2021 NOAA California Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program | NOAA NOS ONMS 2021 2006749

Opportunity Information: Apply for NOAA NOS ONMS 2021 2006749

The 2021 NOAA California Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program is a discretionary federal grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Commerce (NOAA) designed to strengthen K-12 environmental and watershed education in California through hands-on, locally relevant learning. The program funds Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs), which are structured learning sequences that combine classroom instruction with outdoor field work. In a typical MWEE, students identify and define an environmental issue, participate in an outdoor field experience to collect observations or data, analyze and synthesize what they learned to draw conclusions, and then complete an action project that helps them apply learning in a real-world way. The larger aim is to build student understanding and long-term stewardship of the ocean, local watersheds, and NOAA-related special places such as national marine sanctuaries.

A key emphasis of the opportunity is alignment with major education frameworks used in California. Funded projects are expected to support the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), the California Environmental Literacy Standards, and the Ocean and Climate Literacy Essential Principles. In practice, this means proposals should show how student activities and teacher training connect to grade-appropriate science and environmental literacy outcomes, and how they help students understand watershed-ocean connections, human impacts, and climate-related factors in ways that meet recognized learning standards.

This specific 2021 announcement also responds directly to COVID-19 disruptions. NOAA notes that the pandemic significantly reduced the ability of environmental education organizations to work with schools, leading to program cancellations, lost revenue, and widening inequities in access to high-quality outdoor and environmental learning. As a result, the grant places added value on projects that help bridge the gap created by COVID-19, whether through adapting programming, sustaining organizations and partnerships that serve students and teachers, or addressing unequal access to experiential learning opportunities that the pandemic intensified.

The solicitation identifies four priority areas. First is MWEE implementation in school districts, combining teacher professional development with direct student experiences so that MWEEs are not one-off events but embedded in district learning. Second is teacher professional development focused specifically on planning and delivering MWEEs, which can include training that builds teacher confidence in outdoor instruction, field investigation methods, and integrating watershed topics into required curricula. Third is a meaningful response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which signals interest in practical, equity-minded approaches to maintaining or rebuilding environmental education capacity and access under pandemic constraints. Fourth is continuation projects that focus on student MWEEs, supporting the extension or scaling of previously funded or established MWEE efforts to ensure students continue receiving sustained experiences rather than losing momentum due to pandemic-related setbacks.

The geographic focus is tied to three California watershed regions associated with NOAA programming and sanctuaries, and the announcement clarifies which counties fall within each. The Monterey Bay watershed includes Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, Monterey, San Benito, and San Luis Obispo counties. The San Francisco Bay watershed includes Marin, San Francisco, Alameda, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity, Napa, and Santa Rosa (as listed in the notice). The Santa Barbara Channel watershed includes Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Projects are generally expected to be locally relevant within these areas, using place-based watershed issues to anchor student investigations and stewardship actions.

Administratively, awards are issued as cooperative agreements, which typically means NOAA expects to have substantial involvement during the project period (for example, collaboration on project direction, coordination, or technical support) rather than functioning as a hands-off pass-through funder. The opportunity number is NOAA NOS ONMS 2021 2006749 under CFDA 11.429. The funding ceiling is $100,000 per award, with an estimated 10 awards expected. The posting date is December 17, 2020, and the original application deadline is February 16, 2021. Eligible applicants are listed broadly as "Others" with additional eligibility details referenced in the full notice, which usually indicates that multiple organization types may apply (often including nonprofits, educational institutions, and other entities involved in K-12 environmental education), but applicants would need to confirm eligibility in the complete announcement text.

Overall, this grant opportunity is aimed at keeping high-quality watershed education alive and accessible during a period of major disruption, while also pushing funded projects to deliver rigorous, standards-aligned learning that connects students and teachers to their local watersheds through authentic investigation and action.

• The Department of Commerce in the environment, natural resources, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "2021 NOAA California Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 11.429.
• This funding opportunity was created on Dec 17, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 16, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $100,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for NOAA NOS ONMS 2021 2006749

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