NOAA's 2012 Ocean Education Partnership Grants

Chesapeake Bay Education Professionals - Please take a look at the following press release from the NOAA Office of Education. This is an excellent funding opportunity that could support the professional development and other capacity-building of informal science educators and volunteers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed!

The NOAA Office of Education (OEd) has issued a request for applications for projects designed to expand or develop professional development and other capacity-building activities for informal science educators and volunteers (Funding Opportunity Number NOAA-SEC-OED-2012-2003333). A successful project will utilize the resources of multiple institutions to enhance the capacity of informal science educators and volunteers to engage visitors and promote public understanding and stewardship of coastal, marine, and/or freshwater environments. Eligible applicants are collaborative teams that include at least three (3) non-profit U.S. aquariums, of which at least one must be accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Collaborative teams should involve applicants from multiple U.S. states and are strongly encouraged to include at least one aquarium that has not previously received a grant from NOAA’s Office of Education. There is special interest in collaborative teams that include aquariums representing a wide range of annual operating budgets, total visitorship numbers, and/or physical sizes.

Proposed projects should be between two and five years in duration and have maximum total combined budget requests of $1,000,000 for all years of the project. The deadline for applications is midnight EDT on May 7, 2012.

Two informational webinars with the program officers will occur on March 28, 2012 from 3:00 to 5:00 PM EDT and March 29, 2012, from 3:00 to 5:00 PM EDT. By noon EDT on March 27, 2012, interested applicants should register by contacting oed.grants@noaa.gov and include in the Subject line of the email: “Register for Aquarium Professional Development FFO Webinar” and provide the interested party’s name, institution, telephone number, email address and preferred date in the body of the email. You will receive an email response from oed.grants@noaa.gov with the log-in information and date for the webinar. Whenever possible, individuals from the same institution should try to join the webinar from the same computer/phone line.

For more information about the Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO), please visit www.grants.gov and search under CFDA number 11.008. You may also visit the Office of Education’s Frequently Asked Questions page: www.oesd.noaa.gov/grants/elg/faq_page.html