NOAA's Office of Education advances public environmental literacy and learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through the Environmental Literacy Grants (ELG) Program. The ELG Program is a competitive grants program that supports formal and informal/non-formal education projects implemented on regional to national scales. The ELG Program’s primary mission is to increase the understanding and use of environmental information to promote stewardship and increase informed decision making by U.S. educators, students, and the public, which directly contributes to NOAA’s mission.

The ELG Program is the longest standing and most comprehensive national grants program focused on environmental literacy, and through this focus, makes a distinctive contribution to STEM education.

 

Download one page summary of the ELG Program

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Since its inception in 2005, twelve Environmental Literacy Grant (ELG) funding opportunities have been issued. The ELG program typically offers funding opportunities on an annual basis with award amounts ranging from $200,000 to $1.5 million. Eligible organizations can apply for ELG funding opportunities via www.grants.gov. For information about current and former ELG awards, visit the "Awards" tab. You can also subscribe to our mailing list by sending an email to oed.grants@noaa.gov, or contact the Office of Education Grants Team at 202-482-0793.

Current Funding Opportunity

NOAA Announces New Environmental Literacy Grants (ELG) Funding Opportunity for Building Capacity of Informal and Formal Educators

Updated February 11, 2013

The application package for NOAA-SEC-OED-2013-2003614 is now available in Grants.gov.

NOAA's Office of Education conducted two informational webinars on February 5 and February 6, 2013. You can access the February 6 webinar, the preferred version, here and the Q&A session here.

You can also access the February 5 webinar here and the Q & A here.

*Funding Opportunity*

NOAA’s Office of Education (OEd) has issued a request for applications for projects designed to build the capacity of informal educators (including interpreters and docents) and/or formal educators (pre- or in-service) to use NOAA data and data access tools to help K-12 students and/or the public understand and respond to global change. Successful projects will enhance educators' ability to use the wealth of scientific data, data visualizations, data access technologies, information products, and other assets available through NOAA (plus additional sources, if desired) to engage K-12 students and/or other members of the public in a minimum of two U.S. states or territories.

This funding opportunity identifies two priority categories of eligible applicants, both of equal importance. Eligible applicants for Priority 1 are collaborative teams of two or more U.S. institutions. Eligible applicants for Priority 2 are collaborative teams of two or more non-profit U.S. aquariums, of which at least one must be accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Collaborative applicant teams in both Priority 1 and Priority 2 are strongly encouraged to include at least one applicant that has not previously received a grant from NOAA's Environmental Literacy Grants program. Proposed projects in each priority must be between two and five years in duration and have combined federal requests of $500,000 - $1,000,000 for all years of the project.

*Deadlines*

The deadline for applications to this funding opportunity is 11:59:59 pm EST on March 12, 2013. Applications must be submitted online via www.grants.gov. It is anticipated that awards under this announcement will be made by September 30, 2013 and that the projects funded under this announcement will have a start date no earlier than October 1, 2013.

*Informational Webinar*

Two informational webinars with the program officers will occur on February 5, 2013 from 3:00 to 5:00 pm EST and February 6, 2013, from 3:00 to 5:00 pm EST. By noon EST on February 1, 2013, interested applicants should register by contacting oed.grants@noaa.gov and including in the Subject line of the email: "Register for Educator Capacity Building FFO Webinar" and providing the interested party's name, institution, telephone number, email address and preferred webinar 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.

*Additional Information*

To read the full funding announcement, visit www.grants.gov.

 

NOAA’s Environmental Literacy Grants (ELG) program plans to release a new funding opportunity in January of 2013.

Updated December 27, 2012

The goal of the funding opportunity will be to build the capacity of informal and/or formal educators to use NOAA data and data access tools to help K-12 students and/or the public understand and respond to global environmental change. Two priority categories of eligible applicants will be identified, both of equal importance. One priority will be open to collaborative teams of two or more U.S. institutions, while the other priority will be open to collaborative teams exclusively composed of two or more non-profit U.S. aquariums. Applicant teams may request up to $1 million for a 2 to 5 year project period. NOAA anticipates an application deadline in early March, with funding decisions made by September 30, 2013.

More information will be posted on this website when the funding opportunity is officially released. You can also send an email to oed.grants@noaa.gov to join the ELG mailing list to receive notification when the funding opportunity opens.

 

Awards Announced for 2011 and 2012 ELG Funding Opportunities

NOAA’s Office of Education is pleased to announce the selection of 8 new awards under two recent funding opportunities: the 2011 Environmental Literacy Grants for Formal K-12 Education (Funding Opportunity Number NOAA-SEC-OED-2011-2002608) and the 2012 Ocean Education Partnership Grants for Professional Development and other Capacity-building of Informal Science Educators and Volunteers (Funding Opportunity Number NOAA-SEC-OED-2012-2003333). Click here to download a PDF copy of the press release describing these awards, or click on the "More" button below to view the full text of the press release. Information about the new awards and about the 2011 and 2012 ELG funding opportunities is also available on the "Awards" tab.

Past Funding Opportunities

For a complete list of past funding opportunities please visit the "Awards" tab.

Click here to access a searchable list of awards

Funding Competition History

Below you will find links to past funding opportunity announcements and award announcements for NOAA Environmental Literacy Grant (ELG) competitions. Please note that these are archival materials and more recent funding announcement materials will supersede policies, forms, templates and support materials found in the links listed below.

Informal/Nonformal Education

2012: Ocean Education Partnership Grants (NOAA-SEC-OED-2012-2003333)
Funding Announcement | List of awards

2010: ELG for Informal/Nonformal Education: (NOAA-SEC-OED-2010-2002248)
Funding Announcement | List of awards

2009: Ocean Education Grants for AZA Aquariums (NOAA-SEC-OED-2009-2001842)
Funding Announcement | List of awards

2009: ELG for Science On a Sphere Network Capacity Building (SEC-OED-2009-2001662)
Funding Announcement | List of awards

2008: ELG for Spherical Display Systems for Earth Systems Science-Installations & Content (SEC-OED-2008-2001089)
Funding Announcement | List of awards

2007: ELG for Free-choice Learning (SEC-OED-2007-2000859)
Funding Announcement | List of awards

2006: Science On a Sphere Installation Cooperative Agreements (USEC-OED-2006-2000625)
Funding Announcement | List of awards

2006: Environmental Literacy (SEC-OED-2006-2000467)
Funding Announcement | List of awards

2005: Environmental Literacy (USEC-OESD-2005-2000118)
Funding Announcement | List of awards

Formal (K-12) Education

2011/2012:  ELG for Formal K-12 Education (NOAA-SEC-OED-2011-2002608)
Funding Announcement | List of awards

2008/2009: ELG for Formal K-12 Education (SEC-OED-2009-2001282)
Funding Announcement | List of awards

2007: ELG for Formal K-12 Education (SEC-OED-2007-2000863)
Funding Announcement | List of awards

2006: Environmental Literacy (SEC-OED-2006-2000467)
Funding Announcement | List of awards

2005: Environmental Literacy (USEC-OESD-2005-2000118)
Funding Announcement | List of awards

To date, NOAA’s Office of Education has awarded 80 ELG awards totaling nearly $37 million. The ELG Program is notably competitive, with only about 13% of the 610 applications that have been sent for peer review ultimately receiving funding.

The Environmental Literacy Grants Program’s nationwide network of grantees includes museums, science centers, aquariums, universities, non-profit organizations, state agencies, and professional societies. More than 29 million people per year visit informal learning institutions with exhibits and programs funded through ELG (e.g., Science On a Sphere™), and millions of K-12 teachers, informal educators, students, youth and adult audiences have been served by instructional materials, professional development, and hands-on activities supported by ELG awards.

For a PDF version of these graphs, download a copy here.

NOAA Assets

NOAA assets are resources, services, or sites that are used to support NOAA's mission and to communicate NOAA research, data, information, and knowledge to the public. These include education materials and programs, data sets and visualizations, subject matter experts, facilities, and managed natural resource areas.

Grants Dos and Don'ts

This document provides guidance created by NOAA’s Office of Education on how to write and submit grant applications.

Science On a Sphere Users Collaborative Network

The institutions that currently have NOAA's Science On a Sphere, as well as other partners who are creating content and educational programming for these systems, have formed a collaborative network. This network provides a mechanism for these institutions to work together to maximize the effectiveness of spherical display systems as Earth system science education platforms.

Tri-Agency Climate Change Education Collaboration

NSF, NASA, and NOAA have significant investments in projects that focus on increasing public understanding of climate science and improving the quality and effectiveness of climate change education in formal and informal learning environments. To minimize duplication of effort, foster synergy among the different projects, leverage existing resources, and facilitate communication between the growing community of scientists and educators engaged in climate change education, the three agencies actively coordinate with each other and convene regular joint PI meetings.

To facilitate the sharing of resources across the climate education community, a searchable Tri-Agency Climate Education (TrACE) catalog has been developed. TrACE lists educational products and resources generated by over 120 climate change education projects funded through competitive NASA, NOAA, and NSF awards. To visit the TrACE catalog, click here.