Environmental Education Local Grants Program for Region 9

Overview

The Environmental Education Grant Program is seeking applications from eligible applicants to support locally focused environmental education projects that promote environmental stewardship and help develop knowledgeable and responsible students, teachers, and community members. This grant program provides financial support for projects that design, demonstrate, and/or disseminate environmental education practices, methods, or techniques that increase public awareness and knowledge about local environmental issues and provides participants in its programs the skills necessary to make informed decisions and to take responsible actions toward the environment. 

Educational and Environmental Priorities 
In order to be eligible, all applications must: 

• Address at least one of the EPA Educational Priorities listed below, 
• Address at least one of the EPA Administrator’s Environmental Priorities listed below; and, 
• Satisfy the definition of “environmental education”. 

Applications may address more than one priority in each category of priorities (educational and environmental), but if more than one priority is addressed, then it is important that the application is clear which priority in each category is the focus of the project and why that focus was chosen for the proposed project. 

EPA’s Educational Priorities:

Applications must address at least one of these Educational Priorities to be
considered eligible.

1. Community Projects: 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).
2. Career Development: 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 one of the environmental fields. These fields include, but are not limited to natural resource conservation and/or managment, climate change, water infrastructure, and water and air quality management.
3. Environmental Education Capacity Building: Building the capacity of agencies and organizations to develop, deliver, and sustain comprehensive environmental education programs. Capacity building proposals may focus on one state, multiple states, or a region of the country.
4. Environmental Justice: For purposes of this solicitation, Environmental Justice (EJ) 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 EJ discussions that affect their local environments.
5. Indigenous Knowledge: Educating project participants on the importance of recognizing, understanding, supporting, and incorporating Indigenous Knowledge into strategies aimed at solving local environmental issues. By enriching environmental education with diverse perspectives and cultivating deep respect for the environment and Indigenous Knowledge holders’ relationship to it, program participants will value both cultural diversity and environmental stewardship.

EPA’s Environmental Priorities:

Applications must address at least one of the Administrator’s Environmental Priorities to be considered eligible.

1. Addressing Climate Change and Improving Air Quality: These efforts help protect the health of all Americans and the ecosystems we depend on by preventing pollution, increasing energy efficiency, improving indoor and outdoor air quality, reducing industrial air pollution and pollution from vehicles and engines, protecting the stratospheric ozone layer, reducing acid rain, and addressing climate change.
2. Ensuring Clean and Safe Water: These efforts help ensure that drinking water is clean and safe for all communities. They also contribute to the restoration and maintenance of oceans, watersheds, and their aquatic ecosystems to protect human health, support economic and recreational activities, and provide healthy habitats for wildlife and plants.
3. Cleaning Up our Communities by Revitalizing Land and Preventing Contamination: These efforts provide guidelines for safe and environmentally friendly practices in waste management to support cleaning up and restoring land for productive uses and healthy communities. These efforts also lead to a reduction in waste, an increase in reuse, and prevention of environmental contamination.

A grantee under this solicitation will be required to award exactly 25% (no more and no less) of the funds received from EPA to eligible subrecipients in the form of subawards of $5,000 or less. 

There is also a non-federal match (cost share) requirement that all applicants must meet, which must be for a minimum of 25% of the total project amount (Total project amount = EPA Funding Request + Non-Federal Match).

Anticipated number of awards: 3-5

Each Region 9 grant 13 will be funded for no less than $50,000, and no more than $100,000 in federal funds. Region 9 covers the states of Arizona (AZ), California (CA), Hawaii (HI), Nevada (NV), American Samoa (AS), Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Guam (GU), Marshall Islands (MH), and Republic of Palau (PW).