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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.

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Empowering Climate Change Resiliency through Education in an Underserved Community

Ocean Discovery Institute offsite link · San Diego, California
Funding: $500,000
Year: 2018
Understanding climate change and its exacerbating effects on local environmental phenomena (e.g., increase in frequency and/or intensity of drought, ocean acidification, water shortages, degraded fisheries) and how to create resiliency is critical for underserved communities as they are disproportionately impacted by these hazards and yet, have the least capacity to actively respond.

Understanding climate change and its exacerbating effects on local environmental phenomena (e.g., increase in frequency and/or intensity of drought, ocean acidification, water shortages, degraded fisheries) and how to create resiliency is critical for underserved communities as they are disproportionately impacted by these hazards and yet, have the least capacity to actively respond. To address this issue, Ocean Discovery Institute and its partners will build understanding of climate change and impacts on local hazards, human-nature interactions, and individual and community capacity for resilience through place-based education in the underserved community of City Heights, San Diego, CA. This project, titled “Empowering Climate Change Resiliency through Education in an Underserved Community,” will involve a wide range of partners, including California Sea Grant, the California Nevada Climate Applications Program, NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego Canyonlands, RECON Environmental, Inc., and the San Diego Unified Port District. Project activities encompass the design, piloting, and implementation of multi-grade level, integrated curricula that incorporate hands-on student climate science research, innovative solution building, and teacher professional development. This project will serve 1,500 middle school students annually and is expected to increase students’ understanding of scientific concepts and processes and human-nature interactions, improve their ability to make science-informed decisions, and contribute to local resilience efforts.

Award Number: NA18SEC0080004
Grant Dates: 10/01/2018 to 09/30/2024
PI: Lindsay Goodwin
State: California   County:   San Diego District: CA52
Partners: Birch Aquarium at Scripps · San Diego Unified School District · NOAA Research Lab / Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory · National Sea Grant College Program / University of California at San Diego / California Sea Grant · City of San Diego · U.S. National Park Service / Cabrillo National Monument · Port of San Diego · RECON Environmental · San Diego Canyonlands · California Nevada Applications Program (CNAP) · San Diego Unified School District / Clark Middle School · San Diego Unified School District / Wilson Middle School · UC San Diego / Scripps Institution of Oceanography ·

Families by the Seaside: Building Community-based Outdoor Ocean Science Learning Experiences

Seacoast Science Center offsite link · Rye, New Hampshire
Funding: $489,574
Year: 2010
This 2-year program will advance the way informal ocean science education institutions reach underserved/underrepresented families by facilitating and formalizing relationships between informal science education centers and community based organizations. Project teams in five New England communities will collaborate to create a practicable, outdoor ocean-science learning experience specifically designed for families in their shared service area.

This 2-year program will advance the way informal ocean science education institutions reach underserved/underrepresented families by facilitating and formalizing relationships between informal science education centers and community based organizations. Project teams in five New England communities will collaborate to create a practicable, outdoor ocean-science learning experience specifically designed for families in their shared service area. Building on a needs assessment produced through target-audience focus groups, the program will combine coastal field experiences with web-based interactive and participatory learning activities developed and tested by the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL; www.eol.org/) and the Northeast Regional Association for Coastal and Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS) to support in-field and ongoing learning. Science content will be informed and vetted by NOAA research scientists and work between the science centers and community organizations will be professionally facilitated. Formats and effectiveness will be evaluated by external evaluators and revised throughout the project.

Award Number: NA10SEC0080026
Grant Dates: 11/01/2010 to 09/30/2014
PI: Wendy Lull
State: New Hampshire   County:   Rockingham District: NH01
Partners: New England Aquarium Corporation / New England Aquarium (NEAq) · Sea Research Foundation / Mystic Aquarium · BOAT CAMP, Inc. · Girls Incorporated of Lynn · JumpStart Youth Connection · U.S. Navy / Naval Submarine Base / New London · Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS) · Portsmouth Housing Authority · Center for Teen Empowerment · Harvard University / Encyclopedia of Life · Northeastern University (NU) / Marine Science Center (MSC) ·

U.S. Virgin Islands Storm Strong Program

Funding: $499,998
Year: 2018
Under leadership from the University of the Virgin Islands, the Virgin Islands Marine Advisory Service, and local, non-profit, long-term, 2017 storm recovery groups, this 5-year project will create the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) Storm Strong Program. To date, minimal efforts have been made to engage the USVI community in hurricane education and preparation. As a result, USVI communities face significant, but often preventable, storm risks. This is the Territory’s first sustained, community-based, hurricane hazard preparedness, and community leadership building program.

Under leadership from the University of the Virgin Islands, the Virgin Islands Marine Advisory Service, and local, non-profit, long-term, 2017 storm recovery groups, this 5-year project will create the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) Storm Strong Program. To date, minimal efforts have been made to engage the USVI community in hurricane education and preparation. As a result, USVI communities face significant, but often preventable, storm risks. This is the Territory’s first sustained, community-based, hurricane hazard preparedness, and community leadership building program. The USVI Storm Strong Program will engage underserved and underrepresented middle- and high-school youth and their families on all of the Territory’s main islands - St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix - in a program modelled after the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit framework. Youth and their families will: (1) explore the science and hazards associated with hurricanes, (2) assess their communities’ vulnerabilities and associated risks, (3) evaluate personal and community assets and options to increase resilience, (4) prioritize and plan for events occurring before, during, and after a storm, and (5) take action, in this case, through Community Transfer Projects, which will turn the information gained through the Program into local actions to increase individual and community resilience, sharing knowledge and actions with the broader USVI community and beyond. Through this training, ~400 USVI youth and their families will be empowered as environmental leaders and change agents within their communities and important insights will be learned as to how best to engage underrepresented and underserved groups in hazard preparedness. Creation of the USVI Storm Strong Program is timely, given the significant impacts resulting from Hurricanes Irma and Maria, two Category 5 hurricanes that devastated the USVI in September 2017. These storms provide a window of opportunity to bring together partners from federal, territorial, non-governmental, academic, and the private sector, to develop a strategic, cohesive, long-term, high-impact, community-based program to improve environmental literacy and extreme weather hazard preparedness in the Territory, goals that align with the mission of NOAA’s Office of Education.

Award Number: NA18SEC0080010
Grant Dates: 10/01/2018 to 09/30/2024
PI: Kristin Wilson Grimes
State: U.S. Virgin Islands   County:   Saint Thomas District: VI00
Partners: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) / Region II · Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) · NOAA OR&R's Marine Debris Program · U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Human Services · U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Natural Resources · University of the Virgin Islands / Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (VI-EPSCoR) · University of the Virgin Islands / Marine Advisory Service (VIMAS) at St. Croix · University of the Virgin Islands / Office of the Provost · St. Croix Christian Church · St. John Community Foundation · St. Thomas Recovery Team · Catalyst Miami · The Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands · University of the Virgin Islands / Center for Excellence in Leadership and Learning / Safety In Paradise · U.S. Virgin Islands Children's Museum · My Brother’s Workshop · St. Croix Environmental Association · Virgin Islands Conservation Society / Blue Flag · American Red Cross of the U.S. Virgin Islands ·