaboration with local and regional partnerships, e.g., community-based partnerships, partnerships with local expertise in watershed-related issues, and partnerships with recognized competence in educator professional development training. These relationships need to be documented and justified as leverage to ensure local stewardship and sustainability.

Additional information on the New England B-WET program, including examples of projects funded to date, can be found at:

https://www.noaa.gov/office-education/bwet/awards

B. Program Priorities

This Funding Opportunity describes two (2) priorities. Applicants MUST designate a single priority in their application. Priority 2 is available only to successful New England B- WET grantees prior to 2017 (see section III.A, Eligible Applicants). Applicants may submit more than one application, but each application must be for a separate project. Please see I.A. above for the definition of a MWEE and more discussion of program objectives within the context of the pandemic.

Any application may focus on Teacher MWEE Professional Development, on the Student MWEE, or on both. We understand that due to the multiple, diverse, and often intense constraints encountered in education during the pandemic, it may be desirable and more productive for applications to focus particularly on strengthening Teacher MWEE Professional Development Training. We encourage this but leave this decision to the discretion of the applicant. If Professional Development Training is the focus or a focus, it should include support throughout the project period, including for example, assistance and co-teaching during delivery of student MWEEs, mentoring, continuous financial support for salaries, equipment, materials, and supplies.

Please note as well that in this challenging period, including its severe fiscal constraints, you will want to make use of two resources--NOAA assets and local and/or regional partnerships--to strengthen your proposal. Both are important resources for the two priorities described below, and you should use them.

NOAA Assets. NOAA has abundant products, data, services, facilities, sanctuaries, etc., as well as a cadre of scientific and professional experts who can enhance student and educator http://www.noaa.gov/office-education/bwet/awards

Notice of Federal Funding Page 15 of 50 experiences in the classroom (virtual or real) and in the field. NOAA assets -- national, regional, or local -- are readily available, often at no cost. These resources can complement educator expertise and augment other educational resources when incorporated into Teacher MWEE Professional Development Training, as well as into the Student MWEE. NOAA personnel can also serve as important role models for career choices and stewardship. For more information on NOAA assets for education, please see:

NOAA assets for education grants (https://www.noaa.gov/office-education/grants/noaa-assets) NOAA in your state (https://www.legislative.noaa.gov/NIYS/) NOAA in your backyard (https://www.noaa.gov/ education/noaa-in-your-backyard) NOAA Education portal (https://www.noaa.gov/education) NOAA National Weather Service Weather-Ready Nation (https://www.weather.gov/wrn/)

Partnerships relevant to key elements of the proposed project. We encourage applicants to initiate new, and strengthen established, partnerships with local and regional organizations.

Examples of appropriate, documented partnerships may include, but are not limited to, community-based organizations working with underserved populations and partnerships with organizations with expertise in watershed-related issues and specialized competence in Teacher Professional Development Training. Community-based organizations are those driven by community residents, where most of the governing body and staff consist of local residents, and the main operating offices are in the community. In community-based organizations, community residents identify, define, and develop priorities and possible solutions aligned with those priorities. Local residents are leaders, intimately involved in program design, implementation, and evaluation of their community-based programs and partnerships. (National Community–Based Organization Network, University of Michigan 2011; https://sph.umich.edu/ncbon/whatis.html).

This B-WET funding opportunity could also support financial resources for teacher salaries, incentives for creating a stand-alone position for an outdoor educator to work within an entire system (or a group of local systems) in support of the MWEE, for hiring the expertise needed to support essential virtual programming, as well as for the infrastructure and hardware needed to support effective remote learning for the targeted populations.

Priority 1. Backyard B-WET in a Pandemic.

Over 5,000 public schools serve more than two million public school students in New http://www.noaa.gov/office-education/grants/noaa-http://www.legislative.noaa.gov/NIYS/) http://www.noaa.gov/ http://www.noaa.gov/education) http://www.weather.gov/wrn/)

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England. There are many private schools in New England as well, along with a strong cadre of non-profits and foundations. Funds for field investigations are often limited and costly, so projects that require transportation or site fees cannot always be sustained during a grant but especially after the grant period ends. The financial difficulties associated with off-site investigations are even more consequential during the pandemic. However, in New England there are many opportunities for MWEE investigations and hands-on stewardship and restoration on school grounds, within walking distance of a school, in the community in a backyard, in a community, in a kitchen, in a virtual classroom or outdoors in field settings with small, well managed groups that adhere to pandemic mitigation recommendations.

A great deal of what might be done under this priority can be done virtually by educators, by facilitators, and by students, individually or collectively. An application focusing on the Teacher MWEE Professional Development Training might begin with learning about the value and importance of social distancing, at home, in the classroom, in the community.

During the pandemic, with masks and social distancing required and so much being experimental and innovative, Backyard B-WET may be reconfigured virtually, or realized individually with appropriate, small-scale facilitation and mentoring by educators.

Restoration projects on school grounds, on land adjacent to schools, in the backyard or in the kitchen, or through walking field trips can still support the four essential elements of the MWEE, whether by Teacher MWEE Professional Development Training or in the Student MWEE itself or both.

When watershed and issue investigation components of the MWEE target areas outside of school grounds, the action element of the student MWEE may include hands-on habitat restoration, such as planning, implementing, and maintaining stream buffers, school forests, wildlife habitat, or the creation of outdoor learning environments, but they may also be redefined virtually. Projects that remove impervious surfaces, install barrels, or plant rain garden or trees are possibilities, but applicants are encouraged to suggest other types of projects. Stewardship action projects may also include everyday choices at home or community engagement and civic action on the topic of study.

With virtual, and/or small in-person activities outside, more resources in the form of essential expendable supplies may be needed during the project as well as after it ends, Where equipment is critical to continuation of the project during and after the grant has ended, budgets may include equipment purchases for schools. Sustainability, including the basic resources needed to support it, is always a key element of New England B-WET projects.

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Successful Priority 1 projects may implement environmentally sustainable practices to improve the health of the school’s watershed, assure teacher confidence integrating the program into the classroom curriculum, offer authentic investigation and stewardship experiences for students in their own backyard or even in their home, reduce energy and maintenance costs for schools (internal as well as external climate mitigation). For example, during the pandemic many classrooms and entire school buildings have required retrofitting to improve HVAC infrastructure. Re-opening has often been contingent upon these improvements. The pandemic’s persistence has put immense pressure on schools and school systems to re-open -- whether virtually, via a hybrid model, or full time. Re-opening has often been contingent upon these improvements. Improving air quality within classrooms offers a unique opportunity to consider the environmental costs and benefits to the community as well as to the individual of these changes and to relate them directly to public health, mental health, and climate change. This inquiry may also prompt consideration of a Backyard-BWET school’s transition to “Green Schools," one local example of responsible environmental stewardship associated with local watershed management practices as we seek to minimize our carbon footprint. See:

https://www.baybackpack.com/action-projects/national-state-green-school-programs

Other competitive projects might include family and community outreach opportunities, for example, peer-to-peer sharing in school, presentations at school events or at public meetings, or posting at libraries and other community spaces. These can all be done virtually, whether the focus is on Educator MWEE Professional Development Training, on the Student MWEE, or on both.

Priority 2. Second Glance: Capacity-Building for Sustainability

Priority 2 is available only to previous (prior to FY2017) New England B-WET grantees.

See Section III.A., Eligible Applicants for more information on eligibility. Below are two lists of prior NOAA/NMFS Funding Opportunity numbers relevant to applications under New England B-WET’s Priority 2. Grantees (and their partners!) from any of these prior Funding Opportunities are eligible to submit applications for Priority 2 under this Funding Opportunity.

Funding Opportunities sponsored by NOAA’s Office of Education on behalf of New England

B-WET:

SEC-OED-2008-2001368

SEC-OED-2009-2001648

http://www.baybackpack.com/action-projects/national-state-green-school-programs

Notice of Federal Funding Page 18 of 50

Funding Opportunities sponsored by NMFS/Northeast Regional Office, now Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, on behalf of New England B-WET:

NOAA-NMFS-NERO-2010-2001868

NOAA-NMFS-NERO-2011-2002569

NOAA-NMFS-NERO-2013-2003467

NOAA-NMFS-GARFO-2014-2004167

NOAA-NMFS-GARFO-2016-2005001

New England B-WET‘s past funding opportunities, project timelines, and funding criteria have not changed much in recent years. Historically, we have preferred “exemplary projects”, i.e., those which include Teacher Professional Development Training AND substantive Student MWEEs AND demonstrable stewardship and sustainability, all three major elements combined in a single project. We have specifically asked that repeat applicants NOT submit applications which continue previously funded projects. We have requested new, innovative projects, not repeat performances. Finally, we have always emphasized evaluation, the leverage and the value-added secured from strong partnerships and collaboration, and a requirement to address, at some level, underserved populations.

These are difficult times for education, especially for K-12, STEM-oriented outdoor environmental education programs such as B-WET. The disruptions to outdoor environmental education caused by the COVID-19 pandemic suggest that now is an appropriate time to assess what we have done in the past to address STEM requirements using the MWEE methodology, to see how B-WET projects have stood the test of time in a rapidly changing world, particularly within the context of a deepening pandemic. How, today, can we accommodate pandemic-induced dislocations innovatively where virtual programming and limited social interactions, whether in class or outside in the field, are the “new normal”. Compounding these dislocations are on-going, serious losses of revenue streams which have historically funded mainstream education, never mind innovative educational strategies such as the MWEE. These disruptions have potential, long-term consequences which need thoughtful, innovative consideration now.

During this pandemic, our immediate goal is meaningful support for educators, students, and educational institutions, while sustaining our focus on STEM and the Student MWEE as an exciting vehicle for promoting, and where appropriate or necessary, on redefining how we approach outdoor education and stewardship for our K-12 educational population.

Priority 2’s capacity-building focus has two key dimensions: (1) expanding the institutional partnership capabilities of the community, while supporting STEM, placed-based outdoor

Notice of Federal Funding Page 19 of 50 environmental education for K-12 and (2) supporting and improving upon prior B-WET investment.

We are interested in identifying key differences in what worked in the earlier, pre-pandemic world of outdoor environmental education and what supports Teacher MWEE Professional Development Training, the Student MWEE, and participation of underserved populations and community-based partnerships, today.

Working with previous, or new, partnerships, please develop a project that would have been a logical sequel to your original grant, adapted to the exigencies of today’s pandemic, had funding been available. A successful follow-on project might consider the following:

What worked well, short-term and long term?

What did not work well, short-term and long term? Identify what you and others in your community identify as key strengths and key deficiencies.

What would strengthen what worked well and remedy what did not work well in a follow-on project during a pandemic? Questions you might ask include:

Were partnerships integral to the early award? If so, how effective were they, how might they be improved?

Was there sufficient administrative support from the school system?

Is more, or enhanced, Teacher Professional Development Training, including a focus on the MWEE, a concern? Previously we have asked for 30 plus hours of Professional Development Training. Is this sufficient today, given virtual programming, social distancing, and a focus on Teacher MWEE Professional Development Training?

Is recruitment of teachers with different expertise and skill sets desirable, essential?

Was more innovation, including more access to technology, an issue then, now?

Would more guidance and mentoring of educators, as well as students, improve outcomes?

Was the timeline consistent with implementation? Does this change with virtual programming?

Was the budget (travel, supplies, equipment, infrastructure, contracts, incentives, etc.), realistic during the project and sufficient to support its sustainability after the grant ended?

What are key budget priorities during the pandemic?

How effective was project evaluation? Was there follow-through on key evaluation recommendations at project’s end and what adjustments would be needed today?

Successful Priority 2 projects might address:

Key requirements (MWEE elements, resources needed, time requirements, leadership) of

Notice of Federal Funding Page 20 of 50 virtual Teacher MWEE Professional Development Training.

Promoting effective partnerships, including active involvement of community-based organizations and local and regional institutions with documented, recognized subject matter expertise.

Recommendations and lessons learned to be shared with the environmental education community.

We have deliberately not provided more detailed guidance or parameters for either of our FY2021-FY2022 priorities, preferring to rely on applicants to identify and describe their own perspectives as to what is most important for their outdoor environmental education programming during this critical time. Capacity-building and partnerships are central to both.

C. Program Authority

Under 33 U.S.C. 893a(a), the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is authorized to conduct, develop, support, promote, and coordinate formal and informal educational activities at all levels to enhance public awareness and understanding of ocean, coastal, Great Lakes, and atmospheric science and stewardship by the general public and other coastal stakeholders, including underrepresented groups in ocean and atmospheric science and policy careers.