The principal objective of this solicitation is to support opportunities for underserved communities, tribes, and/or tribal entities to meaningfully engage in coastal habitat restoration activities. Through this funding opportunity, NOAA intends to support capacity building and restoration project activities that have the greatest potential to lead to habitat restoration that enhances resilience of underserved communities in marine, estuarine, coastal, and Great Lakes areas. Meaningful engagement of underserved communities is intended to ensure that communities are integral to the visioning, decision-making, and leadership for coastal habitat restoration projects; to ensure that the scope of such projects are inclusive of the priorities and needs of communities; and/or to ensure that the benefits of such projects flow back to underserved communities. This solicitation is authorized under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58), 135 STAT. 1356 (Nov. 15, 2021).
Projects that are most responsive to the program priorities will be more competitive. Potential activities include: 1) Capacity building, which may include participation in municipal or regional-scale resilience planning, project planning and feasibility studies, stakeholder engagement, proposal development for future funding, and outreach and education; and/or 2) Restoration project activities, including for demonstration projects, which may include engineering and design, permitting, on-the-ground restoration, and pre- and post-project implementation monitoring. Applicants may apply for funding to support one or more of these activities.
Deadline: Sep. 30, 2022
Eligible applicants are institutions of higher education, non-profit organizations, commercial (for profit) organizations, U.S. territories, or state, local, or tribal governments that can demonstrate status as an underserved community, or that partner with underserved communities or tribes or tribal entities, in coastal areas. See the definition of Underserved Community in Section I.A. As part of their applications, applicants must demonstrate their status as, or connection to, an underserved community. This status or connection will be reviewed by NOAA as part of the initial eligibility review, and through the application merit review process. NOAA will validate the applicant’s description against publicly available demographic and economic data.
NOAA anticipates typical federal funding awards will range from $250,000 to $500,000 over three years. NOAA will not accept proposals with a federal funding request of less than $75,000 or more than $1 million for the entire award.
