Environmental Education Local Grants Program for Region 9

Overview

<p>The purpose of the Environmental Education Local Grants Program in Region 9 is to support locally-focused environmental education projects that increase public awareness and knowledge about environmental and conservation issues and provide the skills that participants in its funded projects need to make informed decisions and take responsible actions toward the environment.</p> <p>Under this solicitation EPA is seeking grant applications from eligible applicants to support locally-focused environmental education projects that promote environmental stewardship and help develop knowledgeable and responsible students, teachers, and citizens. This grant program provides financial support for projects that design, demonstrate, and/or disseminate environmental education practices, methods, or techniques that will serve to increase environmental literacy and encourage behavior that will benefit the environment in the local community(ies) in which they are located.</p> <p>Applications must address at least one of these Educational Priorities to be considered eligible:</p> <p><strong>1. Community Projects</strong>: Increasing public understanding of the benefits of and participation in environmental stewardship through community collaboration on issues including, but not limited to climate change, water and soil quality, food waste management, management of ecosystem health and/or local fire or flood prevention. Projects can take place in rural, suburban, and urban settings, in a formal or non-formal educational context, and use outdoor, place-based, experiential, service learning and/or community-focused stewardship activities as the primary teaching tool(s).</p> <p><strong>2. Career Development:</strong> Educating students of any age group and/or training their educators or community leaders on how to teach, in formal and non-formal settings, about environmental issues, solutions and stewardship for the purpose of encouraging interest in gratifying careers in environmental fields. These fields include, but are not limited to conservation, natural resources, climate change, water infrastructure, and water and air quality management.</p> <p><strong>3. Environmental Education Capacity Building:</strong> Building the capacity of agencies and organizations to develop, deliver, and sustain comprehensive environmental education programs statewide. Capacity building proposals may focus on one state, multiple states, or a region of the country.</p> <p><strong>4. Environmental Justice:</strong> For purposes of this solicitation, Environmental Justice refers to activities increasing public awareness and knowledge that disproportionate and adverse environmental, human health, climate-related and other cumulative impacts are more likely to affect or have affected underserved communities. By learning about environmental justice and local environmental issues, program participants will enhance their ability to be meaningfully involved in future discussions, on these subjects, that affect their local environments.</p>