Fiscal Year 2020 NOAA Gulf of Mexico Bay-Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program | NOAA NMFS SE 2020 2006202

Opportunity Information: Apply for NOAA NMFS SE 2020 2006202

The Fiscal Year 2020 NOAA Gulf of Mexico Bay-Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program is a competitive, discretionary funding opportunity run through the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Southeast Regional Office, within the U.S. Department of Commerce. The program is designed to strengthen environmental literacy and stewardship in Gulf Coast communities by supporting high-quality, locally relevant education for K-12 students and educators. Rather than funding general awareness activities, Gulf B-WET emphasizes hands-on learning tied directly to real places, real watershed issues, and real community contexts across the Gulf of Mexico region.

At the center of this program is the Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE) model. A MWEE is more than a single field trip or a one-off classroom lesson; it is a structured learning sequence that blends classroom instruction with outdoor field experiences and culminates in students making sense of what they observed and taking some form of informed action. In practical terms, MWEE projects typically guide students through several connected components: defining an issue relevant to their watershed or coastal environment, participating in outdoor investigations or field-based data collection, analyzing and synthesizing findings to draw conclusions, and completing an action project that demonstrates learning and contributes to stewardship. The overall aim is to deepen understanding of the Gulf of Mexico and its watersheds while building the habit of using evidence to make environmental decisions.

The opportunity aligns with broader regional and federal priorities. It explicitly supports the environmental education goals of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance, a multi-state partnership focused on improving the ecological and economic health of the Gulf. It also connects to NOAA-wide goals and outcomes, including NOAA's long-term goal of "Healthy Oceans" (sustaining marine fisheries, habitats, and biodiversity within healthy and productive ecosystems) and NOAA's engagement objective focused on building an engaged and educated public capable of making scientifically informed environmental decisions. In other words, the program is framed not just as education for its own sake, but as a way to develop informed community members who can participate in and support long-term coastal and watershed resilience.

Eligibility is structured around geographic impact rather than applicant location. Applicants can be physically located anywhere in the United States, but the funded education activities must serve teachers and/or students in Gulf of Mexico coastal counties. For this solicitation, the eligible coastal counties are specifically those in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas that are identified in NOAA's "The Gulf of Mexico at a Glance: A Second Glance" (2011), with the county lists referenced on pages 48-49 of that document. This means an organization outside the Gulf region can apply, but it must clearly demonstrate that the work targets the defined Gulf coastal counties and the intended K-12 audiences there.

For FY 2020, NOAA highlighted several priority areas to guide what kinds of projects it wanted to see. These included direct support for student-focused MWEEs, professional development for teachers that equips them to deliver MWEEs, and exemplary programs that combine teacher professional development with sustained, classroom-integrated MWEEs for students over a longer period. The announcement also introduced an additional priority area: Systemic MWEE Implementation. This signals an interest in moving beyond isolated programs toward approaches that help embed MWEEs into broader systems, such as district-wide adoption, long-term institutional partnerships, or scalable models that allow more educators and students to participate consistently over time.

From a funding and administrative standpoint, awards were offered as grants and/or cooperative agreements under CFDA 11.008, categorized under environment, natural resources, and science and technology/research and development activities. The listed maximum award amount (award ceiling) was $150,000, with an expectation of approximately seven awards under this competition. The funding opportunity number was NOAA NMFS SE 2020 2006202. The notice was created on September 27, 2019, and the original application closing date was November 29, 2019.

• 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 "Fiscal Year 2020 NOAA Gulf of Mexico 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): 11.008.
• This funding opportunity was created on Sep 27, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Nov 29, 2019. (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 $150,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 7 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for NOAA NMFS SE 2020 2006202

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