Coastal Habitat Restoration and Resilience Grants for Tribes and Underserved Communities, Under the BIL Round 3
This funding opportunity supports coastal habitat restoration projects that engage tribes and underserved communities to enhance resilience against climate hazards like flooding and sea level rise.
The Coastal Habitat Restoration and Resilience Grants for Tribes and Underserved Communities program is administered by NOAA’s Fisheries Habitat Conservation Program Office. This program supports coastal habitat restoration projects that engage tribes, tribal entities, and underserved communities to build resilience to climate hazards such as flooding, storms, and sea level rise. The program aligns with NOAA’s goals to strengthen ecosystems while enhancing community resilience to environmental challenges. The program offers up to $20 million in total funding, with up to 15 percent reserved for Indian tribes and Native American organizations representing tribes through legal agreements. Eligible applicants include tribal governments, underserved community organizations, nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, and state or local governments. Applicants must demonstrate engagement or collaboration with tribes, tribal entities, or underserved communities through partnerships, letters of support, or other forms of meaningful collaboration. The program focuses on three primary activities: capacity building, meaningful engagement, and restoration project implementation. Capacity-building activities include hiring staff, conducting feasibility studies, developing proposals for future funding, and participating in regional resilience planning. Meaningful engagement focuses on integrating tribal and underserved community priorities into decision-making processes through education, workshops, and community outreach. Restoration project implementation involves activities such as engineering and design, permitting, on-the-ground habitat restoration, and pre- and post-project monitoring. Projects are expected to deliver ecological and community benefits. Ecological benefits may include restoring coastal wetlands, coral reefs, seagrass beds, and Great Lakes habitats. Community benefits may include strengthening resilience to climate impacts such as flooding and improving economic and cultural opportunities for underserved populations. Proposals are evaluated based on their alignment with NOAA’s objectives, technical merit, qualifications of the applicant, cost-effectiveness, and ability to engage communities through outreach and education. Applicants may request funding amounts between $75,000 and $2 million, with typical awards ranging from $250,000 to $1 million. The standard project period is three years, though projects may extend up to five years if justified and approved. A federal cost share is not required, but proposals that leverage partnerships or other resources are encouraged. Applications are due by May 12, 2025, and must be submitted through Grants.gov. Awards are anticipated to start on January 1, 2026, in the form of cooperative agreements, ensuring NOAA’s substantial involvement in project oversight. Proposals will undergo technical review and be evaluated for alignment with Justice40 Initiative goals, which aim to deliver at least 40 percent of program benefits to disadvantaged communities. Applicants are encouraged to consult with NOAA staff prior to submitting their proposals to ensure alignment with program goals and technical requirements. Proposals must include required federal forms, a detailed project narrative, a budget narrative, and supplemental materials such as maps, technical designs, and letters of support. Award recipients will be required to submit semiannual progress and performance reports to NOAA.
Award Range
$75,000 - $2,000,000
Total Program Funding
$20,000,000
Number of Awards
Not specified
Matching Requirement
No
Eligible Applicants
Additional Requirements
Eligible applicants are tribes, applicants that can demonstrate status as a tribal entity, an underserved community (see definitions in Section I.A.), or entities that partner with tribes, tribal entities, and/or underserved communities such as institutions of higher education, non-profit organizations, commercial (for profit) organizations, U.S. territories, and state, local, and Native American and Alaska Native tribal governments. As part of their applications, applicants must demonstrate their status as, or connection to, a tribe, tribal entity, and/or an underserved community. This status or connection will be reviewed by NOAA as part of the initial eligibility review, and through the application merit review process. NOAA will validate the applicants description against publicly available demographic and economic data. Up to 15% of the funding in this opportunity is only available to Indian tribes (as defined in 25 U.S.C. Section 5304 (e)) and Native American organizations that represent Indian tribes through formal legal agreements (e.g. tribal commissions, tribal consortia, tribal conservation districts, and tribal cooperatives). Funding to Indian tribes and Native American organizations may be direct awards or subawards. 25 U.S.C Section 5304 (e) states that Indian tribe or Indian Tribe means any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, including any Alaska Native village or regional or village corporation as defined in or established pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (85 Stat. 688) [43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.], which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians. Applicants demonstrating a connection to a tribe, tribal entity and/or an underserved community may do this through proposed subawards, contracts, informal collaboration, or other engagement with, or approval of, one or more tribes, tribal entities, and/or underserved communities. The application will be evaluated based on the strength of the partnership with the underserved community or communities. The partner submitting the application is required to provide supporting documentation in the application demonstrating that they have been endorsed by one or more tribes, tribal entities, and/or underserved communities for the specific work proposed. The documentation may be provided in the form of letters of support from one or more tribes, tribal entities, and/or underserved communities for the specific work proposed, and should be attached with other Supplemental Materials. Applications from federal agencies or employees of federal agencies will not be considered. However, federal agencies or employees may serve as unfunded collaborative project partners. Foreign entities should participate as partners (contractors, sub-recipients, or informal collaborators) of a prime recipient based in the U.S. Applicants must propose work in coastal, estuarine, marine, or Great Lakes areas (see Section I.A. for a definition of coastal areas). Eligible applicants for Great Lakes projects must propose work within the Great Lakes basin within one of the eight U.S. Great Lakes states (New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota). Applications that propose projects in the Commonwealth and Territories of the United States, for this funding opportunity defined as American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, are eligible, but those in the Freely Associated States (the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia) are not eligible to submit an application.
Geographic Eligibility
All
Application Opens
December 13, 2024
Application Closes
May 12, 2025
Grantor
U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC NOAA - ERA Production)
Phone
(301) 427-8686Subscribe to view contact details