U.S. Mission to Belize, Embassy Belmopan PAS Annual Program Statement

Overview:

The U.S. Embassy Belmopan Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U.S. Department of State is pleased to announce that funding is available through its Public Diplomacy Grants Program. This Annual Program Statement (APS) outlines our funding priorities, strategic themes, and the procedures for submitting requests for funding. Applications for programs are accepted on a rolling basis until the deadlines. The deadlines are necessary to provide sufficient time to process and award programs in advance of the end of our fiscal year on September 30, 2024. Please carefully follow all instructions below.

Purpose of Grants: PAS Belmopan invites proposals for projects that strengthen ties between the United States and Belize by highlighting shared values and promoting bilateral cooperation. Grant proposals must convey an American cultural element, support a priority program area (see below), or include a connection with American experts, organizations, or institutions in a specific field that will promote increased understanding of U.S. policy and perspectives. Examples of PAS projects include, but are not limited to:

• Academic and professional lectures, seminars, and speaker programs;
• Artistic and cultural workshops, joint performances, and exhibitions;
• Entrepreneurship and innovation in STEAM fields;
• Strengthening civil society;
• Media training and enhancing media literacy
• Combating disinformation, supporting excellence in journalism
• Educational programs on U.S. foreign policy priorities;
• Programs that educate or enforce sustainable development goals;
• Youth leadership programs, especially for minorities; and
• Sports-related programming.

Participants and Audiences:

• Academic institutions;
• Business leaders and entrepreneurs;
• Community leaders;
• Cultural institutions;
• Journalists, media organizations;
• Social and new media users;
• Belizean thought leaders;
• Women and youth from underserved communities

Length of performance period: Up to 12 months Number of awards anticipated: 3 to 5 awards (dependent on amounts). Proposed projects should ideally be planned for a period of three to 12 months but can be longer depending on the nature of the program. PAS will entertain applications for continuation grants funded under these awards beyond the initial budget period on a non-competitive basis subject to availability of funds, satisfactory progress of the program, and a determination that continued funding would be in the best interest of the U.S. Department of State.

The Public Affairs Section will accept proposals in two rounds, the first ending May 31, 2024 and the second ending July 31, 2024. Proposals received during Round 1 should plan to start no later than July 2024, and proposals received during round 2 should plan to start no later than September 2024. No applications will be accepted after that date.

Digital Projects for the Public

Overview:

The Digital Projects for the Public program supports projects that interpret and analyze humanities content in primarily digital platforms and formats, such as websites, mobile applications and tours, interactive touch screens and kiosks, games, and virtual environments.

All Digital Projects for the Public projects must:

• provide public audiences with structured analysis that deepens public understanding of  significant humanities ideas
• incorporate sound humanities scholarship
• involve humanities scholars in all phases of development and production
• include appropriate digital media professionals
• reach a broad audience through a realistic plan for development, marketing, and distribution
• demonstrate the capacity for sustainability

NEH seeks proposals that explore a range of interpretive possibilities. Competitive proposals include collaboration with multiple scholars offering diverse perspectives. Projects that depend on input from a single scholar are not competitive. NEH also welcomes applications for digital projects that enrich the users’ experience and engagement with a larger project. For example, if your request is for a mobile experience that would operate within a museum or would work in conjunction with a film, explain how this element will enhance the audience’s humanities learning experience. The digital component must enhance the project and not serve merely as promotion for it. You may identify particular communities and groups, including students, to whom a project may have particular appeal. Projects intended for K-12 students should include community partners to extend the project’s impact beyond the classroom.

Because the development and production of the project’s humanities content and technical design should be undertaken by a team of experts, NEH discourages the use of students, and especially undergraduates, in the development and production of a project’s humanities content and technical design. Projects intended as a classroom exercise, e.g., constructed by students over the course of a semester or academic year for course credit, are not competitive. NEH encourages audience evaluation throughout all stages of a project. Evaluation could include testing of the project’s concept, approach, and key components.

Funding categories
The Digital Projects for the Public program includes three funding categories:

• Discovery, to collaborate on preliminary research
• Prototyping, to design or create prototypes
• Production, to produce the final version of the project

Funding Levels
Maximum award amount $30,000 (Discovery grants)
$100,000 (Prototyping grants)
$400,000 (Production grants)
Expected output Game/Simulation; Mobile App; Virtual/Augmented Reality; Website

You may request a period of performance of one to two years for Discovery and Prototyping awards. You may request a period of performance of one to three years for Production awards. Your period of performance must start between February 1, 2025, and September 1, 2025.

You do not need to obtain a Discovery grant before applying for a Prototyping grant, or to obtain a Prototyping grant before applying for a Production grant. If you have received an award in one funding category you may not receive a second award for the same project in that funding category (i.e., you may receive a Prototyping award and a Production award for the same project but may not receive two Production awards).

You may submit multiple applications for separate and distinct projects under this notice. An individual may serve as project director for multiple proposed projects under this notice. You may revise and resubmit previously rejected applications. Submissions are subject to the application requirements and review criteria of the current competition. If NEH has previously made an award in support of your project, you may apply for a new or subsequent stage of the project, which NEH will assess using the review criteria of the current competition.

Institutional Service: Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence (Hawkins) Program

Overview:

The Hawkins Program is critical in enabling the Department to meet its goal of supporting a diverse teacher workforce to improve student opportunities, achievement, and outcomes, and address the educator shortage, by providing expanded access to comprehensive, high-quality, and affordable educator preparation programs.

There is significant inequity in students’ access to well-prepared, experienced, and effective teachers, particularly for students from low-income backgrounds, students of color, children or students with disabilities, and English learners (ELs). Providing all students with consistent access to well-prepared, effective, and diverse educators who provide high-quality instruction and support is essential to closing opportunity and achievement gaps. Teachers who entered the profession through the least comprehensive teacher preparation pathway are two to three times more likely to leave their school or the profession compared to those who entered through a comprehensive pathway. Research demonstrates that high rates of turnover harm student achievement, and that the quality of a school’s leadership is among the most important predictors of teacher turnover, with more effective principals being more likely to retain their best teachers. 

Through the priorities in this competition, the Department seeks to encourage HBCUs, TCUs, and MSIs to propose projects that are designed to increase and retain the number of well-prepared teachers from diverse backgrounds; increase evidence-based, comprehensive pre-service clinical experiences through teacher preparation programs; and increase the number of bilingual and/or multilingual teachers with full certification. 

This notice contains two absolute priorities and two competitive preference priorities. 

Absolute Priority 1: Projects that are Designed to Increase and Retain the Number of Well-Prepared Teachers from Diverse Backgrounds. To meet this priority, an eligible applicant must propose projects that are designed to increase the number of well-prepared teachers and the diversity of the teacher workforce with a focus on increasing and retaining a diverse teacher workforce, and improving the preparation, recruitment, retention, and placement of such teachers. 

Applicants addressing this priority must describe: 
(a) How their project will integrate multiple services or initiatives across academic and student affairs, such as academic advising, counseling, stipends, child-care, structured/guided pathways from teacher candidates’ first year in the preparation program through successful employment placement, career services, or student financial aid, such as scholarships, with the goal of increasing program completion and credential attainment; 
(b) Their plan for identifying and supporting teacher candidates from backgrounds that are underrepresented in the profession, including teacher candidates of color. This plan must span the beginning of the preparation program through graduation, and include a plan to improve program entry rates, as applicable, graduation rates, passage rates for certification and licensure exams, and rates of successful employment placement between teacher candidate subgroups and an institution’s overall teacher candidate population; and 
(c) Their proposed initiatives to promote the retention of teachers from backgrounds that are underrepresented in the profession, including teachers of color, prepared through the program, which may include induction programs, such as teacher or school leader induction programs, or mentorship programs that provide school and district leaders with the support they need to persist in their professions. 

Absolute Priority 2: Increase Evidence-Based, Comprehensive Preservice Clinical Experiences Through Teacher Preparation Programs. 

To meet this priority, an eligible applicant must propose projects that are evidence-based   comprehensive teacher preparation programs that provide extensive clinical experience. Applicants with existing programs must describe their record in graduating highly skilled, well-prepared, and diverse teachers and describe how the proposed project will refine or enhance existing programs. Applicants proposing new programs must describe how their new program is evidence-based and designed to achieve the intended outcomes of the Hawkins Program. 

Competitive Preference Priority 1: Increasing the Number of Bilingual and/ or Multilingual Teachers with Full Certification.

Competitive Preference Priority 2: Applications From New Potential Grantees

Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Directorate for STEM Education (IUSE: EDU)

Overview:

The IUSE: EDU program supports projects designed to contribute to a future in which all undergraduate students are fully engaged in their STEM learning. The IUSE: EDU program promotes (1) Engaged Student Learning: the development, testing, and use of teaching practices and curricular innovations that will engage students and improve learning, persistence, and retention in STEM, and (2) Institutional and Community Transformation: the transformation of colleges and universities to implement and sustain highly effective STEM teaching and learning.

NOTE: This solicitation is for: Institutional and Community Transformation (Level 2) proposals and Engaged Student Learning (Level 2 and Level 3) proposals only.

All projects supported by IUSE: EDU must: 

• Demonstrate a strong rationale for project objectives or incorporate and build on educational practices that are demonstrably effective 
• Contribute to the development of exemplary undergraduate STEM education 
• Add o the body of knowledge about what works in undergraduate STEM education and the conditions that lead to improved STEM teaching and learning 
• Measure project progress and achievement of project goals 

To accomplish these goals, IUSE: EDU projects may focus their activities at any level, including the student, faculty, institutional or community5 levels. Development, propagation, adaptation, and transferability of evidence-based practices are also important considerations. Projects should consider designing materials and practices for use in a wide variety of institutions or institutional types. Topics of interest to the IUSE: EDU program include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Development and study of the efficacy of innovative teaching and learning practices and resources 
• Development, testing, and dissemination of instruments for measuring student outcomes Efforts to increase the diversity of the STEM workforce including K-12 teachers and/or the faculty and institutions engaged in work to improve undergraduate STEM education 
• Faculty professional development to increase the use of evidence-based teaching practices 
• Implementation of and research on sustained change processes involved in adopting evidence-based and effective instruction within or across departments, disciplines, or institutions 
• Efforts to achieve STEM educational goals through innovative partnerships, for example with community organizations, local, regional, or national industries, centers for teaching and learning, professional societies, or libraries, 
• Propagating and sustaining transformative and effective STEM teaching and learning through institutional practices or involvement of professional societies 

The IUSE: EDU program features two tracks:
Track 1: Engaged Student Learning (see full guidelines for descriptions of varying levels and their corresponding due dates)
The Engaged Student Learning (ESL) track focuses on design, development, and research projects that involve the creation, exploration, or implementation of tools, resources, and models. Projects must show high potential to increase student engagement and learning in STEM. Projects may focus directly on students or indirectly serve students through faculty professional development or research on teaching and learning. Whatever the focus, all projects should be both evidence-based and knowledge-generating, with well-developed plans to study student experiences and evaluate student outcomes. 
 
Track 2: Institutional and Community Transformation (see full guidelines for descriptions of varying levels and their corresponding due dates) 
The Institutional and Community Transformation (ICT) track funds innovative work applying evidence-based practices that improve undergraduate STEM education and research on the organizational change processes involved in implementing evidence-based practices. The emphasis of this track is on systemic change that may be measured at the departmental, institutional, or multi-institutional level, or across communities of STEM educators and/or educational researchers.

DUE DATES
Deadline of July 17, 2024 is for Institutional and Community Transformation (Level 2) proposals and Engaged Student Learning (Level 2 and Level 3) proposals ONLY.
 
AWARD INFORMATION
ESL Level 2 project awards range from $400,001 to $750,000 and have a maximum duration of three years.
ESL Level 3 project awards range from $750,001 to $2 million and have a maximum duration of five years.
ICT Level 2 project awards range from $400,001 to $2 million and a maximum duration of five years.

2024 REVISIONS INCLUDE
A requirement for a supplementary document containing a list of project participants has been added.

Solicitation limitations:

Limit on Number of Proposals per PI or co-PI: 3 
An individual may serve as PI or co-PI on no more than three IUSE: EDU proposals submitted during the period of October 1 through September 30. This eligibility constraint will be strictly enforced. In the event that an individual exceeds this limit, proposals will be accepted based on earliest date and time of proposal submission (i.e., the first three proposals will be accepted and the remainder will be returned without review). No exceptions will be made.

2024 Public Interest Technology University Network Challenge (PIT-UN)

Overview:

The Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN) Challenge seeks to encourage new ideas, foster collaborations, and incentivize the sharing of resources and information among a national network of universities working to create a robust public interest technology field.

Purpose In 2024, the Network Challenge focuses on two specific areas: 
● Educational offerings that foster cross-disciplinary perspectives and credentialing. 
● Career pipeline/placement efforts to develop a public interest technology workforce in government, industry, and social impact organizations. 

Project themes may include: 
● Environmental, climate, or sustainability projects that provide for opportunities for storytelling around the importance of PIT. 
● Policy projects with state and local governmental partnership research or briefs that advance PIT in these key fields: data science, artificial intelligence (AI), or quantum computing. 
● Technical projects where students and researchers explicitly engage in storytelling about PIT within the work (Quantum, AI, augmented analytics, machine learning, robotics). 
● Democracy and voting projects that explore ways to strengthen public interest systems and broaden participation at the local, state, and federal government levels. 
● The intersection of gender and technology in the pursuit of justice and equity.

Projects may include: 
● Multi-institutional research projects focused on artificial intelligence, quantum computing, or data science. 
● Public interest technology certifications, noncredit professional development opportunities, and degree completion projects for all levels of students 
o    New models of career training, placement, and/or financial support to develop the public interest technology workforce. ○ Partnerships with nonprofit, private sector, or affinity groups to educate current working professionals in public interest technology. 
● Experiential learning opportunities that give students real-world exposure to the practice PIT University Network Challenge – Year 6 RFP Finalized March 11, 2024 3 of 34 of public interest technology for undergraduate students. 
o    Experiential opportunities, including clinics, labs, internships, or apprenticeships at the undergraduate level. 
o    Fellowships with an expressed goal of inter-institutional research or dissemination. 
● Toolkits and guides that include granular instructions to replicate initiatives yet are not case studies in implementations. 
o    Guides should focus on tenure, internships, and hackathons.

Core Elements and Outcomes 
The PIT-UN Challenge will prioritize projects that center on the needs of communities that have historically been denied access to new technologies, systematically left out of conversations at the intersection of technology and policy or denied opportunities to join the technology workforce. PIT-UN will prioritize these projects to further the positive social impact of technology for all communities. Projects may demonstrate centering community needs by creating a space for communities to play a role in shaping technology development. 
Successful applications will meet the follow criteria. 
● Have meaningful and equitable partnerships with one or more of the following entities: 
o    Other educational institutions outside of the PIT-UN network, in particular minority serving institutions, or serve communities historically denied access to technology, and two-year community colleges. 
o    Have project teams that indicate clearly how project objectives and methods and actional plans will address racial, ethnic, linguistic, and socioeconomic impediments that have existed historically so that the entire community can be served. 
o    Community organizations that have a specific focus on workforce development and/or creating career pathways for populations currently underrepresented in public service or in the science, technology, engineering, or math fields. 
● Have project objectives and methods to address the articulated barriers and gaps for historically marginalized groups and address aspects of racial, ethnic, linguistic, and socioeconomic impediments are reflected in the design and reach of the project (i.e., students served) as well as the staffing of the proposed project team. 
● Have a project team that demonstrates the ability to serve ethnically, racially, socioeconomically diverse, and underrepresented populations, perhaps supported by an actionable plan informed by best practices to use this funding to engage and serve these populations

We anticipate supporting 10–15 projects from across PIT-UN. We are particularly interested in supporting projects that do not replicate existing and previously funded projects but offer a new approach or lens for public interest technology.

Total funding is $1 million.
In Year 6 of the Network Challenge, we anticipate supporting 10–15 projects from across PIT-UN. We are particularly interested in supporting projects that do not replicate existing and previously funded projects but offer a new approach or lens for public interest technology. 

PIT-UN is inviting proposals in two funding tranches. Budgets should be inclusive of an indirect rate, set at 20% of total direct costs. Note: Tranche 2 funding has changed for 2024 
Tranche 1: Up to $90,000 for direct and indirect costs (indirect costs are capped at 20%) 
Tranche 2: From $90,001 to $145,000 for direct and indirect costs (indirect costs are capped at 20%) 
Proposals requesting Tranche 2 funding must include at least 50% in-kind contribution funding from the primary institution. Note: If the required institutional in-kind funding is less than 50%, the proposal will not be considered.

Solicitation limitations:

The PIT-UN Network Challenge is a limited submission funding opportunity and limits the number of applications from one institution.

InfoReady link: https://asu.infoready4.com/#freeformCompetitionDetail/1935685

Additionally, there is a limit to the number of proposals a PIT-UN member university can submit: 
● Proposals for up to a total of three new projects. Only one of these can fall within the funding Tranche 2 ($90,001–$145,000). 
● Proposals to expand/scale previously awarded projects, outlined in Eligibility section ii, can fall into either funding Tranche 1 (up to $90,000) or Tranche 2* ($90,001–$145,000). 

Proposals requesting Tranche 2 funding must include at least 50% in-kind contribution funding from the primary institution. Proposed budgets should be inclusive of an indirect rate, set at 20% of total direct costs. 

Note: Proposals can only be funded with Network Challenge funding for three years. 
A person may be listed as the principal investigator (PI) on only one Network Challenge application, but individuals may be listed as collaborators on multiple applications. 
Projects that are a partnership between two or more universities should submit one single application from the lead institution. Projects should explain the nature of the partnership, including the division of labor and funds in the proposal

NSF- Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE)

Overview:

The purpose of the POSE program is to support a new pathway for translating research or innovation results by supporting managing organizations that facilitate the creation and growth of sustainable, high-impact OSEs around already-developed open-source products, tools, and artifacts. The POSE program aims to grow the community of researchers who develop and contribute to OSE efforts, and enable pathways to intentionally transition promising, robust open-source innovations into self-sustaining OSEs that could lead to new technology products or services with broad societal impacts.

Priorities 

This solicitation seeks two types of proposals, allowing teams to propose specific activities to scope and plan the establishment of an OSE (Phase I), and to establish a sustainable OSE based on a robust open-source product that shows promise in the ability to both meet an emergent societal or national need and build a community to help develop it (Phase II).

Phase I: OSE Scoping and Planning Proposals

Phase I projects are for open-source research products with a small community of external users though the product may not necessarily have external content developers.

The objectives of Phase I projects are to:

1. Enable scoping activities that will inform the transition of promising research products that are already available in open-source formats into sustainable and robust OSEs that will have broad societal impacts, and
2. Provide training to teams interested in building such an OSE. Each Phase I proposal must describe the current context and, to the extent known at the time of the Phase I proposal, the long-term vision and potential impact of the proposed OSE.

The proposals should also include specific scoping activities that will inform plans for ecosystem discovery; organizational and governance structure; continuous development, integration, and deployment of the open-source product(s); and community building for users and intellectual content developers.

Phase I scoping activities are intended to help teams determine (a) whether their open-source product is suitable and ready to be transitioned into an OSE; (b) whether there is a user base that is ready to serve as early adopters; and (c) whether there is a distributed intellectual content developer community that can help develop and maintain the core product going forward.

Phase II: Establishment and Expansion Proposals

Phase II projects are for open-source research products with a small community of external users and external content developers. The objective of Phase II projects is to support the transition of a promising open-source product into a sustainable and robust OSE. Phase II proposals are expected to have conducted the scoping activities (not necessarily via a Phase I award) needed to develop a detailed project plan to support the community-driven distributed development and deployment of successful open-source tools into operational environments. The proposals must include a community outreach plan that outlines activities to engage the intended intellectual content developer community that will further develop and maintain the technology and identifies user communities and/or organizations that will serve as early adopters of the technology.

Each Phase II proposal must describe the current context and the long-term vision and impact of the proposed OSE. The proposal should also include a well-developed, cohesive plan for building an OSE, including ecosystem establishment/growth, organizational and governance structure, a framework for continuous development, integration, and deployment of the technology, methods for evaluating the OSE's effectiveness, and activities to ensure security and privacy, build the community, and sustain the ecosystem.

Project Goal:

This open competition is for organizations to submit applications to implement new programs that promote shared values, strengthen bilateral cooperation, expand economic partnerships, increase education opportunities, support inclusive cohesive communities, combat climate change and other environmental challenges, and promote inclusivity and sustainability in Pakistan. All programs must include a U.S. element or connection with U.S. expert/s, organization/s, or institution/s in a specific field that will promote increased understanding of U.S. policy and perspectives. This competition is not intended to provide funding for projects identical to any of the applicant’s previous programs, nor for projects receiving funds from another donor, or to fund the routine operations of an organization.

Phase I proposals are limited to a total budget of $300,000 with durations of up to one year.

Phase II proposals are limited to a total budget of $1,500,000 with durations of up to two years. 

Importantly, the POSE program is not intended to fund the development of open-source products, including tools and artifacts. The POSE program is also not intended to fund existing well-resourced, open-source communities or ecosystems. Instead, the program aims to support new managing organizations to catalyze distributed, community-driven development and growth of new OSEs.

Solicitation limitations:

By the submission deadline, any PI, co-PI, or other senior project personnel must hold either:

• a tenured or tenure-track position, or
• a primary, full-time, paid appointment in a research or teaching position

Phase I awardees are not obligated to submit Phase II proposals in the future. An NSF POSE Phase I award is not required for the submission of a Phase II proposal.

Technical Assistance and Dissemination to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities--The National Center for Systemic Improvement

Overview:

The Technical Assistance and Dissemination (TA & D) program is the Department's primary vehicle under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for providing educators, policymakers, other service providers, and the parents and families of children with disabilities with information on effective practices for meeting the needs of children with disabilities and their families. The program makes competitive awards to provide technical assistance, support model demonstration projects, disseminate useful information, and implement activities that are supported by scientific research. These awards are intended to improve services provided under the IDEA, including the practices of professionals and others involved in providing services that promote academic achievement and improve results for children with disabilities. 

A majority of the grants currently funded under the TA & D program support technical assistance centers that focus on a particular topic, population, or age range, such as early intervening services, dispute resolution, early childhood, college- and career-readiness, and positive behavioral interventions and supports to improve results for children with disabilities. Most centers use a service model that provides three levels of technical assistance: intensive/sustained, targeted/specific, and general/universal. At the intensive/sustained level, a handful of states receive on-site, ongoing planned assistance designed to reach an outcome desired by the recipient. Through targeted/specific services, centers support activities based on the topical or technical needs common to multiple recipients and can be one-time or short-term events such as consultation services or presentations at conferences. The centers also provide general/universal technical assistance services that permit a broader audience to access information and services through presentations, newsletters, or research syntheses that are made available on center Web sites.

Absolute Priority: For FY 2024 and any subsequent year in which we make awards from the list of unfunded applications from this competition, this priority is an absolute priority: The National Center for Systemic Improvement. The purpose of this priority is to fund a cooperative agreement to establish and operate the National Center for Systemic Improvement (project). This project will provide sustained TA to SEAs to support them to effectively implement IDEA, build the capacity of State directors and State-level staff to meet the requirements of IDEA and build statewide systems to advance educational equity, mitigate SEA turnover, and improve academic and functional outcomes for children and youth with disabilities. 

The project must achieve, at a minimum, the following expected outcomes: 

• Increased capacity of SEAs to support LEAs and schools in selecting and implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) and high-leverage practices (HLPs) 6 within frameworks supported by evidence that drive effective learning experiences, instruction, interventions, and services and supports to improve educational results and functional outcomes for CWD; 
• Increased capacity of SEAs to use data to evaluate, analyze, refine, strengthen, and if applicable, redesign their general supervision systems to ensure all components are reasonably designed and inform continuous improvement efforts; 
• Increased capacity of SEAs to implement their general supervision systems to support LEAs and schools to effectively implement IDEA and deliver equitable and effective IDEA services; 
• Increased capacity of SEAs to use data to engage in continuous improvement that builds more equitable, effective, and sustainable State systems to improve educational results and functional outcomes for children and youth with disabilities and their families; and
• Increased capacity of SEAs to meaningfully engage diverse State and local administrators, educators, community members, and families, including those historically marginalized by the education system in decision making processes.

The duration of awards varies with the award's purpose. Most individual awards are made for a period of 5 years.

Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: July 19, 2024. Pre-Application Webinar Information: No later than March 26, 2024, the Office of Special Education Programs and Rehabilitative Services will post pre-recorded informational webinars designed to provide technical assistance (TA) to interested applicants. The webinars may be found at www2.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/osep/new-osep-grants.html.

U.S. Mission to Suriname, Embassy Paramaribo PAS Annual Program Statement

Overview:

PAS Paramaribo invites proposals from NGOs, individuals and government educational institutions for programs that contribute to the improvement of social, economic or environmental conditions in Suriname and which further one or more of the priorities listed below. All programs must include a connection with American cultural element(s), expert(s), organization(s) or institution(s) that will promote increased understanding of U.S. policy, culture, and perspectives.

Priority Program Areas 

• Strengthening democracy – Promoting civic involvement, free and fair elections, or democratic governance at the local or national level in a non-partisan manner. 
• Addressing climate change and environmental education – Nurturing efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change and reduce food and water insecurity, particularly among underserved and vulnerable populations.
• Limiting Corruption - Supporting efforts to counter or prevent corruption in business or government, including efforts to develop greater fiscal transparency, enhance the rule of law, and/or protect intellectual property rights.
• Supporting a free and expressive media environment – Strengthening the professionalism of the media and/or advancing media literacy within the population.
• Advancing diversity, equality, inclusion, and accessibility for all marginalized communities – Addressing issues involving ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, physical disabilities, and/or indigenous and tribal communities.
• Promoting academic linkages – Creating programs or exchanges designed to increase college and university professional linkages between the U.S. and Suriname, especially with community colleges and technical schools.
• Empowering women – Creating programs focused on the mentorship of women entrepreneurs and/or supporting women’s increased participation in civil society.
• Developing Alumni — Supporting programs led by, supported by, or involving the Suriname American Alumni Association, its members, or alumni of U.S. exchange programs.
• Enhancing agricultural production — Supporting efforts that advance understanding of modern agricultural practices and expanding entrepreneurship skills with the goal of increasing exports to U.S. and EU markets.
• Supporting cultural exchange — Hosting cultural performances, artistic workshops, trainings, and exhibitions that highlight the deep and ongoing ties between the United States and Suriname and our shared democratic values.

Activities that are typically funded include but are not limited to:

• Empowerment, leadership, and education programs reflecting the priority areas.
• Bringing an American expert, speaker, trainer, or performer to Suriname.
• Conferences on American themes or issues of mutual interest.
• Exhibitions of works by Americans or on American themes.
• Cultural programs, particularly those that target underserved or at-risk communities.
• Radio, television, and social media programming in support of the above objectives.

The U.S. Embassy Paramaribo encourages applicants to provide cost-sharing from additional sources in support of this project. The U.S. Embassy also encourages projects that use highly skilled volunteers as an element of cost-sharing. Applications should explain clearly other likely sources of funding and how the volunteers will be used.

Funded activities should take place between September 1, 2024, and August 31, 2025. Local grants projects generally must be completed in one year or less. The Public Affairs Section will entertain applications for continuation grants funded under these awards, beyond the initial budget period, on a noncompetitive basis, subject to availability of funds, satisfactory progress of the applicants, and a determination that continued funding would be in the best interest of the Department of State.

While the Public Affairs Section will consider proposals up to $15,000, projects that are smaller in scope are more likely to be awarded. Most grants selected are between $5,000 and $10,000. In very rare circumstances, applications above $15,000 will be evaluated.

Education for American Civic Life initiative

Overview:

Through this initiative, the Foundation seeks ambitious projects that confront gaps in undergraduates’ civic knowledge and prepares them for the intellectual demands of democratic participation. Successful proposals will seek to promote learning about the formation of the American republic, the crafting of its Constitution, the history of contention over the interpretation of the Constitution, the development of representative political structures, and the principles of democracy. Civic education is strongest when it is not treated as a subject in isolation but becomes part of the student experience across disciplines. For example, the study of history and literature can help students recognize recurring themes and problems in American life such as the tension between individual rights and national security, or the challenges and opportunities faced by immigrants. 

We give priority to proposals designed to reach a significant proportion, if not all, of the undergraduate student body and that infuse civic education across the curriculum. While innovative pedagogies that advance civic engagement are acknowledged and appreciated (e.g., service-learning, public sphere pedagogy), please note our chief interest is in content, i.e., what students will learn. There are a variety of curricular approaches to and considerations for addressing this objective. Some examples are offered below.

Specific Areas of Interest 
The Education for American Civic Life Initiative is focused on funding in three particular areas. While we continue to accept applications that cross or go beyond these areas, we also value proposals that help deepen, expand, and scale the work we are currently funding. 

• Knowledge for Freedom -- In 2018, the Foundation made a commitment to expand nationwide a uniquely rewarding program called Knowledge for Freedom. Knowledge for Freedom Programs invite underserved high school students to study humanity’s deepest questions about leading lives of purpose and civic responsibility. Between the junior and senior years of high school, students come into residence on a college campus, where they experience the intensity of a seminar-sized discussion taught by college professors focused on major works of philosophy and literature. Over the following year, while applying to college as high school seniors, the students engage in civic initiatives inspired by the recognition that their lives are interconnected with the lives of others. High school students who typically find themselves shut out from opportunities available to their more affluent peers are thus provided with an opportunity to undertake college-level work in the humanities, to build meaningful relationships with college faculty and college students, who serve them as mentors, and to develop, through practice, civic skills with their peers. Knowledge for Freedom programs, as demonstrated by the flagship “Freedom and Citizenship Program” at Columbia 3 University, dramatically improve college readiness, admission prospects, and college graduation persistence while building interest in humanistic writing and issues, as well as habits of civic engagement, that persist during and after college. 

• Big Questions & Coherent Answers -- In 2019, the Foundation began working with colleges and universities invested in creating comprehensive civic education for a significant portion of their student body. Some of our partner institutions are designing freshman core curricula, others are working inside divisions such as an honors college or a pre-professional program, to ask faculty to design a series of courses and extracurricular opportunities to ensure that their students prepare to be informed and engaged civic participants in their local and national communities. These programs explicitly help students grasp the lived experience—past and present-- of their neighbors outside the campus gates as a valuable aspect of a civic education that builds on their education in areas like governance, history, and law. Typically, these programs are anchored by a significant question concerning the past and present challenges of the community in which the college or university is located-- whether this is a metropolitan center such as Newark, New Jersey, with a long history of successive migrations into and out of the city, or rural Virginia, site of a major Civil War campaign and the struggle over segregation and civil rights. 

• Professional Development -- In 2019, the Foundation began partnering with colleges and universities that are working to deepen civic education and that recognize the need to provide faculty with their own learning opportunities to ensure that they are equipped to teach in the new civic curriculum. The Foundation is invested in building professional development opportunities for faculty focused on the knowledge and skills they need to give undergraduates a comprehensive civic education. Our partners have offered intensive summer seminars with leading scholars, created stipends for professors to learn to teach texts outside their area of expertise, and are investigating new ways to create faculty learning communities.

Requests from single institutions and multiple institutions partnering together will be considered, following our two-stage process.
1. First, we ask that prospective grantees share brief concept papers. 
2. After review of the concept papers, a limited number of applicants will then be invited to submit full proposals.

We consider concept papers on a rolling basis. The Teagle Board of Directors reviews all grant requests when it meets in February, May, and November. If a proposal is invited, program staff will confer with applicants to determine the appropriate timeline for submitting a full proposal in line for potential review by the board.
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Grants of varying amounts, ranging from $100,000-$400,000 over a 24-36-month period, will be made to each funded project participating in this initiative. Requests from both single institutions and multiple 2 institutions partnering together will be considered. The size of the grant will be based on the scope of the project. Planning grants in the range of $25,000 over 6-12 months will also be considered. 

We expect this grant program will remain open for approximately three to five years.

National Center on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), and Other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) to Diversify the Workforce Serving Children with Disabilities

Overview:

Overview

The purposes of this program are to (1) help address State-identified needs for personnel preparation in special education, early intervention, related services, and regular education to work with children, including infants, toddlers, and youth with disabilities; and (2) ensure that those personnel have the necessary knowledge, skills, and competencies derived from practices that have been determined through scientifically based research, to be successful in serving those children.

Supporting HBCUs, TCCUs, and other MSIs to improve or develop high-quality degree or certification programs of study, and to receive and successfully implement Federal personnel preparation grants, would increase the number of multilingual and racially and ethnically diverse personnel with the necessary knowledge, skills, and competencies to serve children with disabilities in early intervention, early childhood special education, special education, and related services. This priority is consistent with the Secretary’s Supplemental Priority, which is related to supporting a diverse educator workforce and professional growth to strengthen student learning. See Secretary’s Final Supplemental Priorities and Definitions for Discretionary Grants

Priority

The purpose of this priority is to fund a cooperative agreement to establish and operate a National Technical Assistance Center to Diversify the Workforce Serving Children with Disabilities (Center) by supporting HBCUs,2 TCCUs,3 and other MSIs 4 that offer high-quality degree 5 or certification programs in early intervention, early childhood special education, special education, or related services. This priority is:

National Center on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, and Other Minority Serving Institutions to Diversify the Workforce Serving Children with Disabilities.

The Center must achieve, at a minimum, the following expected outcomes:

(a) Improve the capacity of HBCUs, TCCUs, and MSIs to improve or develop high-quality degree programs that integrate effective, equitable, evidence-based, and culturally and linguistically responsive instruction, interventions, and services in inclusive settings to prepare early intervention, early childhood special education, special education, and related services personnel with the competencies necessary to provide services to children with disabilities, including those who are multilingual and those from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds; 

(b) Increase the numbers of HBCUs, TCCUs, and other MSIs that are aware of, apply for, and successfully receive and implement Federal grants to prepare early intervention, early childhood special education, special education, and related services personnel to serve children with disabilities, including those who are multilingual and from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds; and

(c) Increase collaboration, networking, and mentorship among faculty at HBCUs, TCCUs, and other MSIs to increase their capacity to improve or develop high-quality degree programs, and receive and implement Federal grants to prepare early intervention, special education, and related services personnel to serve children with disabilities, including those who are multilingual and from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds. 

Applicants for, and recipients of, funding must, with respect to the aspects of their proposed project relating to the absolute priority, involve individuals with disabilities, or parents of individuals with disabilities ages birth through 26, in planning, implementing, and evaluating the project

Estimated Available Funds: The Administration has requested $250,000,000 for the Personnel Development to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities program for FY 2024, of which we intend to use an estimated $1,500,000 for this competition. 

Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $1,500,000 for a single budget period of 12 months. 
Estimated Number of Awards: 1.
Project Period: Up to 60 months.