Environmental Education Grants Program

The Environmental Education Grants Program supports projects that design, demonstrate, and/or disseminate practices, methods, or techniques related to environmental education and teacher training. As required by the National Environmental Education A

The Environmental Education Grants Program funds projects that educate students, teachers, and community members about local environmental issues and give them the knowledge, skills, and experience needed to take action to protect the environment and take steps toward becoming stewards of the environment.

Applicant organizations may be located in the United States or U.S. Territories. The majority of the educational activities must take place in the United States, Canada, or Mexico. "Tribal education agencies" that are eligible to apply include a school or community college which is controlled by an Indian tribe, band, or nation, which is recognized as eligible for special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians and which is not administered by the Bureau of Indian Education. Tribal organizations do not qualify unless they meet those criteria or the environmental agency or nonprofit criteria listed above. The terms for eligibility are defined in Section 3 of the NEEA and 40 CFR 47.105. For certain competitive funding opportunities under this assistance listing, the Agency may limit eligibility to compete to a number or subset of eligible applicants consistent with the Agency's Assistance Agreement Competition Policy.

Education (0-8), education (9-12), education (13+), Public nonprofit institutions and Private nonprofit organizations, state and local government agencies, and Freely Associated States.

Activities eligible for grant support pursuant to Section 6 of the NEEA shall include, but not be limited to, environmental education and training programs for one or more of the following: (1) design, demonstration, and/or dissemination of environmental curricula and materials on specific topics relevant to the local environmental issue being addressed in the project; (2) design and demonstration (for educational purposes) of field methods, practices, and techniques, including review of environmental and ecological conditions and analysis of environmental and pollution problems; (3) projects to help the public understand and evaluate a specific environmental issue or a specific environmental problem; (4) provision of professional development or related education for teachers, faculty, or related personnel in a specific geographic area or region; and (5) design and demonstration of projects to foster international cooperation in addressing and educating the public on environmental issues and problems involving the United States and Canada or Mexico. Priority will be given to those projects which will develop: (a) a new or significantly improved environmental education practice, method, or technique; (b) an environmental education method which may have wide application; (c) an environmental education method which addresses skills or scientific fields identified as a priority in the current report developed by the National Environmental Education Advisory Council; and (d) an environmental education project which addresses an environmental issue which, in the judgment of the Administrator, is of a high priority. More specific priorities are specified in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).

The Environmental Education Grants program may not fund technical training of environmental management professionals, environmental information or outreach projects that have no educational component, advocacy promoting a particular point of view or course of action, lobbying or political activities, non-educational research and development, or construction projects (including the acquisition of real property or the construction or the substantial modification of a building). Use restrictions are outlined in the NOFO. This program makes Federal awards on a discretionary basis. A discretionary award means an award in which the Federal awarding agency, in keeping with specific statutory authority that enables the agency to exercise judgement ("discretion"), selects the recipient and/or the amount of Federal funding awarded through a competitive process or based on merit of proposals. A discretionary award may be selected on a non-competitive basis, as appropriate. For further information, please contact the Headquarters or regional office.

One or two years, or any time period between one and two years, are possible project periods for this program. Activities must be completed within the time frame of the budget period agreed upon at the time of the award. Two or more concurrent grants to the same organization for the same project are not allowed in this program.

Regarding pre-application assistance with respect to competitive funding opportunities under this assistance listing, EPA will generally specify the nature of the pre-application assistance, if any, that will be available to applicants in the competitive announcement. For additional information, contact the individual(s) listed " in the "Agency Contact Information" section of the competitive announcement.

The evaluation and selection criteria for competitive awards under this assistance listing will be described in the NOFO.

For competitive awards, EPA will review and evaluate applications in accordance with the terms, conditions, and criteria stated in the NOFO. Competitions will be conducted in accordance with EPA policies/regulations for competing assistance agreements.

For competitive awards, deadlines will be specified in the NOFO.

Approximately 180 days from the receipt of applications, through selection and notification, development and approval of work plans, to the awarding of funds.

Extensions are subject to EPA approval.

Assistance agreement competition-related disputes will be resolved in accordance with the dispute resolution procedures published in 70 FR (Federal Register) 3629, 3630 (January 26, 2005). Copies of these procedures may also be found at: https://www.epa.gov/grants/grant-competition-dispute-resolution-procedures. Disputes relating to matters other than the competitive selection of recipients will be resolved under 2 CFR 1500 Subpart E, as applicable.