Opportunities for Funding

Are You Ready to Solve a Problem?

We’re ready to fund a single proposal that promises real and measurable progress in solving a critical problem of our time.

We are open to ideas that identify a single problem and its proposed solution. We welcome applications from around the world as well as from both nonprofit and for-profit organizations (subject to the rules that govern private foundations). We hope to inspire a wide range of applications that propose real, measurable solutions to significant problems from any field or sector

Application website will be open starting August 1, 2024

Award amount is based on availability of funding. Award amount is not to exceed $300,000. Award will be based on the merit of the proposal.

Proposals are due September 13, 2024. Project is to be completed by January 30, 2026

Application Website: https://nucfac-ten-year-action-plan-grant.urbanandcommunityforests.org

Link to RFP: https://nucfac.org/forms/Final%20%20NUCFAC%20RFP%206_17_2024%20ADA%20V0…

Congress established the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council (Council) to advise the Secretary of Agriculture on issues related to the nations urban and community forests and related natural resources. The Council is charged by law (P.L. 95-313 Section 9 as amended through PL 110-246, [16

U.S.C. 2105](g)(1)(A)) with developing a ten-year action plan; providing annual accomplishments for the action plan and assisting the U.S. Forest Service in establishing categories and recommendations for award to the agency’s competitive National Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost-Share Grant Program .

The current National Urban and Community Forestry Ten-year Action plan (Action Plan) will expire at the end of 2026. To prepare for the next ten-year action plan, the Forest Service is requesting proposals from qualified organizations/entities to coordinate, facilitate and manage a collaborative and comprehensive process for the development of the next ten-year Action Plan.

PROPOSAL REQUEST:

Coordinate, facilitate, and manage a collaborative and comprehensive process for the development of the next National Urban and Community Forestry Ten Year Action Plan (2027-2037). This includes publishing and rollout assistance.

The National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council’s authorizing legislation requires the Council to prepare a National Urban and Community Forestry Action Plan every ten years. The current Action Plan, 2016-2026, is to be updated by January 30, 2026, for the Council to meet its mandate.

The Forest Service is seeking proposals from qualified organizations/entities to conduct a current assessment, and review and identify emerging issues of the nation’s urban forest resources and the urban and community forestry programs and activities conducted by Federal and State agencies, nonprofit organizations, community and civic organizations and other interested parties across the country.

Funds are to support the development of a National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council’s Ten-Year Action Plan, 2027-2037 as mandated by Congress. The award will be based on the availability of funding, which may be subject to change. The maximum award amount may not to exceed $300,000.

Proposals will be expected to address the following key elements, through implementation of the scope and criteria below. This will also include incorporating the Council’s comments and recommendations.

Key Elements:

1) Work with the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council and the Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry staff throughout the process for input and guidance.

2) Assess the current Action Plan’s accomplishments, gaps, and items to carry over into the next Action Plan.

3) Summarize the status of urban forest resources in the United States. This is to include the human dimension of urban forestry as well as the urban natural resources.

4) A review of urban and community forestry related programs and activities in the United States, including education and technical assistance activities conducted by:

- the Department of Agriculture, and other Federal agencies,

- the State forestry organizations,

- private industry,

- nonprofit organizations, community and civic organizations

- Indian Nation and Indigenous communities, and

- interested others.

5) Facilitate and integrate applicable public engagement recommendations for improving the status of the Nation’s urban and community forest resources, including education and technical assistance and modifications required in existing programs and policies of relevant Federal agencies.

6) A review of the urban and community forestry research, documents including--

a) a review of all past five years of research and ongoing research associated with urban and community forests, arboricultural practices, urban forest management, work with disadvantaged communities, and the economic, social, and psychological benefits of trees and forest cover in urban and community environments being conducted by the Forest Service, other Federal agencies, and associated land grant colleges and universities.

b) recommendations for new and expanded research efforts directed to and by the Forest Service Research, other Federal agencies, and associated land grant colleges and universities; around urban and community forestry concerns identified by this Action Plan; and

c) a summary of research priorities and an estimate of the funds needed to implement such research, on an annual basis, by the Forest Service Research, other Federal agencies, and associated land grant colleges and universities; for the next ten years.

7) An estimate of the financial and technical resources needed to implement the National Urban and Community Forestry Action Plan and the Urban and Community Forestry Program for the succeeding 10 fiscal years.

Purpose:
The purposes of this solicitation are to support the adoption of clean, dispatchable generation in California and reduce the reliance on fossil-based technologies while providing reliable power for critical infrastructure. By deploying clean, dispatchable generation technologies and producing hydrogen for electricity generation, this solicitation can benefit California's communities, workforce, air quality, and natural environments.

Description:
This solicitation presents an opportunity to shift towards on-site clean, dispatchable generation technologies, addressing the evolving generation mix and ensuring an ample supply of resources to meet the demands of critical facilities during the net peak period while maintaining system reliability. These technologies are well-suited to ensure a reliable and resilient energy supply for critical infrastructure on-site, including communications, healthcare, government offices, and many more, to provide on-demand load and peak matching. As such, this solicitation will focus on advancing emerging clean, dispatchable generation technologies, such as fuel cells or linear generators, using 100 percent renewable fuels, especially for critical sectors like industrial and commercial that have operational needs during peak hours. The projects from this solicitation will be deployed in these critical sectors and will reduce their demand on the grid, thereby decreasing the reliance from fossil-gas power plants during times of high electricity demand. Expected outcomes include on-site pilot-scale deployment of cost-effective and highly efficient clean, dispatchable generation technologies that will support energy demand of critical facilities and reduce the strain from the state’s electric grid while significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and criteria pollutants by curbing fossil-based generation. Ultimately, these projects will contribute to supporting the state's decarbonization goals, enhancing the reliability and strengthening the resilience of the state’s electric grid by increasing the availability of on-site clean, dispatchable generation technologies.

Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) solicits applications to lead a consultative process and create a Sustainable Agriculture Action Plan to document the research, regulatory, infrastructure, and educational needs and priorities required to increase sustainable agriculture practices in a specific industry/commodity or geographical location in the Western SARE region. The Sustainable Agriculture Action Plan (SAAP) intends to provide important stakeholder-derived feedback about the sustainable agriculture needs and priorities of specific industries and geographic locations to university researchers, Extension specialists, regulators, non-governmental agencies, elected officials, the USDA, and other potential funders. Western SARE seeks to fund two applications: 1. An application focused on a specific regionally important agricultural industry or commodity 2. An application focused on a specific, limited geographic area in the Western Region that includes multiple crops or production systems. The geographic area must be limited and logical, for example, a specific watershed, a Soil and Water Conservation District, an island or island system, etc. Each successful application will be funded for a maximum of $20,000 which will be awarded as a costreimbursable subaward agreement from Montana State University, Western SARE Host Institution

Game On-Community Places to Play is an initiative of The DICK’s Sporting Goods Foundation and LISC. The initiative provides funding and technical assistance to community-rooted organizations working to create and renovate multi-use youth sport spaces for youth ages 6-24 years old in under-resourced communities across the country. Special consideration will be given to proposals that demonstrate how their capital projects will support youth development programming.

What we're offering
The goal is to improve the quality, safety and accessibility of local athletic spaces for young people. Grant awards will range from $50,000-$100,000 and will require 1:1 match funding. Funds will be awarded to outdoor and indoor facilities that enable and demonstrate local community access and usage for all organized youth sports, including but not limited to basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, football, tennis, lacrosse and volleyball. Youth development program services should include, but are not limited to, life skills workshops, civic engagement and leadership, workforce development and academic support.

The goals and objectives of this program are:
Food Waste Reduction Objectives
Reduce municipal food and waste
Divert residential and commercial food waste from landfills
Composting and Conservation Objectives
Generate compost
Increase agricultural producers’ access to compost
Reduce reliance on, and limit the use of, chemical fertilizer
Improve soil quality
Encourage waste management and permaculture business development.
Increase rainwater utilization (capture, infiltration, or absorption)

The Electronics Scrap Recycling Advancement Prize (E-SCRAP) is a $3.95M challenge sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO). The prize aims to stimulate innovative approaches that reduce the costs and environmental impact of critical material recovery from electronic scrap (e-scrap).

E-scrap—which includes mobile phones, home appliances, medical or office equipment, and anything else powered by electricity—represents the fastest growing waste stream globally, with e-scrap generation expected to double between 2014 and 2030. Only 17.4% of e-scrap was collected and recycled globally in 2019, discarding 83% of e-waste and $57B in raw material value. However, e-scrap recovery faces numerous roadblocks, including a fragmented recycling value chain, a complex and dynamic feedstock, and a rapidly evolving end-use market. In response, E-SCRAP is challenging American entrepreneurs to revolutionize critical material recovery and reshape the future of sustainable manufacturing.

E-SCRAP is not just a competition; it’s a catalyst for change. By addressing challenges in the e-scrap recycling value chain, competitor teams can each win up to $800,000 in cash prizes and $150,000 in national laboratory analysis support over the course of the three-phase competition.

The prize is open to competitors looking to:
Build partnerships across the recycling value chain to optimize and integrate critical material separation and recovery technologies.
Develop and demonstrate innovations along the recycling value chain to enhance the recovery of critical materials from e-scrap.
Select at least one challenge (technical, supply chain, or related logistics hurdle) that needs further development and establish high impact opportunities (co-recovery, feedstock flexibility, information share, material benchmarking…) that will increase the domestic supply of critical materials from e-scrap.
Create or enhance supply chains to increase material circularity (e.g., accelerating connectivity between collection, sorting, pre-treatment, processing, refining, validation, and material qualification)

The objective of this NOFO is to invite states, Indian Tribes, irrigation districts, water districts, local governmental entities, non-profit organizations, Existing Watershed Groups, and local and special districts (e.g., irrigation and water districts, conservation districts, natural resource districts) to submit proposals for Phase I activities to develop a watershed group, complete watershed restoration planning activities, and design watershed management projects. See Section C.4. Eligible Projects for a more comprehensive description of eligible activities.A “watershed group,” as defined in Section 6001(6) of the Cooperative Watershed Management Act (see Section A.1. Authority for full citation) is a grassroots, non-regulatory entity that addresses water availability and quality issues within the relevant watershed, is capable of promoting the sustainable use of water resources in the watershed, makes decisions on a consensus basis, and represents a diverse group of stakeholders, including hydroelectric producers, livestock grazing, timber production, land development, recreation or tourism, irrigated agriculture, the environment, municipal water supplies, private property owners, Federal, state and local governments, Tribes, and disadvantaged communities.

The FWS strives to meet the Federal Government’s goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal Investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution. The categories of investment are: climate change, clean energy and energy efficiency, clean transit, affordable and sustainable housing, training and workforce development, remediation of reduction of legacy pollution, and the development of critical clean water and wastewater infrastructure. The Public Lands Corps (PLC) Program is authorized by Congress under Title 16 USC Sec. 1721-1726; Public Law 109-154, Public Lands Corps Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2005 (amends the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993), and all subsequent amendments. Guidance authorizes U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to (1) establish PLC Programs (2) certify participants who meet the PLC eligibility requirements for the PLC non-competitive hiring authority status, and (3) ensure consistent program standards throughout the FWS.  The purpose of the FWS PLC Programs is to provide work and education opportunities for youth (defined as ages 16-30 inclusive, and up to age 35 for veterans) participants in the areas of natural and cultural resource conservation, development, and scientific research. Participants perform work on our nation’s public lands by providing additional, unique capacity designed to boost the impact of the FWS for the conservation and management of fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the American people. The PLC FWS Youth Corps Program allows the FWS to establish partnerships with Partner organizations (Partners), generally defined as “qualified youth or conservation corps,” using financial assistance/cooperative agreements or MOUs, to employ the next generation of conservationists in paid PLC projects and internships. Partners must be designated as an official member of the FWS Youth Corps in order to certify Participants. FWS Youth Corps application information is available in the attachments to this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). The purpose of this NOFO is not to establish new partnerships. See Full Announcement for additional information and application instructions. Unsolicited partnership applications or projects that are not collaboratively developed between an existing FWS Youth Corps member and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be returned as ineligible. ***Applicants seeking technical or financial assistance from a FWS PLC programs are requested to consult with a local FWS office BEFORE developing or submitting an application (see FWS Youth Program Contacts included in the Related Documents of this announcement or visit U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (fws.gov) to locate a FWS office in your area. ***Unsolicited Partnership applications submitted through Grants.gov will be returned as ineligible.  See Related Documents for application instructions for FWS Youth Corps

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the opportunity to apply for a total of $1,936,000 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Public Transportation Innovation funds in competitive cooperative agreement awards for projects that enhance mobility innovations for transit. Funds will be awarded for projects that advance emerging technologies, strategies, and innovations in traveler-centered mobility in two distinct areas. Of the total available funds, $968,000 is available for projects to accelerate innovations that improve mobility and enhance the rider experience with a focus on innovative service delivery models, creative financing, novel partnerships, and integrated payment solutions. Another $968,000 is available for projects to develop software solutions that facilitate the provision of integrated demand-response public transportation service that dispatches public transportation fleet vehicles through riders’ mobile devices or other means.