NOAA-NMFS-HCPO-2022-2007118 NOFO.pdf

Fiscal Year 2022 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Education and Training Program/School District Programming

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Funding Opportunity Description 4

A. Program Objective 4 B. Program Priorities 12 C. Program Authority 18

II. Award Information 18 A. Funding Availability 18 B. Project/Award Period 18 C. Type of Funding Instrument 19

III. Eligibility Information 19 A. Eligible Applicants 19 B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement 20 C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility 20

IV. Application and Submission Information 20 A. Address to Request Application Package 20 B. Content and Form of Application 21 C. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management (SAM) 31 D. Submission Dates and Times 31 E. Intergovernmental Review 32 F. Funding Restrictions 32 G. Other Submission Requirements 32

V. Application Review Information 34 A. Evaluation Criteria 34 B. Review and Selection Process 40 C. Selection Factors 43 D. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates 44

VI. Award Administration Information 44 A. Award Notices 44 B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements 45 C. Reporting 47

VII. Agency Contacts 47 VIII. Other Information 48

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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: Fiscal Year 2022 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Education and Training Program/School District Programming

Announcement Type: Initial

Funding Opportunity Number: NOAA-NMFS-HCPO-2022-2007118

Federal Assistance Listings Number: 11.457, Chesapeake Bay Studies

Dates: The deadline for applications is 11:59 PM Eastern Time on March 3, 2022 and applications must be submitted using www.grants.gov (Grants.gov). PLEASE NOTE: it may take Grants.gov up to two business days to validate or reject the application. Please keep this in mind in developing your submission timeline. Due to limited staffing of federal offices, hardcopy applications will not be accepted.

Informational webinars about the FY 2022 Chesapeake B-WET funding announcement will be held on December 9, 2021 at 1:00 PM Eastern Time and December 14, 2021 at 11:00 AM. To register for these webinars, please visit:

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/7274530975579631887. Note that the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office’s B-WET Coordinator will be available to answer questions Monday through Friday, 7:30AM-4:00PM Eastern Time excluding federal holidays.

Funding Opportunity Description: Chesapeake B-WET funds locally relevant, authentic experiential learning for K-12 audiences through Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs) throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed states. MWEEs involve learning both outdoors and in the classroom as students engage in issue definition, outdoor field experiences, synthesis and conclusions, and stewardship and civic action. The goal is to increase understanding and stewardship of the Chesapeake Bay and local watersheds, including the rivers, upland streams, and natural habitats found throughout the region. Projects advance the environmental literacy goal of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement and the NOAA Education Strategic Plan.

This funding announcement has two priorities, numbered without regard to importance for funding: 1) Implementing MWEEs in School Districts and 2) Supporting School District Capacity for Environmental Literacy. Note that a separate funding announcement through B-

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WET for Statewide K-12 Environmental Literacy Initiatives is also available on Grants.gov.

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FULL ANNOUNCEMENT TEXT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Program Objective

a. OVERVIEW

NOAA recognizes that knowledge and commitment built from firsthand experience, especially in the context of one's community and culture, is essential for achieving environmental stewardship. Carefully selected experiences driven by rigorous academic learning standards, engendering discovery and wonder, and nurturing a sense of community will further connect students with their watershed, help reinforce an ethic of responsible citizenship, and promote academic achievement. Environmentally literate individuals can become effective future workers, problem solvers, and thoughtful community leaders and participants.

The NOAA Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program is an environmental education program that promotes locally relevant, experiential learning for students in kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12). B-WET was established in 2002 in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and currently exists in seven regions: Chesapeake Bay, Gulf of Mexico, New England, California, Pacific Northwest, Hawaii, and Great Lakes.

The goal of this funding opportunity is to support K-12 environmental literacy programs that provide students with Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs) connected to their watershed and related professional development for in-service teachers, administrators, or other educators serving K-12 students. Watersheds are an excellent resource for environmental education. Tidal and non-tidal waters and the surrounding landscape provide hands-on, place-based laboratories where students can see, touch, and learn about their local watershed and the greater environment.

Successful B-WET projects provide formal education that supports the environmental literacy goal of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement (www.chesapeakebay.net/chesapeakebaywatershedagreement/page) and NOAA’s Education Strategic Plan (https://www.noaa.gov/education/explainers/2021- 2040-noaa-education-strategic-plan).

b. DEFINING THE MEANINGFUL WATERSHED EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE

(MWEE)

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All seven regions throughout the country use the MWEE as an approach to delivering high quality environmental education (www.noaa.gov/education/explainers/noaa-meaningful-watershed-educational-experience). It is based on the MWEE definition developed by the Chesapeake Bay Program Education Workgroup, which follows. Additional MWEE information and resources are available on the Bay Backpack website (www.baybackpack.com/mwee/what-is-a-mwee), including:

1) An Educator’s Guide to the Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (the MWEE Guide);

2) The MWEE 101 and MWEE 201 online trainings;

3) The Facilitator’s Guide to MWEE Training; and

4) Evaluating a MWEE Resource.

The Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE) is a learner-centered framework that focuses on investigations into local environmental issues and leads to informed action. MWEEs are composed of multiple components that include learning both outdoors and in the classroom, and are designed to increase the environmental literacy of all participants by actively engaging students in building knowledge and meaning through hands-on experiences. In these experiences, the core ideas and practices of multiple disciplines are applied to make sense of the relationships between the natural world and society. MWEEs help connect students with their local environment and equip them to make decisions and take actions that contribute to stronger, sustainable, and equitable communities.

The MWEE consists of four essential elements and four supporting practices that build upon each other to create a 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 and that connect to curriculum 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.

1. MWEE Essential Elements The MWEE consists of four essential elements that describe “what students do.” These elements promote a learner-centered framework that emphasizes the role of the student in actively constructing meaning from the learning experiences. The essential elements are not meant to be linear, in fact some elements, such as Synthesis and Conclusions, occur

Notice of Federal Funding Page 5 of 48 repeatedly throughout the MWEE.

1.1 Issue Definition

Throughout the MWEE, students focus on a driving question that guides their inquiry, investigations, and ultimately results in environmental actions. To support this, teachers define a locally relevant environmental issue, problem, or phenomenon and a driving question—often referred to as an essential question, organizing question, or overarching question. This is the “big picture” question that is important for sparking curiosity and organizing student inquiry. The driving question should be open-ended, relevant to the students’ lives, maintain continuity of activities, and meet learning objectives.

During Issue Definition, students are actively involved in co-developing supporting questions with teachers. They also plan and conduct background research and investigations to better understand the driving and supporting questions (e.g. making observations and/or measurements; carrying out field investigations; talking to experts or relevant stakeholders;

reviewing credible resources; reviewing current environmental policies or community practices; exploring models). As a part of this process, students also reflect on personal and public values and perspectives related to the driving question.

1.2 Outdoor Field Experiences

Students participate in multiple Outdoor Field Experiences sufficient to explore 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. Field experiences allow students to interact with their local environment and contribute to learning in ways that traditional classroom or laboratory settings may not. During field experiences, students use their senses, scientific equipment, and technology to make observations, collect data or measurements, and conduct experiments necessary to answer their supporting questions and inform Environmental Action Projects. Students who have opportunities to learn in, thrive in, and appreciate the outdoors can become informed and engaged champions for our natural resources.

Outdoor Field Experiences can take place on school grounds or at locations in close proximity to schools, such as streams or local parks. They can also take place at off-site locations such as state or national parks, wildlife refuges, marine sanctuaries, or nature centers that are often staffed by experts and may provide access to field equipment and facilities. A range of partners including environmental educators, natural resource professionals, or trained volunteers, can help facilitate field experiences however they should be co-developed and co-taught with teachers so that field experiences support learning objectives. Teachers and partners should ensure an accessible outdoor learning environment

Notice of Federal Funding Page 6 of 48 for all participants, including students with a range of physical, cognitive, emotional, and social abilities. They should also prepare students by discussing and providing information about what students can expect to see, feel, and experience during their time outdoors in order to ensure students feel safe and comfortable during their field experiences.

1.3 Synthesis and Conclusions

Students identify, synthesize, and apply evidence from their investigations to make claims and draw conclusions about the issue. These claims are used by students to create a plan for environmental action. Synthesis and Conclusions should happen regularly throughout the MWEE. Teachers dedicate time for students to reflect on each experience and investigation in relation to the issue and facilitate students sharing their claims and conclusions with each other. Students may demonstrate understanding of their investigations and conclusions through communication to a variety of audiences such as their peers, other classrooms, school leaders, parents, or the community.

1.4 Environmental Action Projects

Students identify and implement an environmental action project as a solution that directly addresses the defined issue within their school, neighborhood, town, or community. Students are actively engaged in and, to the extent possible, drive the decision-making, planning, and implementation of the action project, while teachers play a facilitation role by forming groups, moderating, and answering questions. Students reflect on the value of the action and determine the extent to which it successfully addressed the issue.

This essential element allows students to understand that they personally have the power to bring about change by taking action to address environmental issues at the personal, community, or societal level. Taking action instills confidence in students and can contribute to students becoming environmental stewards in their communities.

Environmental Action Projects can take many forms and may fall into the following types:

a) 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).

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

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

Notice of Federal Funding Page 7 of 48 compost food or yard waste; research and implement energy efficient strategies or energy alternatives at school and/or at home).

c) Community Engagement: actions that inform others about how to address community-level environmental issues (e.g., give presentations 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).

d) Civic Engagement: 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).

2. MWEE Supporting Practices The MWEE also includes four supporting practices that describe “what teachers do” to ensure successful implementation with students.

2.1 Teacher Facilitation

MWEEs require that teachers support student learning for the duration of the MWEE -- both inside and outside the classroom. Teachers balance roles of facilitation, direct instruction, and coaching to create a student-centered learning experience where the essential elements of the MWEE come together to support goals for learning and create opportunities for students to take active roles in the learning process. Teachers provide space for student choice and voice by creating learning experiences that center on what students value.

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 MWEE Professional Development Practices for specifics).

2.2 Learning Integration

The MWEE is an educational framework that helps teachers meet their learning objectives in an engaging way. MWEEs are not meant to be something “extra”, but rather a means of enriching lessons for deeper student learning while meeting academic standards. To achieve this vision, MWEEs should be embedded into the school curriculum to support goals for learning and student achievement. They can also provide authentic, engaging interdisciplinary learning that crosses traditional boundaries between disciplines. Finally, the MWEE essential elements can also be used by educators in out-of-school settings (e.g. after-

Notice of Federal Funding Page 8 of 48 school programs; clubs; summer camps) to enrich activities and complement school-based programming.

2.3 Sustained Experience

MWEEs rely on teachers to plan and implement a multi-faceted unit of inquiry where each essential element--from asking questions through implementing action--builds upon and reinforces the others to provide rich learning opportunities. MWEEs are spread over the course of a unit or multiple units, where learning happens both in and out of the classroom.

A Sustained Experience provides adequate time for students to not only reflect on the individual lessons and experiences, but also on how all of the elements cohesively come together. While an individual lesson may occur in one class period or field experience, that lesson or experience should be explicitly connected to the larger learning sequence of the

MWEE.

2.4 Local Context

MWEEs have teachers use the local environment and community as a context for learning that is relevant to students’ lives. 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 the local context 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 in turn affect larger ecosystems and watersheds.

3. Teacher Professional Development for MWEEs Professional development should empower teachers to confidently and competently use the MWEE framework 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.

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3.1 Increases teachers’ knowledge and awareness of environmental issues Teachers must have an adequate level of content knowledge of 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 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 environmental actions to address complex environmental issues.

3.2 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 Environmental Action Projects. Professional development should also provide opportunities for teachers to understand the goals and rationale behind the MWEE as a framework to learning and environmental stewardship. Professional development should deliver workshops on both MWEE content and instruction, include ongoing support for teachers, and include time for teachers to reflect on modeled activities and plan for how the student MWEEs will be implemented in their own classrooms. For more information on effective ways to model professional development, download the Facilitator’s Guide to MWEE Training from the list of resources on Bay Backpack (http://baybackpack.com/mwee/what-is-a-mwee).

3.3 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 for 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.

3.4 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

Notice of Federal Funding Page 10 of 48 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 helps increase high level support for both environmental education and continuing teacher professional development for teachers.

3.5 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 these general guidelines set forth by local education agencies.

4. Other Considerations

4.1 Includes NOAA assets, including personnel and resources

NOAA has a wealth of applicable products, data, and services as well as a cadre of scientific and professional experts who can enhance student and teacher 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: https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections, NOAA in your state (https://www.legislative.noaa.gov/NIYS/), and NOAA in your backyard (https://www.noaa.gov/education/noaa-in-your-backyard). For applicants seeking to address the Climate Change special interest area, NOAA provides data, tools, and information to understand and prepare for climate variability and change. Many resources exist that can support teachers and students including but not limited to: Climate.gov (https://climate.gov/teaching), the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit (https://toolkit.climate.gov/), Climate Explorer (https://crt-climate-explorer.nemac.org/), and the Chesapeake Exploration Teaching Climate Change online course (https://cbexapp.noaa.gov/course/view.php?id=5581). An additional list of relevant assets (https://www.noaa.gov/office-education/elp/resilience-assets) provide links to NOAA datasets, potential NOAA partners, and other resilience-related assets from federal and non-federal organizations.

4.2 Ensures cultural relevance

The Chesapeake B-WET Program is strongly committed to expanding the participation of marginalized communities in MWEEs and ensuring that students’ identities are reflected in those experiences. Programming should be designed to be culturally relevant and make authentic connections to students' lived experiences. Cultural relevance is defined as the ability to effectively reach and engage communities and their youth in a manner consistent

Notice of Federal Funding Page 11 of 48 with the cultural context and values of that community while effectively addressing disparities of diversity, equity, and inclusion within an organization’s entire structure.

Information on the Chesapeake B-WET program, including examples of education partnerships that have been funded to date, can be found at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/new-england-mid-atlantic/chesapeake-bay/past-and-current-chesapeake-b-wet-projects.

Potential applicants are encouraged to contact the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office (contact information in Section VII) before submitting an application with questions about applicability of project activities to B-WET goals and objectives.

B. Program Priorities

B-WET projects funded under this announcement will support the integration of MWEEs into curricular programs and direct implementation during the grant period.

Chesapeake B-WET was created to serve audiences within the boundaries of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, therefore, NOAA intends to provide $900,000 to school districts with more than 25% of their land mass falling within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. A map of school districts meeting this criteria can be found online at the Resources for Prospective Chesapeake Bay B-WET Grantees webpage:

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/content/resources-prospective-chesapeake-bay-b-wet-grantees. If additional funding is available, NOAA will consider applications serving school districts outside the watershed boundary but within the states of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia and the District of Columbia. These states represent those who have expressed support for the Environmental Literacy Goal of the Chesapeake Bay Program. Applicants for this potential expansion should contact the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office (contact information in Section VII) before submitting applications.

Chesapeake B-WET is interested in supporting school districts and their partners who are committed to a vision for sustainable and curricularly embedded MWEEs that reach every student (e.g. systemic MWEEs) regardless of where they are in their journey towards this vision. In particular, NOAA is interested in supporting districts that:

a) Demonstrate both higher needs for environmental literacy programming and impact underserved communities, including those with populations that are low-income and high-minority.

b) Do not already have systemic MWEEs in place for a particular grade band.

The Chesapeake Bay Environmental Justice and Equity Dashboard (https://chesapeake-deij2-chesbay.hub.arcgis.com/) can help to identify these geographies and existing MWEEs.

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Additionally, individual Local Education Agency (LEA) summaries from the 2019 ELIT survey are available for review on the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Education Workgroup page (https://www.chesapeakebay.net/who/publications-archive/education_workgroup).

B-WET is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in our grantmaking. Projects should support these practices in all aspects of design and implementation, i.e., audience(s), partners, project leadership team perspectives, location of project, and use of culturally relevant approaches.

Applicants should consider the scale of the project when designing budgets. Awards for smaller districts are typically in the range of $50,000-$80,000 per year while larger school districts may require up to $100,000 per year. In school districts that have only one or two high schools, it may be appropriate to apply as Intermediate Units or clusters of school districts.

1. Proposals to this announcement must address one of the following Priority Areas which are listed here in no particular order of importance:

Priority 1 - Implementing MWEEs in School Districts

Proposals submitted under the Implementing MWEEs in School Districts priority seek to build towards systemic MWEE programming in local districts. Chesapeake B-WET welcomes proposals that will result in a systemic MWEE and proposals that will build towards a systemic MWEE. The program recognizes the challenges and time required to embed systemic MWEEs so proposals under this priority that may not achieve systemic MWEEs within the grant cycle must show how they are working towards this goal.

Systemic MWEEs reach the entire student population in one or more grades within a school district and ensure that the teachers of these students receive high quality professional development to give them the content knowledge and pedagogical skills for implementing all aspects of the MWEE. They support student learning outcomes and are ideally embedded into the district curriculum either prior to or during the implementation of the project.

Projects that are systemic encourage ownership from a broad range of constituents and promote long-term sustainability of the MWEE project in a school district. These programs require leadership and support from the school district, however, because of the broad reach of systemic projects, partnerships with multiple partners are often required to ensure all students receive all components of a MWEE and meaningful professional development for teachers is provided.

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While Chesapeake B-WET strongly believes in systemic MWEE implementation, the program recognizes there are organizations and school districts across the watershed that face challenges in developing and implementing systemic projects in a single grant cycle.

While every organization faces some barrier to project implementation, these districts have greater challenges due to lack of local resources or partners, policies that conflict with outdoor education, or limited internal capacity. Not being able to become fully systemic over the course of the 3-year grant cycle should not discourage school districts and their partners to apply under this funding announcement as long as they can implement the full MWEE model and make meaningful progress towards systemic implementation. Applicants should explain why systemic implementation is not feasible in the project timeline and how they will build towards it over the course of the grant period and into the future.

Proposals and supporting materials should include details about where the project fits within the scope and sequence of the school district’s curriculum, and applicants should clearly understand and convey the primary learning objectives. Multi-disciplinary objectives are encouraged. For school districts that have previously had systemic MWEEs in place for the intended grade but were not successful in becoming fully embedded into the curriculum or otherwise sustainable, applicants should consider whether the Supporting School District Capacity for Environmental Literacy priority may be a better fit for building a strategy for environmental literacy integration and a district culture that embraces such. Without substantial reasons to justify a change or addition, B-WET is not interested in funding MWEEs for grade bands that have previously had MWEEs.

B-WET recognizes that applicants may be struggling to deal with on-going uncertainty related to COVID-19 on programming. A range of approaches to adapt to potential restrictions including any mix of virtual, at-home, or in-person learning is encouraged.

Proposals should include reasonable objectives and describe any known audience limitations, potential alternative methods, and project flexibilities.

Applications for projects can come from any applicant type listed as eligible in this opportunity, however, substantial coordination and support from the school district is required. To document the appropriate level of commitment and engagement from school districts, official letters of commitment from superintendents, school boards, and/or school district curriculum supervisors are requested with proposals.

Priority 2 - Supporting School District Capacity for Environmental Literacy

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Proposals submitted under the Supporting School District Capacity for Environmental Literacy priority seek to enhance support systems within one or more school districts (or one or more Intermediate Units in Pennsylvania) and their community partners with the ultimate goal of embedding systemic MWEEs into curriculum to establish a sustainable environmental literacy program. NOAA recognizes the importance of building strong partnerships, institutionalizing teacher professional development, promoting the value of environmental literacy programs at all levels, developing environmental literacy plans, and supporting coordinators of environmental literacy as key ingredients to ensuring long-term sustainability of systemic programming. Examples of activities that may be funded under this priority include but are not limited to:

a) Developing a network of school districts and local partners focused on advancing environmental literacy through collective impact or other partnership/social impact models.

This may include building capacity, relationships, and communication between school districts and/or local community organizations to implement MWEEs and teacher professional development.

b) Creating a school district environmental literacy plan or other documented strategy that includes policies, practices, and metrics for ensuring equitable access to environmental literacy programming for all students and training for all involved teachers. This plan must clearly identify in which grades MWEEs currently exist and/or will be built out by the district. Applicants may refer to School District Environmental Literacy Plan Templates that have been adopted and/or created within the state. Environmental literacy plans should also include a financial sustainability component, including clear strategies for sustaining programs.

c) Engaging decision-makers (e.g. superintendents, school boards, district administration, principals, parents) to promote and support environmental literacy including MWEEs and teacher professional development.

d) Developing solutions and processes to address barriers for MWEE program implementation (e.g. institutionalize teacher professional development strategy, enhancing access to outdoor learning through school grounds, establishing clear pathways with Sustainable Schools efforts)

e) Creating an environmental literacy coordinator position at the district that supports development and implementation of MWEEs and other environmental literacy elements.

f) Supporting school district and/or nonformal leaders to work across multiple school districts as “Network Weavers” to increase knowledge sharing and communication pathways to scale best practices for systemic and sustainable environmental literacy programming.

g) Developing outdoor classrooms on school grounds and creating support structures for their use to break down barriers for outdoor learning, including how to use the space to support MWEEs. Note: B-WET funds cannot be used for construction, but can be used for

Notice of Federal Funding Page 15 of 48 supplies often needed to resource outdoor classrooms (e.g. whiteboards, seating, shade, storage, and natural elements).

Proposals should describe how capacity building efforts will be sustained for the long-term and describe how the project will ultimately contribute to systemic MWEE implementation.

If the proposal includes teacher professional development, it should occur after the development of the environmental literacy plan or strategy and serve the function of carrying out the plan for systemic implementation. Additionally, we encourage applicants to review the Facilitator's Guide to MWEE Training and the MWEE 201 online course on Chesapeake Exploration and to explain in the proposal how you will incorporate or reference aspects of these resources. The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office is actively engaged in district level capacity building using the collective impact framework across the region. NCBO will support grantees in connecting and sharing practice between other districts engaged in such efforts.

NOAA SPECIAL INTEREST AREAS

Any proposal to this announcement must meet one of the Priority Areas described in the previous section. NOAA also has two additional Special Interest Areas that applicants may wish to address if they choose, which are: Community Partnerships and Climate Change.

More information on these special interest areas are provided below. While applicants are not required to address a NOAA Special Interest Area, projects that do so are encouraged because they capitalize on a specific NOAA resource or issue area that is a priority to the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office.

(1) Community Partnerships. The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office is interested in projects that partner specifically with community organizations and institutions that serve marginalized groups and are representative of those communities. Reviewers will not consider the racial or ethnic identity of members of the project team when scoring proposals.

Projects are strongly encouraged to develop meaningful and mutually-beneficial partnerships that honor the strengths of these community organizations. It is recommended that these organizations be actively involved in project planning as well as programmatically and financially recognized for their contributions to programming. Applicants are encouraged to apply NAAEE’s Community Engagement Guidelines for Excellence (https://cdn.naaee.org/sites/default/files/community_engagement_- _guidelines_for_excellence.pdf) in developing their project plans for engagement of audiences. The Community Engagement Guidelines for Excellence include five key characteristics: 1. Community Centered, 2. Based on Sound EE Principles, 3. Collaborative and Inclusive, 4. Oriented Toward Capacity Building and Civic Action, and 5. Long-Term

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Investment in Change. A series of recordings featuring current and former B-WET grantees that describe how they have operationalized the Community Engagement Guidelines is available on the Chesapeake Bay Program’s YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRa28NrZJAF5R8ap_HTQkZpNQZhUyCVVP).

Community partnerships are likely to look different across proposals but the following are some examples. For the Implementing MWEEs in School Districts priority, community partnerships could help to shape the issue, problem, or phenomenon explored by bringing in local expertise on existing environmental issues. Partners may also enhance the local context and cultural relevance of professional development for all teachers. In the Supporting School District Capacity for Environmental Literacy priority, community partnerships may be 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.

(2) Climate Change. The K-12 education system is a well-positioned venue for instilling comprehensive knowledge, skills, competencies, and resilience around the most pressing economic, social and environmental issue of today: climate change. According to the 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report and most recent National Climate Assessment (NCA, 2018), communities in the U.S. are experiencing changes in climate that are resulting in severe storms, flooding, hurricanes, extended drought, change in ocean chemistry and sea level rise, presenting growing challenges to human health and safety, quality of life, and the rate of economic growth. Currently, educational institutions, researchers and policy makers are calling for climate change education that goes beyond knowledge acquisition and formal classroom teaching to efforts that reach audiences of all demographics and incorporate the social, political, economic, and justice elements of climate change. Education has the power to help students develop meaningful personal connections to climate solutions, a sense of personal agency and empowerment, and ultimately impact their behaviors and decision-making in relation to climate change (Kwack, 2021; K12 Climate Action Commission, 2021). The MWEE educational framework can directly foster climate knowledge, skills, and competencies to address climate change, climate impacts, and the opportunities to contribute to climate solutions in their own communities. Therefore, the B-WET program strongly encourages the purposeful incorporation of education about climate change into programming.

Applicants to this special interest area should consider how to apply recent research on effective climate change education that points to the need for educational interventions that employ well-studied educational practices including: deliberative discussion that fosters reflection on differing viewpoints; interactions with scientists and the scientific process;

Notice of Federal Funding Page 17 of 48 uncovering and addressing misconceptions to dispel unfounded counter claims; and engaging learners in designing and implementing school or community projects to address climate change (Monroe, et al., 2019)

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. In conducting those activities, the Administrator shall build upon the educational programs and activities of the agency.

II. Award Information

A. Funding Availability

Under this announcement, NOAA anticipates that up to $900,000 may be available in FY 2022 to fund new applications, subject to appropriations. NOAA anticipates making 9-14 new awards. Projects should not exceed $100,000 annually in Federal funds. Performance periods may be up to three years, but funding beyond the first increment, usually one year, is subject to the incremental funding policy described in Section II.B of this Announcement.

B. Project/Award Period

The project start date should be between July 1, 2022 and January 1, 2023. Applications should cover a project period of between one and three years. Projects that request multi-year funding must include in their submission a full description of the activities and estimated budget by line item (e.g. personnel, equipment, supplies) for all proposed work for each year.

When a multi-year project is awarded, the scope of work and budget for all years is approved at the time of the award, but funding is usually provided only for the first year of the project with the remainder of the award subject to incremental funding. NOAA anticipates continuing these multi-year awards for the entirety of their project periods; however, the agency has no obligation to provide any additional funding in connection with the award beyond the initial funding increment. Continuation of an award to increase funding or extend the period of performance beyond the initial funding increment is at the sole discretion of NOAA and will be contingent upon satisfactory performance, continued relevance to the NOAA mission and priorities, and the availability of funds.

Notice of Federal Funding Page 18 of 48

Recipients of incrementally-funded projects will not need to compete for funding in subsequent years, and current recipients seeking continued funding of these multi-year awards issued under the incremental funding policy do not need to apply to this funding announcement.

Single-year awards and awards for which NOAA shortens the period of performance are required to re-compete for continued funding after the initial period of performance. Any renewal of the project will depend on the submission of a new proposal subject to review, adequate progress on previous award(s), and available funding.

Future opportunities for submitting proposals to the B-WET competitive process are anticipated, but will depend on funding levels and resources available to support new projects.

C. Type of Funding Instrument

Applications selected for funding will be funded through a cooperative agreement under the terms of this notice. Applications funded through cooperative agreements will include substantial involvement of the Federal government, which may include, but is not limited to, collaboration on the scope of work, such as liaison activities between the grantee and NOAA personnel who are contributing data or expertise to the project. Additional forms of substantial involvement that may arise are described in Chapter 5.C of the Department of Commerce (DoC) Grants and Cooperative Agreements Manual, which is currently available at: https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2021- 04/Department%20of%20Commerce%20Grants%20%20Cooperative%20Agreements%20M anual%20%2820%20April%202021%29.pdf

III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants are K-through-12 public and independent schools and school systems, institutions of higher education, community-based and nonprofit organizations, state or local government agencies, interstate agencies, and Indian tribal governments. For-profit organizations, foreign organizations, and foreign public entities are not eligible to apply; however, for-profit and foreign organizations and foreign public entities may participate with an eligible applicant as a project partner. Likewise, Federal agencies are not eligible to receive Federal assistance under this announcement, but may be project partners.

Notice of Federal Funding Page 19 of 48

Chesapeake B-WET was created to serve audiences within the boundaries of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, therefore, NOAA intends to provide $900,000 to school districts with more than 25% of their land mass falling in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, as described in Section I.B., Program Priorities. If additional funding is available, NOAA will consider applications serving school districts outside the watershed boundary but within the states of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia and the District of Columbia. These states represent those who have expressed support for the Environmental Literacy Goal of the Chesapeake Bay Program.

The Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (DOC/NOAA) is strongly committed to increasing the participation of Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), i.e., Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribal colleges and universities, Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian institutions, and institutions that work in underserved communities. The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office (NCBO) encourages proposals involving any of the above institutions.

B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement

Cost-sharing is not required for this program.

C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility

Projects whose sole audience is outside the Chesapeake Bay watershed are not eligible unless additional funding is available, as described in Section III.A, Eligible Applicants.

Applications received after the deadline will not be reviewed. Applications that are lacking any of the required elements of the application or do not follow the form prescribed in IV.B of this Announcement may not receive merit review as described in Section V.B.

IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Address to Request Application Package

Electronic application packages are required and are available at: http://www.grants.gov/ (Grants.gov).

If the applicant has difficulty accessing Grants.gov or downloading the required forms from the NOAA website, they should contact Elise Trelegan at the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office by email at elise.trelegan@noaa.gov or phone 301-427-8684. The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office does not have a direct telephonic device for the deaf, however, TDD capabilities can be accessed through the State of Maryland-supplied TDD contact number, 800-735-2258, Notice of Federal Funding Page 20 of 48 between the hours of 8 AM-4:30 PM.

B. Content and Form of Application

Required Elements for Applications:

(a) At the time of application submission, all applicants shall submit the following forms with signatures of the authorized representative of the submitting institution. (Note:

submission through Grants.gov results in automatic electronic signatures on these forms.):

1) Application for Federal Assistance: Form SF-424

2) Budget Information, Non-construction Programs: Form SF-424A

3) Assurances, Non-Construction Programs: Form SF-424B

4) Certifications Regarding Lobbying: Form CD-511

5) Disclosure of Lobbying Activities: Form SF-LLL (if applicable, see instructions on form)

(i) Project Summary (1 page):

1) Project Title

2) Priority Area: Implementing MWEEs in School Districts or Supporting School District Capacity for Environmental Literacy

3) Special Interest Area: Community Partnerships and/or…