NOAA-NOS-ONMS-2020-2006237 Full Announcement.pdf

2020 NOAA California Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Funding Opportunity Description 3

A. Program Objective 3 B. Program Priorities 8 C. Program Authority 11

II. Award Information 11 A. Funding Availability 11 B. Project/Award Period 12 C. Type of Funding Instrument 13

III. Eligibility Information 13 A. Eligible Applicants 13 B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement 14 C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility 14

IV. Application and Submission Information 14 A. Address to Request Application Package 14 B. Content and Form of Application 15 C. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management (SAM) 22 D. Submission Dates and Times 22 E. Intergovernmental Review 22 F. Funding Restrictions 22 G. Other Submission Requirements 23

V. Application Review Information 24 A. Evaluation Criteria 24 B. Review and Selection Process 27 C. Selection Factors 29 D. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates 30

VI. Award Administration Information 30 A. Award Notices 30 B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements 31 C. Reporting 33

VII. Agency Contacts 34 VIII. Other Information 34

Notice of Federal Funding Page 1 of 35

ANNOUNCEMENT OF NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Federal Agency Name(s): National Ocean Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce

Funding Opportunity Title: 2020 NOAA California Bay Watershed Education and Training (B- WET) Program

Announcement Type: Initial

Funding Opportunity Number: NOAA-NOS-ONMS-2020-2006237

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 11.429, Marine Sanctuary Program

Dates: The deadline for applications is 11:59 PM Eastern Time on December 11, 2019 when submitting through www.grants.gov (Grants.gov). PLEASE NOTE: For applicants that submit through Grants.gov, 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. If use of Grants.gov is impractical for technical or other reasons, paper copy applications will be accepted only as described in Section IV.D. Applications received after the deadline will be rejected without further consideration. No email and/or facsimile applications will be accepted.

Funding Opportunity Description: California B-WET funds locally relevant, authentic experiential learning for K-12 audiences through Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs). MWEEs involve learning both outdoors and in the classroom as students engage in issue definition, outdoor field experiences, synthesis and conclusions, and action projects. The goal is to increase understanding and stewardship of the ocean, its local watersheds, and special areas like national marine sanctuaries. Projects advance the Next Generation Science Standards, the California Environmental Literacy Standards, and the Ocean and Climate Literacy Essential Principles.

The terms used throughout each Section are defined as follows: a. Monterey Bay watershed—the counties of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, Monterey, San Benito, and San Luis Obispo; b. San Francisco Bay watershed—the counties of Marin, San Francisco, Alameda, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity, Napa and Santa Rosa; c. Santa Barbara Channel watershed—the counties of Santa Barbara and Ventura; d. Teachers—formal (school-based) and non-formal (not school-based) educators for kindergarten through high school; e. Students—kindergarten through high school.

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FULL ANNOUNCEMENT TEXT

I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Program Objective

The NOAA B-WET National Program is an environmental education program that promotes locally relevant, experiential learning in the K-12 environment. B-WET was established in 2002 in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and currently exists in seven regions:

California, Chesapeake Bay, Hawai`i, Gulf of Mexico, New England, Pacific Northwest, and Great Lakes. Four of the seven B-WET regions are coordinated by or in partnership with the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries serves as the trustee for a network of underwater parks encompassing more than 600,000 square miles of marine and Great Lakes waters from Washington state to the Florida Keys, and from Lake Huron to American Samoa. The network includes a system of 13 national marine sanctuaries and Papahanaumokuakea and Rose Atoll marine national monuments. For more information, visit our NOAA B-WET National Program website at:

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

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 and nurturing a sense of community, will further connect students with their watershed, help reinforce an ethic of responsible citizenship, and promote academic achievement.

PROGRAM BACKGROUND

The Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE) is the backbone of all B-WET funded projects. All projects, regardless of the priority, must incorporate all elements of the MWEE in order to be successful. The definition of the MWEE that follows was created by the NOAA B-WET National Program and is used by all seven B-WET regions throughout the country.

DEFINING THE MEANINGFUL WATERSHED EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE

(MWEE)

MWEEs should be learner-centered and focused on questions, problems, and issues to be investigated through collecting, analyzing and sharing data; learning protocols; exploring models; and examining natural phenomena. These activities, grounded in best practices and the context of the local community and culture, help increase student interest, motivation, and attitudes toward learning, and achieve environmental stewardship.

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As a result of the MWEE activities students should have an understanding of basic watershed concepts, as well as the interaction between natural systems (e.g. wildlife, plants, and the watercycle) and social systems (e.g. communities, transportation systems, and schools), highlighting the connection between human activity and environmental conditions.

MWEEs consist of multiple components as defined below. In order to completely understand the MWEE components so your application is successful, please refer to the following document: www.noaa.gov/office-education/bwet-mwee.pdf

(1) Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences

1.1 Issue definition and background research

1.2 Outdoor field activities

1.3 Stewardship action projects

1.4 Synthesis and conclusions

When you are developing your MWEE, please consider utilizing the MWEE Guide:

http://baybackpack.com/mwee/what-is-a-mwee. Although this was created for the Chesapeake B-WET Program, it is relevant and useful for all B-WET Programs.

In addition to the components identified above, the CA B-WET program recommends that the following elements are in place to fully support successful MWEE implementation:

(2) MWEE - STUDENT COMPONENTS

2.1 Teacher participation for the duration of the MWEE—While external partners are entirely appropriate to support MWEEs, teachers should support the experience in the classroom and in the field. Teachers are in the best position to help students make connections and draw on past lessons, serve as environmental role models, and enhance students overall outdoor education experience and should be involved in all components of the experiences detailed above. To support them in this role, teachers should have appropriate knowledge of environmental issues and watershed concepts, skill in connecting these issues to their curriculum, and competency in environmental education pedagogy, including the ability and confidence to teach outdoor lessons and to lead students in critical thinking about environmental issues.

2.2 Integration with classroom curriculum—Experiences should be integrated into what is occurring in the classroom, and can provide authentic, age appropriate, engaging multi-disciplinary content to address academic standards. Specifically, elements of science and social studies standards related to questioning and investigation, evidence-based analysis and interpretation, model and theory building, knowledge of environmental processes and systems, skill for understanding and addressing environmental issues, and personal and civic

Notice of Federal Funding Page 4 of 35 responsibility align well with MWEE activities. Non-school activities may enrich traditional classroom curriculum when needed, though this need should be documented and supported by local education agencies. Integration into the classroom must include connections to the Next Generation Science Standards, the California Environmental Literacy Standards and the Ocean and Climate Literacy Principles.

2.3 Use of the local context for learning—The local community and environment should be viewed as a primary resource for student MWEE activities. Place-based education promotes learning that is rooted in the unique history, environment, culture, economy, literature, and art of a students’ schoolyard, neighborhood, town, or community, and thus offering students and teachers the opportunity to explore how individual and collective decisions impact their immediate surroundings. Once a firm connection to their local environment is made, students are better positioned to expand their thinking to recognize the far-reaching implications of the decisions they make to the larger national and global environment.

2.4 Experiences are a set of activities over time—The MWEE includes the full duration leading up to and following the outdoor field experiences. Each component should involve a significant investment of instructional time, incorporate time for reflection, and include all students. Experiences such as tours, simulations, demonstrations, or nature walks may be instructionally useful, but alone do not constitute an entire meaningful watershed educational experience as defined here.

(3) MWEE - TEACHER COMPONENTS

Teachers should be skilled in using environmental education and MWEEs to address multiple subjects’ curriculum standards and local education agency initiatives. In order to gain and maintain environmental education competencies, teachers need access to sustained, high-quality professional development that includes ongoing support and feedback. Teachers should gain confidence in the value of implementing MWEEs and strategies for conducting them so that they will conduct MWEES after the B-WET supported program has ended.

Specifically, the following elements are recommended for professional development to support teachers implementing MWEEs:

3.1 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 basic watershed concepts and the human connection to the watershed. 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

Notice of Federal Funding Page 5 of 35 behaviors may be role models for their students and increase their ability to guide students in actions to address complex environmental issues.

3.2 Models environmental education pedagogy—Facilitators/trainers should utilize the same techniques and experiences in trainings that teachers are expected to use with their students, such as hands-on, place-based, outdoor field experiences and environmental issue investigation and action.

3.3 Allows for adequate instructional time—Professional development trainings should be multi-day, occurring consecutively or over the course of several months. Trainings should include ample opportunity for teachers to reflect on their own teaching practices and planning for how to use knowledge and skills gained from professional development in the classroom. Based on educational research findings and preliminary evidence from the B- WET national evaluation system, the B-WET program recommends that professional development include more than 24 hours of professional development time, of which more than 10 hours should be spent outdoors. These targets are expected to support teacher change and increase the likelihood that teachers will implement MWEEs.

Where appropriate, professional development should include tools for teachers to implement MWEEs on their school grounds. Resources exist to support the effective hands-on implementation of MWEEs and the development and continued use of integrated, sustainable indoor and outdoor environmental learning projects that provide substantial benefit to both students and the school environment.

3.4 Provides ongoing teacher support and appropriate incentives—Even in cases where teachers participate in robust multi-day trainings, 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.

3.5 Meets jurisdictional guidelines for effective teacher professional development—Each jurisdiction has established guidance and recommendations germane to all forms of teacher professional development. When possible, professional development opportunities in environmental education should adhere to these general guidelines set forth by local

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4. ADDITIONAL REQUIRED COMPONENTS

4.1 Includes NOAA assets, including personnel and resources—NOAA has a wealth of applicable products and services, as well as a cadre of scientific and professional experts that can heighten the impact of environmental instruction both in the classroom and in the field.

Additionally, environmental professionals can serve as important role models for career choices and stewardship. For more on NOAA assets for education please see:

• https://www.noaa.gov/office-education/grants/noaa-assets

• https://www.noaa.gov/education

• https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/education

• https://coast.noaa.gov/nerrs/education/

• https://www.legislative.noaa.gov/NIYS/NIYSCA.pdf (NOAA in Your State)

4.2 Educating Every Student In, About, and For the Environment—Unfortunately, many K- 12 students do not currently have consistent access to adequately funded high-quality environmental experiences. The California B-WET Program is strongly committed to expanding the participation of underrepresented youth. Underrepresented youth have traditionally not seen their identities reflected in outdoor spaces and the environment as a whole. In addition, a focus on cultural relevancy is expected both for the target audience and the organization structure. Cultural relevancy is defined as the ability to effectively reach and engage communities and their youth in a manner consistent with the cultural context and values of that community while effectively addressing disparities of diversity, equity, and inclusion within an organization’s entire structure.

The California B-WET Program anticipates that a substantial portion of the target audience served by funded projects will represent diverse communities, especially those who have had historical and systemic barriers to accessing the outdoors. Please include information about the target audiences reached and the web page(s) that used to gather that information.

4.3 Projects make a connection to the sanctuary and the ocean environment—Projects must include information about the National Marine Sanctuary System and the ocean environment throughout the duration of the project—before, during and after the MWEE activities.

Information provided may highlight one or more of the national marine sanctuaries located on the West Coast and must demonstrate a connection to the ocean environment through the watershed system. The idea is that students understand how their actions can affect the coastal/ocean environment through the watershed system. They also need to understand what a national marine sanctuary is, why it is important, the resources found within the sanctuary, and where it is located. Examples of curriculum and lesson plans that can be used to highlight this information can be found at: https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/education/teachers.

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4.4 Climate change education—Earth's climate is changing. When humans burn fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas for energy, we put rampant amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide acts like a heat trapping blanket and warms the planet. The carbon dioxide also enters the ocean, causing the pH to drop and leading to ocean acidification, which makes it difficult for animals to build and maintain their shells and skeletons and has enormous health implications for life in the ocean. The overwhelming majority of climate scientists agree that humans have had a profound influence on our changing climate. Climate change will bring economic and environmental challenges as well as opportunities, and citizens who have an understanding of climate science will be better prepared to respond to both. Our quality of life and, ultimately, our survival are dependent on our “climate literacy”—our ability to understand and predict a warming planet.

Projects should incorporate on one or more of the following areas of climate change as is relates to the watershed and MWEEs:

Ocean Acidification Energy Reduction Consumer Choices Ecosystem Resiliency

And should integrate the following key themes and messages:

a. Changes in climate will impact national marine sanctuaries and the overall health of the ocean that is vital to our quality of life and, ultimately, our survival.

b. One or more of the following key messages:

1) Human activities are changing the Earth’s climate.

2) Climate change affects national marine sanctuaries and the underwater treasures they protect.

3) The choices you make today do make a difference.

4) Collectively we need to adapt our carbon footprint and lower our carbon emissions.

5) Collective actions are needed to preserve as much biodiversity in the ocean as possible.

B. Program Priorities

B-WET projects under this funding announcement support the direct implementation of the MWEE. All proposals should follow the MWEE definition and all additional required components to be successful. In addition to the components listed below.

The following applies to one or more of the three priority areas:

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Students should participate in all MWEE elements (issue definition, outdoor field experiences, synthesis and conclusions, and action projects). MWEEs should be organized around a driving question that has students focus on a locally relevant environmental issue, problem, or phenomenon. Students should engage in background research in order to understand the issue and develop supporting questions for further investigation, and have the opportunity to reflect on personal and stakeholder values and perspectives related to the issue. Applicants should consider the following characteristics of driving questions when developing projects: supports learning objectives; is relevant and related to everyday life, is thought-provoking and intellectually engaging; is open-ended (i.e. typically will not have a single, final, and correct answer); promotes further inquiry (i.e. raises additional questions);

encompasses both natural and social systems and topics; requires students to revisit the problem frequently as knowledge and understanding evolves; calls for higher-order thinking, including analysis, inference, prediction, and evaluation; and includes concepts and practices from multiple disciplines.

Students should participate in multiple outdoor experiences that are directly related to the issue the students are studying. Students should experience at least two outdoor experiences.

Whenever possible, students should be actively involved in planning the inquiry that occurs during the outdoor field experience. These outdoor experiences should be fully supported by their teachers to ensure that the concepts of watershed education are reinforced in the classroom throughout the school year. Outdoor experiences can support any element of the MWEE and can occur wherever appropriate to reinforce the unit of study, including at partner sites and/or on or near school grounds.

Throughout the process students need dedicated class time to make conclusions based on their research, outdoor field experiences, and related data analysis. Students should communicate these results and conclusions to an audience beyond their classroom.

Teacher professional development should be offered for all teachers whose students will be engaged in MWEEs so they can support classroom integration. It is recommended that professional development opportunities are at least 24 cumulative hours in duration, which can be accomplished in consecutive days or over the course of a school year. Trainings should deliver teaching on both content and instruction in the outdoors, include year-long support for teachers, and include a plan for how teachers will be involved in implementing watershed education with their students. This kind of in-depth professional development reinforces a teacher's ability to teach, inspire, and lead young people toward thoughtful stewardship of our natural resources. If the teacher professional development requirements are not feasible in the targeted school district, applicants should explain why it is not feasible, and how they will build towards these requirements over the course of the grant and

Notice of Federal Funding Page 9 of 35 into the future. Letters of support from curriculum supervisors and science, socials studies, and other relevant subject coordinators at the district level can be effective in communicating such details.

Whenever possible, MWEEs should be embedded across an entire grade level or levels, or be part of a broader systemic program in a school district to reach every student. For example, projects may reach only half of a grade level’s teachers and students if the application includes documentation from the school district and other partners that the proposed project is a component of a larger systemic effort that reaches the entire grade level. If this is not feasible, applicants should explain why it is not feasible and how they will build toward systemic implementation over the course of the grant and into the future.

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

PRIORITY 1: MWEE Implementation in School Districts (Professional development for teachers and student experiences) CA B-WET is putting a priority on the development and implementation of systemic MWEEs in school districts. This year’s funding announcement is focused on reaching school districts that will provide MWEEs, over a period of time, for whole school districts. These can be through grants directly to school districts or through grants awarded to non-profit organizations, state agencies, universities, or other partners to work with school districts on their systemic programs. Placed based MWEEs can provided excellent opportunities to teach the Next Generation Science Standards and California Environmental Literacy Standards (Senate Bill No. 720).

Systemic MWEE projects reach the entire student population in one or more grades with teacher-supported MWEEs. The systematic implementation should ensure that the teachers of these students receive high quality professional development to give them the content knowledge and pedagogical skills for outdoor learning to support all aspects of the MWEE.

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 needed to ensure all students receive all components of a MWEE and meaningful professional development for teachers is provided.

Applicants must demonstrate how trained teachers will implement student MWEEs, and

Notice of Federal Funding Page 10 of 35 what resources (funds, staff, facilities, partner organizations, etc.) exist to support student components of the MWEE. Successful applicants under this priority will be asked to document the number of students receiving MWEEs as a direct result of the project.

Proposals should include details about where the project fits in the scope and sequence of school district curriculum, and applicants should clearly understand and convey the primary learning objectives. Multi-disciplinary objectives are encouraged.

PRIORITY 2: Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs) for Students MWEEs for students should be learner centered and focused on questions, problems, and issues to be investigated through collecting, analyzing and sharing data; learning protocols;

exploring models; and examining natural phenomena. These activities, grounded in best practices and the context of the local community and culture, help increase student interest, motivation, and attitudes toward learning, and achieve environmental stewardship. As a result of the MWEE activities, students should have an understanding of basic watershed concepts, as well as the interaction between natural systems (e.g. wildlife, plants, and water cycle) and social systems (e.g. communities, transportation systems, and schools), highlighting the connection between human activity and environmental conditions.

PRIORITY 3: Teacher Professional Development for Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs) Teachers should be skilled in using environmental education and MWEEs to address multiple subjects’ curriculum standards and local education agency initiatives. In order to gain and maintain environmental education competencies, teachers need access to sustained, high-quality professional development that includes ongoing support and feedback. Teachers should gain confidence in the value of implementing MWEEs and strategies for conducting them so that they will conduct MWEES after the B-WET supported program has ended.

C. Program Authority

Under 33 USC 893 a(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

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This solicitation announces that approximately $950,000 may be available in FY 2020 in award amounts to be determined by the proposals and available funds. About $400,000 will be made available to the San Francisco Bay area, about $325,000 will be made available to the Monterey Bay area, and about $225,000 will be made available to the Santa Barbara and Ventura areas. The NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries anticipates that approximately 8-10 grants will be awarded with these funds.

If you are applying for Priority 1, you may apply for a minimum of $30,000 and up to a maximum of $100,000. If you are applying for Priorities 2 or 3, you may apply for a minimum of $30,000 and up to a maximum of $60,000. In prior years, the amount of funding per award, on average, was $100,000 for Priority 1 and $60,000 for Priorities 2 and 3.

There is no guarantee that sufficient funds will be available to make awards for all qualified projects. The exact amount of funds that may be awarded will be determined in pre-award negotiations between the applicant and NOAA representatives. Publication of this notice does not oblige NOAA to award any specific project or to obligate any available funds. If applicants incur any costs prior to an award being made, they do so at their own risk of not being reimbursed by the government. Notwithstanding verbal or written assurance that may have been received, there is no obligation on the part of NOAA to cover pre-award costs unless approved by the Grants Officer as part of the terms when the award is made.

Applicants are hereby given notice that funds have not yet been appropriated for this program. Future opportunities for submitting proposals to the California B-WET competitive process are anticipated, but will depend on funding levels and resources available to support new projects.

B. Project/Award Period

The project start date should not begin before August 1, 2020.

If you are applying for Priority 1, you may apply up to three (3) years. These are called multi-year grants. 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, usually annually. NOAA anticipates continuing these multi-year awards for the entirety of their project periods;

Notice of Federal Funding Page 12 of 35 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.

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.

If you are applying for Priority 2 or 3, applicants may apply for funding in 12-month increments for a maximum of three consecutive years. Each funding request should not exceed more than 12 months and a new competitive application must be submitted each year in response to the program’s annual funding announcement. Proposal projects do not need to change significantly in scope from year to year, but should demonstrate growth in subsequent project years (i.e. in Project Years 2 and 3). Projects should demonstrate they are being evaluated and changing as a result of the assessment. Renewal of an application will depend on submission of a successful proposal subject to panel reviews, adequate progress on previous award(s), and available funding to continue the award.

If a recipient would like to apply for additional years of funding, beyond the three (3) consecutive years (both for multi-year and renewal projects), they will be determined to be new awards. No assurance for a funding renewal proposals or funding for project beyond the initial three consecutive years exists; funding will be at the complete discretion of NOAA.

C. Type of Funding Instrument

Whether the funding instrument is a grant or a cooperative agreement will be determined by the amount of the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries’ involvement in the project. A cooperative agreement will be used if National Marine Sanctuary System staff share responsibility for management, control, direction, or performance of the project with the recipient. Specific terms regarding substantial involvement will be contained in special award conditions.

III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants are K-12 public and independent schools and school systems, Notice of Federal Funding Page 13 of 35 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. Applicants must be located within the U.S. and can be physically located in any state, but must work within the geographic boundaries of the Monterey Bay, San Francisco Bay or Santa Barbara Channel watersheds. Projects whose sole audience is outside the watersheds outlined above are not eligible.

B. Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement

Cost sharing is not required under this program. Any voluntary cost sharing or matching does not impact scoring and must be consistent with the requirements of 2 CFR §200.306.

C. Other Criteria that Affect Eligibility

None

IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Address to Request Application Package

1. Electronic submission Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit applications electronically through http://www.grants.gov. You may access the electronic grant application for the California Bay Watershed Education and Training Program at http://www.grants.gov.

Please note that applicants must locate the downloadable application package for this program by the Funding Opportunity Number (found on the first page of the NOFO) or CFDA number (11.429). Users of Grants.gov are now required to use a new application process called Workspace.

For more information regarding this platform, please visit:

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/workspace-overview.html.

After electronic submission of the application, applicants will receive an automatic acknowledgment from Grants.gov that contains a Grants.gov tracking number. NOAA may request that you provide original signatures on forms at a later date.

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Information on the CA B-WET program, including examples of currently supported projects, can be found at https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/news/bwet/welcome.html.

2. Hard copy submission If an applicant does not have Internet access or if Grants.gov has technical issues that make submission impractical, hard copy applications will be accepted. A signed original may be submitted to Attn: Seaberry Nachbar, B-WET Coordinator, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Office, 99 Pacific Street, Building 455A, Monterey, CA 93940. The closing deadline for applying through Grants.gov is the same as for the paper submission noted in this announcement.

B. Content and Form of Application

Proposals should include the following information and it is recommended that they follow the format outlined below:

(1) Project summary (1-page):

- Organization title

- Principal Investigator(s) (PI)

- Address, telephone number, and email address of applicant and PI

- Partner(s)

- Priority Area

- Project title

- Project duration

- Summary of work to be performed (include number of teachers and/or students that will be involved in your project and total project cost per student/teacher)

- Total Federal funds requested

- Cost-sharing to be provided from non-Federal sources, if any (specify whether contributions are project-related goods or services of the recipient or a third party contributor)

- Total project cost

(2) Project description (15-pages)

- Accomplishments to date (this applies only to those applicants that have received a B- WET grant in prior years):

List your objectives from previous years and provide accomplishments to date for each of the objectives. Provide as much detail as possible to demonstrate to reviewers that the project goals and objectives of your grant have been/are being met. Please include your evaluation results from your evaluation report, including the tools and methods that you used. Specifically include your evaluation summary.

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This is intended to provide to the reviewers a clear outline of the work you have accomplished in prior years and to outline what work is needed to be accomplished with additional funds. More importantly, this is your opportunity to describe to the reviewers your successes, lessons learned and any assessment/evaluation results you have completed. When the reviewers are reading this proposal they will want to know why funding should be continued, so use this section to demonstrate your growth.

- Need: Provide a statement that describes the need for this type of project. Why are you proposing this project? Cite studies or sources, where appropriate, that validate the need for your project. It should be made clear in this section that your organization’s proposed project is not duplicating other efforts in your region.

- Target audience: Identify the target audience and demonstrate an understanding of the needs of that audience. Identify specifically how many students and/or teachers are involved in your project and their demographics.

- Participant recruitment: Provide a plan of action that outlines how you will recruit your target audience and identify incentives to be used such as teacher stipends or continuing education credits.

- Objectives: Explain your objectives and how you are going to accomplish these objectives.

Objectives should be simple and understandable; as specific and quantitative as possible (please reference the CA B-WET website: https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/news/bwet/, when developing your objectives). Clearly explain how you will achieve your expected outputs and outcomes.

- What: Provide a statement of your project that includes a clear statement of the work to be undertaken. Demonstrate how your project meets the criteria defined in the Program Priorities. This section should include a document that illustrates how the proposed project will meet the full definition of the MWEE, including integration into the school curriculum (supporting NGSS and Environmental Literacy), using issue investigation, and conducting a stewardship action project. The document should include a brief (2-3 sentence) description about how the proposed project will address the following information. In addition to this document this section should also include a table that outlines how you are meeting NGSS.

For an example of a table please reference the CA B-WET website:

https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/news/bwet/welcome.html.

- Where: Give a precise location of the project and the area(s) that will be served.

(3) Who: Organization leads and partners.

- Organization leads: Explain who from your organization will conduct the project. Include key individuals who will work on the project and a short description of the nature of their effort or contribution. A CV for each individual that is participating significantly in the project is required. These can be embedded within the Project description or as a part of the Supporting documents. Please demonstrate to the reviewers that the staff employed is

Notice of Federal Funding Page 16 of 35 representative of the target audience needs. For example if you are working with a Latino audience, you have/will be employing a bi-lingual staff member.

- Partners/collaborators: List each partner organization, collaborator, or other key individuals who will work on the project. A partner is defined as an organization that contributes or receives funding and/or in-kind resources and actively collaborates in the planning, promotion, execution, evaluation and interpretation of the program. Essentially the program would not be able to take place without the partner. A collaboration involves cooperation in which parties are not necessarily bound contractually. There is a relationship, but it is usually less formal. For purposes of this announcement, the most important thing to remember is: Organizations don't collaborate – people collaborate (representing their organization). A letter of support from each partner/collaborator must be included in the Supporting documents.

(4) Project timeline: Provide a project timeline in a table format that outlines the project from beginning to end. Include a project schedule that indicates when each action, event, milestone, product development, and evaluation will occur. This should include exact activities of the field trips and the classroom instruction, with the total amount of contact time. Applicants should clearly show total anticipated contact time with project participants (teachers in professional development and students), and indicate how much of this time will be spent outdoors. This information will be evaluated as part of the review criteria, so it is necessary to include this information in your project narrative.

(5) Project evaluation: Evaluation here is defined as the systematic collection and documentation of information about your project's outcomes in order to improve the project's effectiveness, guide judgments about its impact, and/or inform decisions about future programming or funding. Up to 10% of the budget can be spent on the evaluation component of your proposal.

For this section, please include a logic model. An excellent example of a logic model can be found on the CA B-WET website: https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/news/bwet/welcome.html.

In your evaluation plan, please describe how you will measure and document the outcomes and impacts of your project on your audience(s). How will your audience(s) be different after their involvement in your project and how will you measure those differences? The outcomes you measure should correlate to your goals and objectives and the CA B-WET Program's definition of MWEE’s. Indicators of outcomes may be audience satisfaction with the project experience and changes in their knowledge, skills, attitudes, and/or behaviors.

Indicators of outcomes do not include the number of people served or the activities you and your audience(s) engage in.

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Please include in your supporting documents any evaluation tools that you will be using as a part of your evaluation. Also explain how you will document your evaluation results. For detailed information on how to create an evaluation plan or an evaluation report, please use the CA B-WET website at https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/education/evaluation/welcome.html.

Participation in B-WET National Evaluation:

In addition to project evaluation, grantees will be asked to participate in data collection for the national B-WET evaluation. The B-WET national evaluation consists of two parts; part 1 is for all recipients of B-WET grants while part 2 is only for programs that work with teachers. The B-WET national evaluation is intended to monitor program implementation and outcomes on an ongoing basis. Results of this evaluation will be used to improve the B- WET program, document its value, and better tailor it to program audiences. Grantees with teacher participants will be able to view a summary of responses from their participating teachers. Success of this effort depends on grantee participation, so applicants are strongly encouraged to review the information about the national evaluation system (available here:

https://www.noaa.gov/office-education/bwet/grantee-resources/national-evaluation) and consider how they can support it as part of their projects.

Part 1 (for all B-WET grantees): As part of this evaluation system, one individual from each recipient organization will be asked to voluntarily complete an online questionnaire once per year of the award. The questionnaire should be able to be completed within 30-60 minutes (depending on the nature of the program) and may require some internal data compilation.

Part 2 (for programs with teacher professional development): For projects that work with teachers, the teacher-participants will be asked to complete one questionnaire at the close of their professional development and one after implementing Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences with their students (at the end of the following school year). Each teacher questionnaire should be able to be completed within 30 minutes. Along with completing the recipient questionnaire, grantees will be asked to provide the email addresses of participating teachers (after notifying teachers that their email will be shared) and to encourage teachers to participate in the national evaluation.

B-WET grantees and teachers who respond to the questionnaires will remain anonymous to B-WET and NOAA. NOAA will only view the resulting data in aggregate at the national or regional level, however grantees will receive a password-protected report link to allow them to view data from teacher participants of their project in aggregate.

All applicants should provide information about how they plan to support this national evaluation system, incorporate it into the project timeline, and ensure responses from

Notice of Federal Funding Page 18 of 35 participating teachers as part of their application. Applicants may incorporate staff time required to complete the B-WET national evaluation in their budget proposal. More information, including all of the survey instruments, is available on the NOAA B-WET national website here: https://www.noaa.gov/office-education/bwet/grantee-resources/national-evaluation. Grantees should review the information available and take this into consideration in the planning for their project evaluations. For example:

- Grantees may not need to include questions that will be answered through the teacher instrument in their own evaluations.

- Wherever possible grantees should try to incorporate participation in the evaluation system into existing requirements for professional development program completion. For example, on completion of the teacher professional development survey, teachers will receive some program incentive.

Note that this evaluation system is not intended to replace project level evaluation. While grantees will have access to their teacher’s results from the evaluation system, the national evaluation may not provide the level of detail needed to fully understand, describe, and improve specific grant projects. Grantees are therefore encouraged to balance these needs within the 10% of their budget that is recommended for evaluation.

Additional information about this project, including background, FAQs, survey instruments, and suggested text for communicating with your teacher participants about this project, is available here: https://www.noaa.gov/office-education/bwet/grantee-resources/national-evaluation. This data collection will be conducted in a manner consistent with Office of Management and Budget guidelines (OMB Control No 0648-0658).

- Benefits or results expected: Identify and document the results or benefits to be derived from the proposed activities. Include any evaluation data and results that your organization may have conducted. For an example of an outputs table, please reference the CA B-WET website: https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/news/bwet/welcome.html.

(6) Outreach and Education: Explain how your project will work with the target audience to educate and inform others of the results of your project, and any products, outcomes, or benefits of your project. As a part of the MWEE, applicants are required to share the project with the larger community. This section should outline mechanisms for significant external sharing and communication about the project by students, teachers, or project staff.

Examples include community events (events that engage parents or other community members), peer to peer sharing for teacher and/or student (e.g., in-service days, school assemblies), conferences and to the media/social media. In addition, students may present to the Sanctuary Advisory Councils that are located in their region.

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(7) Budget narrative: The budget narrative should be composed of two parts, a budget table and a budget description. The budget narrative should include the total project costs that are required to accomplish what is proposed in the Project description and includes contributions and donations. The budget narrative should provide the information needed to determine how the numbers outlined in the budget table and budget information form (SF- 424A) were derived. The narrative should explain the specific budget categories that are outlined in the SF-424A form, such as personnel/salaries, fringe benefits, travel, equipment, supplies, contract costs, and indirect costs.