FY22 Coastal Habitat Restoration and Resilience Grants for Underserved Communities, Under the IIJA

Description

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. This funding opportunity supports NOAA’s efforts to enhance coastal resilience. Coastal areas support the nation’s largest and often fastest-growing population centers as well as key natural assets. Strengthening coastal resilience means preparing and adapting coastal communities to mitigate the impacts of and more quickly recover after extreme events such as hurricanes, coastal storms, flooding, and sea level rise. Habitat restoration and natural and nature-based solutions are critical to doing so by: protecting lives and property, sustaining commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishing; recovering threatened and endangered species; and maintaining and fostering vibrant coastal economies and lifestyles. This funding opportunity – along with those for National Oceans and Security Fund Grants, Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience Grants, Coastal Zone Management, and National Estuarine Research Reserves – aims to fund projects that enhance coastal resilience. This funding opportunity in particular focuses on building organizational capacity and/or supporting restoration activities that benefit underserved communities and enhance their resilience to climate hazards. NOAA is committed to the goals of advancing equity and support for underserved communities. NOAA encourages applicants to include and demonstrate principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility through proactive, meaningful, and equitable community engagement in the identification, design, and/or implementation of proposed projects. NOAA also encourages applicants to propose projects with benefits to tribal or underserved communities. Applicants should identify if the project is located within tribal or underserved communities and/or whether a portion of the resilience benefits from the proposed work will flow to tribal or underserved communities. Proposals selected for funding through this solicitation will be funded through cooperative agreements. NOAA anticipates up to $10 million will be available under this opportunity in Fiscal Year (FY) 2022. 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.

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