Explore awards

Use the filter menu and interactive map to explore the past competitions offered and grants awarded through the Environmental Literacy Program.

To learn more about project findings and outcomes, view the summaries of our grantees’ summative evaluation reports.

AMS/NOAA Cooperative Program for Earth System Education

Funding: $936,400
Year: 2022
The Cooperative Program for Earth System Education (CPESE) is a joint education project led by the American Meteorological Society (AMS) in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The project aims to share knowledge about weather, climate, oceans, and coasts with pre-service and in-service teachers, K-12 students, and graduate students.

The Cooperative Program for Earth System Education (CPESE) is a joint education project led by the American Meteorological Society (AMS) in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The project aims to share knowledge about weather, climate, oceans, and coasts with pre-service and in-service teachers, K-12 students, and graduate students. The project's objectives align with three key goals of the 2021-2040 NOAA Education Strategic Plan: fostering a Science-Informed Society, promoting a Ready, Responsive, and Resilient community, and cultivating a Future Workforce. CPESE's major objectives include providing nationwide professional development (PD) for K-12 educators, offering fellowships for graduate students in atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic sciences, and undertaking a planning year to reimagine AMS's model and methods for teacher PD course delivery. This planning year will focus on reaching more underserved teachers, schools, and climate-vulnerable communities. The long-term goals of CPESE are to establish a diverse community of practice among educators who are weather, ocean, and climate literate and adept at accessing NOAA data, and to promote retention and growth of graduate students in NOAA mission-related sciences, leading to careers in NOAA-mission disciplines. Key project activities include administering fellowships to 2-5 graduate students annually, offering DataStreme Atmosphere and Ocean as well as Project Atmosphere for graduate credit in partnership with Pennsylvania Western University (PennWest), and awarding microcredentials, such as the PennWest/AMS DataStreme certificate and/or Certified AMS Teacher distinction, to teachers who complete multiple AMS courses. DataStreme courses are offered virtually each fall and spring semester to approximately 70 teachers per term, while Project Atmosphere reaches 16-20 NOAA-supported teachers each summer through online coursework and a one-week workshop at the NWS Training Center. AMS updates DataStreme course materials annually and the Current Studies investigations weekly. In Year 2, AMS will plan for revisions to make Current Studies more dynamic and media-driven and update Project Atmosphere with newer maps, data, NGSS integration, and the 5E model of instruction. A network of DataStreme Mentor Teams supports AMS courses by recruiting teachers, providing learning support, participating in small group discussions, and offering grading input to PennWest faculty members. Mentors receive honoraria, continued PD opportunities, and assistance in participating in state or national educator conferences. In Year 2, a subset of mentors will form an advisory group to help re-envision the AMS course model, with the support of DEI experts and instructional designers (IDs). As AMS modernizes its course model, the project's external evaluator will revise the programmatic logic model and evaluation plan to include evaluative questions connecting participant demographics with teacher and school impact. Key program outcomes include equipping DataStreme mentors with the knowledge, skills, confidence, and motivation to serve effectively, developing similar capacities for teacher participants (including classroom content application and knowledge transfer to students, peers, and administrators), increasing the number of teachers from underrepresented groups and their impact on underrepresented students, establishing an educator community of practice capable of understanding and applying NOAA-related science content (fostering a more ready, responsive, and resilient society that promotes climate justice), preparing graduate students for careers in disciplines that support NOAA's mission, and strengthening NOAA-AMS and external partnerships.

Competition: 2022: AMS Datastreme Program
Award Number: NA22SEC0080013
Grant Dates: 10/01/2022 to 09/30/2027
PI: Aaron Price
State: Massachusetts   County:   Suffolk District: MA08
Partners: Pennsylvania Western University (PennWest) ·

Brockton Kids Lead the Way: Enhancing Stewardship and Climate Resilience through Outdoor Education

Manomet, Inc. offsite link · Plymouth, Massachusetts
Funding: $483,173
Year: 2022
Manomet will use NOAA funding to boost climate resilience and environmental stewardship in Brockton, Massachusetts, an incredibly diverse but impoverished city and designated Environmental Justice community with a rich history. Brockton is highly vulnerable to flooding, pollution, and water supply disruptions related to climate change. Brockton is also a city with a long history of resilience in the face of economic challenges and a thirst for empowerment and opportunity.

Manomet will use NOAA funding to boost climate resilience and environmental stewardship in Brockton, Massachusetts, an incredibly diverse but impoverished city and designated Environmental Justice community with a rich history. Brockton is highly vulnerable to flooding, pollution, and water supply disruptions related to climate change. Brockton is also a city with a long history of resilience in the face of economic challenges and a thirst for empowerment and opportunity. Brockton schools were hard-hit by COVID-19, and are facing a critical need for support, resources, and academic enrichment. Manomet believes education is one of the best tools to create long-term change. By increasing access to nature, encouraging students to become environmental stewards through outdoor learning, and building climate resilience literacy, Manomet aims to empower the next generation of conservationists to help solve today’s complex challenges. In partnership with Wildlands Trust, Connecticut Sea Grant, and TERC, Manomet will: 1) develop environmental stewardship by creating outdoor learning spaces on school grounds and providing teachers with curricular tools and training for use; 2) empower elementary students and teachers through outdoor environmental education, engaging in stewardship action to build green infrastructure, and civic engagement, and; 3) build climate resilience literacy in elementary school children, teachers, and community members through education, civic engagement, and collaboration. Brockton Kids Lead the Way envisions elementary students and their teachers as community leaders and ambassadors for environmental stewardship, during a time of increased civic investment and interest across Brockton in green spaces, public health, and community resilience.

Award Number: NA22SEC0080010
Grant Dates: 10/01/2022 to 09/30/2026
PI: Molly Jacobs
State: Massachusetts   County:   Plymouth District: MA09
Partners: National Sea Grant College Program / University of Connecticut · Wildlands Trust, Inc. · Brockton School District · Brockton Parks Commission ·

Science Shop for Community Resilience

Drexel University offsite link · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Funding: $164,094
Year: 2023
The Academy of Natural Sciences (ANS) of Drexel University is integrating multi-modal environmental education into a participatory research program with the goal of enhancing local resilience to climate change in Philadelphia neighborhoods impacted by environmental racism. Established in the Netherlands in the 1970s, the “Science Shop” is a model for community-based participatory research now found widely throughout the European Union.

The Academy of Natural Sciences (ANS) of Drexel University is integrating multi-modal environmental education into a participatory research program with the goal of enhancing local resilience to climate change in Philadelphia neighborhoods impacted by environmental racism. Established in the Netherlands in the 1970s, the “Science Shop” is a model for community-based participatory research now found widely throughout the European Union. Science Shops are not “shops” in the traditional sense of the word; they represent the institutionalization—typically within universities—of spaces to help create novel applied knowledge in equal partnership with organizations that lack the capacity, resources, or expertise to carry out such research independently. SS4CR will adopt this model to connect community leaders and residents in Philadelphia with the educational, scientific, technical, and legal resources of NOAA, ANS, Drexel, City of Philadelphia, and other regional, state, and federal experts, as needed, in order build capacity among communities in carrying out impactful climate education, research, and policy advocacy. SS4CR will initiate collaboration with three Philadelphia-based community organizations (CBO) to undertake a deep exploration of local climate and environmental quality issues through co-designed, year-long programming that focuses on the exchange of local and “expert” knowledges and the creation of trusting relationships. Facilitated knowledge sharing activities may include, among others: “serious games,” asset mapping, deliberative forums, and hand-on, kit-based workshops. Over the 2nd and 3rd program year, SS4CR will build on this foundation to frame and articulate a unique research request with each CBO that includes methods, timeline, distribution plan, and expected outcomes, to be undertaken in partnership with community leaders and residents. SS4CR is focused on locally tailored, community driven climate solutions and building community capacity to enact those solutions. Through SS4CR, all parties should increase their knowledge of local climate hazards and their impacts on Philadelphia’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods; improve their ability to reason about and conduct research into the ways that human and natural systems interact; increase their awareness of the effectiveness and potential trade-offs of different resilience interventions for Philadelphia communities; and build capacity in effectively translating knowledge into action.

Award Number: NA23SEC0080005
Grant Dates: 12/31/2023 to 12/30/2026
PI: Alexis Schulman
State: Pennsylvania   County:   Philadelphia District: PA03
Partners:

CREATE Connections: Linking a Vision of Resilience to Action

Nurture Nature Center offsite link · Easton, Pennsylvania
Funding: $121,060
Year: 2023
Addressing climate change and its impacts requires the engagement of all community members; it is not enough to have only municipal officials working to create a sustainable system. The Nurture Nature Center's CREATE Connections project uses a whole-community approach to build collective environmental literacy and address current and future environmental hazards related to climate change. This approach brings together a wide range of potential agents of change: community-based organizations, artists, students, educators, municipalities, libraries, and residents.

Addressing climate change and its impacts requires the engagement of all community members; it is not enough to have only municipal officials working to create a sustainable system. The Nurture Nature Center's CREATE Connections project uses a whole-community approach to build collective environmental literacy and address current and future environmental hazards related to climate change. This approach brings together a wide range of potential agents of change: community-based organizations, artists, students, educators, municipalities, libraries, and residents. Building on the CREATE Resilience project, which began in 2018, CREATE Connections focuses on climate action plans (CAPs) recently adopted in two local cities (Easton and Bethlehem, PA) and seeks to build social capital, connectedness, and community resilience through a multi-pronged educational approach. Specifically, CREATE Connections' goals are to provide education about climate and community-specific strategies related to climate action, to enable community-based organizational partners (including libraries, students, and artists) to become effective disseminators of climate education to broad audiences, including underserved populations, and to create pathways and support for communities to implement their CAPs. To achieve these, NNC will develop active learning programming for youth and their families in collaboration with public libraries, leveraging their accessibility and role as a hub in each community. Climate strategy spotlights, storefront educational campaigns, public art installations, and climate-friendly kits are all elements of the project that incorporate scientific information about climate change and the actions that will help with mitigation and adaptation. These elements take into account cultural knowledge and community assets and consider community needs and values. An annual Youth Climate Summit event will provide further opportunities to engage with middle and high school youth around the CAPs, and a "Climate Action Week" will be held in year 3 to highlight CAP progress. All programs will include science, art, and community dialogue elements, incorporate civic learning opportunities, and integrate NOAA assets and subject matter experts. Local college students will help implement the programs, and community partners, including Community Bike Works, will help reach and engage diverse populations. This model is designed to broaden participation and build dispersed community-based leadership on climate issues by youth, library staff, community organizations, and local businesses to help the CAPs be understood and embraced by the community. Resilience is ultimately enhanced through community-scale solutions that support local climate action efforts while creating new partnerships, and youth are empowered as agents of change through programs such as an annual Youth Climate Summit. Once the programming model is developed and tested in each community, lessons learned, and evaluation will inform the creation of a program model template that other communities can use to similarly connect and engage their assets around climate action.

Award Number: NA23SEC0080002
Grant Dates: 10/01/2023 to 09/30/2027
PI: Kathryn Semmens
State: Pennsylvania   County:   Northampton District: PA07
Partners:

CREATE Resilience: Community Resilience through Education, Art, Technology, and Engagement

Nurture Nature Center offsite link · Easton, Pennsylvania
Funding: $429,420
Year: 2018
CREATE Resilience: Community Resilience through Education, Art, Technology and Engagement, is a multi-disciplinary collaboration between youth and community to 1) improve environmental hazards literacy, and 2) increase engagement in resiliency actions by youth and adult residents in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. CREATE Resilience is designed to increase community knowledge about weather and climate science, risks from local hazards, and strategies for hazard mitigation, while co-creating a vision for community resilience.

CREATE Resilience: Community Resilience through Education, Art, Technology and Engagement, is a multi-disciplinary collaboration between youth and community to 1) improve environmental hazards literacy, and 2) increase engagement in resiliency actions by youth and adult residents in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. CREATE Resilience is designed to increase community knowledge about weather and climate science, risks from local hazards, and strategies for hazard mitigation, while co-creating a vision for community resilience. Developed by Nurture Nature Center (NNC) in Easton, PA, the four-year project will work with local, state and federal partners in three hazard-prone communities in the Lehigh Valley (Easton, Bangor and Wilson areas). Hazards, particularly weather-related hazards including flooding, have had major impacts in these communities historically and recently, causing extensive damage to property and disruption to community services. Damaging river flooding along the Delaware River in 2004, 2005 and 2006 highlighted major planning and safety challenges for many municipalities in the area with high flood risk, and a recently updated regional Hazard Mitigation plan highlighted other hazards – as well as the need for public education about hazards and mitigation. CREATE Resilience’s advisory board will work with NNC to bring education and engagement events to teach the science of these hazards, as well the household and community-level strategies and tools available for resilience. Partners include the National Weather Service (NWS) Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center and Mt. Holly, NJ Weather Forecast Office, and Weather Prediction Center, as well as LV Planning Commission, Northampton County Emergency Management Agency, LV Community Foundation, Lafayette College, and FEMA Region 3 Mitigation Division. In years 1 and 2, the project will form CREATE Youth Ambassador teams, in which student interns from area high schools will meet NWS meteorologists, engage in community storytelling events, develop local hazard and resilience tours, and learn from climate and other scientists about hazards and strategies for resilience. Ambassadors will also develop and lead programming for community residents. Simultaneously, residents will participate in active-learning education events, dialogue forums, arts-based activities, technology-based programs using NOAA assets, and hands-on preparedness activities. Each community will build a collective understanding of local hazards and mitigation strategies, and co-create a vision for resilience, represented in traveling visual artist-designed murals in the third year of the project. This education and shared vision will build community support for planning and resilience and help households in making better preparedness decisions. Dissemination through Science on a Sphere® and guidebooks will share the replicable model with other organizations and communities, extending the reach of the project. Close cooperation with NWS offices helps the project meet key goals of NOAA’s Education Strategic Plan, related to safety/preparedness and a science-informed society. Through public events and print materials, the project will showcase and interpret NOAA-related science and data with area residents, while creating collaborative learning opportunities for youth and community to interact with NOAA scientists. CREATE Resilience also engages youth and adults in preparing for hazards, and in multi-generational learning to improve community awareness and involvement in preparedness and mitigation.

Award Number: NA18SEC0080005
Grant Dates: 10/01/2018 to 09/30/2023
PI: Rachel Carr
State: Pennsylvania   County:   Northampton District: PA07
Partners: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center · City University of New York (CUNY) / Hunter College · NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) / National Centers for Environmental Prediction · NOAA Climate Program Office (CPO) · Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast (CCRUN) · NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) Mount Holly, NJ Weather Forecast Office · NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) State College, Pennsylvania Forecast Office · Lehigh Valley Community Foundation · Lafayette College / Civil and Environmental Engineering · Easton Area School District · Wilson Area School District · Northampton County Emergency Management Services · Lehigh Valley Planning Commission · Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency · NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) / Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center (RFC) · Bangor Area School District · American Society of Civil Engineers / Lehigh Valley Section · Northampton County Conservation District · Northampton County Parks & Recreation Division · City of Easton · Martins-Jacoby Watershed Association · Borough of Wilson · PAZA, Tree of Life · Williams Township Municipal Building ·

Building Environmental Resiliency Leaders (BERL)

Funding: $449,991
Year: 2020
Among the most geographically isolated islands in the world, Maui’s fragile environment is highly vulnerable to sudden (hurricanes, flooding) and prolonged (drought, ocean acidification, sea-level rise) environmental changes. The University of Hawaiʻi Maui College seeks to build an environmentally literate and resilient community equipped to address, manage, and mitigate the challenges associated with environmental events and hazards.

Among the most geographically isolated islands in the world, Maui’s fragile environment is highly vulnerable to sudden (hurricanes, flooding) and prolonged (drought, ocean acidification, sea-level rise) environmental changes. The University of Hawaiʻi Maui College seeks to build an environmentally literate and resilient community equipped to address, manage, and mitigate the challenges associated with environmental events and hazards. Building Environmental Resiliency Leaders (BERL) has three main goals: 1) Develop environmental hazards modules specific to Hawai’i that can be integrated into high-school curriculum; 2) Strengthen students’ understanding of environmental hazards and build self-efficacy in being contributors towards community resilience; and 3) Create community awareness of and ability to prepare for environmental hazards. By partnering with all 10 Maui County public and private high schools, BERL seeks to empower 200 environmentally resilient high school youth leaders —including Native Hawaiian, underrepresented, and low-income students in grades 9 through 12— throughout the islands of Maui, Molokaʻi, and Lanaʻi. The BERL project will develop the Environmental Resiliency Youth Leaders certification program with curriculum to engage students in active learning through innovative Problem-based Learning (PBL) group projects where students select a research topic informed by climate resiliency educational modules and consult with community subject matter experts; including partners from the National Weather Service, Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant, Maui Emergency Management Agency, Maui County energy Commissioner, and Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency. Specifically, curriculum will integrate and align: 1) Overview of environmental events & hazards: tropical cyclones/hurricanes, drought/fires, ocean acidification, and seal level rise/flooding ; 2) Local scenarios & experiential outdoor learning; 3) US Climate Resiliency Toolkit; and 4) Development of resiliency plan to work towards either a) utilizing school as resiliency hub site; or b) addressing long-term resiliency to prolonged environmental changes. As a culminating event, students will present their final projects and host workshops to the broader community at local or regional events with a potential reach of 90,000 annually over three project years. In addition, BERL will hold an annual Resiliency Awareness Day, reaching 1,000 students annually, to build community awareness and resources. Amidst the threat of COVID-19 and necessary safety measures, BERL is prepared to mobilize an online curriculum for students with online presentations and virtual events to reach the broader community. BERL aligns with NOAA’s mission to educate and motivate individuals to apply environmental science to increase stewardship and resilience to environmental hazards by creating a cadre of youth environmental resiliency leaders, trained educators, and broadly reaching over half of the Maui County population. The project employs a culturally relevant, place-based, and PBL approach where 40 teams of students engage in research projects to build environmental literacy at their high schools and the wider community. In alignment with NOAA's Education Strategic Plan (2015-2035), BERL seeks to “educate and inspire people to use Earth system science toward improving ecosystem stewardship and increasing resilience to environmental hazards."

Award Number: NA20SEC0080011
Grant Dates: 10/01/2020 to 09/30/2024
PI: Lui Hokoana
State: Hawaii   County:   Maui District: HI02
Partners: National Sea Grant College Program / University of Hawaii System / Hawaii Sea Grant · National Marine Sanctuary (NMS) / Hawaii Humpback Whale · The County of Maui / Emergency Management Agency · The County of Maui / Office of Economic Development / Energy Office · University of Hawaii at Manoa / Hawaii State 4-H Program · Hawaii Farmers Union United · Pacific Disaster Center · Hawaii Emergency Management Agency · Hawaii Department of Education / King Kekaulike High School · Hawaii Department of Education / Lahainaluna High School · Kamehameha Schools · Sustainable Pacific Consulting · Pa’ia Youth & Cultural Center / Maui Hero Project · Hokonui Maui · NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) / Pacific Region · University of Hawaiʻi Maui College / Upward Bound · Kauahea Inc. / Paeloko Learning Center · University of Hawaii at Manoa / East-West Center · Kihei Charter School · University of Hawaiʻi Maui College / Water Quality Lab · University of Hawaiʻi Maui College / Office of Extended Learning & Workforce Development · University of Hawaii at Manoa / Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) · Kipahulu Ohana, Inc. · Parley for the Oceans · Windward Community College · Stormwater Maui ·