Lewis & Clark Community College

Lewis & Clark Community College, a public two-year institution of higher learning headquartered in Godfrey, Illinois, operates as a federal grant recipient rather than a federal contractor, delivering workforce development, STEM research training, and environmental science partnership work across 79 prime and sub-awards to 25 distinct federal agencies since 1990. The college holds no federal contract vehicles and does not compete under SBA set-asides; its federal role centers on grant-funded educational and research programs administered through cooperative agreements and project grants.

The college's capability portfolio spans three distinct federal domains. First, postsecondary education and workforce development: Lewis & Clark administers TRIO Upward Bound (a $321,169 NSF REU Site award under CFDA 47.074 supporting eight students annually for ten-week summer research in wetland science, running May 1, 2026 through April 30, 2029) and Talent Search programs funded by the Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education, which together account for 15 awards across the top-customer list. Second, environmental and ecological research in the Upper Mississippi River System: the college hosts the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center and serves as prime recipient on multiple cooperative agreements from the Army Corps of Engineers' Engineer Research and Development Center and the Department of the Interior's U.S. Geological Survey, investigating floodplain forest regeneration following 2018–2019 flooding, surface-subsurface hydrology impacts on vegetation, and long-term vegetation monitoring methodologies. Third, wetland and water quality assessment: a $318,080 Cooperative Agreement from EPA Region 5 under the Regional Wetland Program Development Grants program (CFDA 66.461, October 1, 2024 through December 31, 2027) funds mapping, contamination detection including PFAS analysis, and amphibian-based biotic integrity surveys on former surface-mined lands in Illinois. Fish and Wildlife Service Region 3 funds a project grant for range-wide surveys and ecological management assessment of Boltonia decurrens (federally listed threatened species) in the Illinois River floodplain, with lidar-based population modeling and prescribed fire treatment evaluation.

Customer concentration clusters around workforce and education funding (Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education leads with 15 awards, 52% of the top-five agency set) and natural-resources partnership work (Department of Agriculture's National Resources Conservation Service, 7 awards; Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service regions, 12 combined awards across Region 3 and Region 4). Activity has grown from three awards in 2022 to eight in 2024, with nine awards facing ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months. Sub-award work includes performance under primes including the Illinois Community College Board (adult education and English language acquisition), the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (wildlife management outreach, hunting and trapping regulations development, and Hunt Illinois platform translation to Spanish and Polish), Youthbuild Global Inc. (low-income housing construction), and the University of Illinois (critical interface networks in managed landscapes). The college's obligated-dollars figure ($61.4 million) substantially exceeds combined potential value across recent awards, reflecting maturity of legacy grants and historical federal engagement spanning three decades.