NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Offers Great Lakes B-WET Grant for Indigenous Watershed Education

Applicants may be physically located in any U.S. state; however, education projects must target students and teachers located in counties in the Great Lakes watershed in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries is seeking proposals under the Great Lakes Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program (https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/bwet/greatlakes/). This environmental education program supports locally relevant, authentic experiential learning in the K-12 environment. Funded projects provide Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs) for students, related professional development for teachers, and help to support regional education and environmental priorities in the Great Lakes. The primary delivery is through competitive grants.

This Great Lakes B-WET region funding announcement focuses on MWEEs for K-12 students that incorporate Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge and promote climate resilience. It is anticipated that approximately $300,000 will be available to fund eligible applications. Total Federal amount that may be requested from NOAA should not exceed $100,000. The minimum Federal amount to request from NOAA is $50,000. Projects should be for a period between 12-24 months. No cost sharing is required under this program. For Great Lakes B-WET, applicants may be physically located in any U.S. state; however, projects must target students in the Great Lakes region. For the purposes of this solicitation, the Great Lakes region is defined as counties in the Great Lakes watershed in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Applications for projects can come from any eligible applicant, however, involvement, coordination and support from an Indigenous organization or Tribal Government is required. To document the level of support and engagement from the Indigenous organization or government, official letters of collaboration from Indigenous entities are required with proposals.

This funding opportunity meets NOAA’s Vision of healthy ecosystems (http://www.noaa.gov/our-mission-and-vision), helping to ensure that ocean, estuarine, and related ecosystems and the species that inhabit them are vibrant and sustainable in the face of challenges.