Opportunities for Funding

Program Strategic Goals: The Recreation and Visitor Services Program provides a wide variety of recreational opportunities that benefit the public and local communities. The program is also responsible for implementing Administration and Department priorities, including projects to improve racial equity, diversity and inclusion; help strengthen the U.S. economy; and reduce impacts to the environment and climate. The program is also prioritizing implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act; the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act; the Great American Outdoors Act; the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act; Executive Order (E.O.) 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government; and E.O. 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.In fiscal year 2025, the BLM will support the Department’s priorities by focusing on projects that build healthy communities and economies, advance environmental justice, address the climate crisis, and provide safe and equitable access to outdoor recreation opportunities for all Americans. These projects will:Connect with youth, tribes, and underserved communities to foster public lands stewardship.Enhance access to quality outdoor recreation activities while promoting climate resiliency.Identify and remove barriers to outdoor recreation and expand recreation opportunities for all.Provide an enhanced, more sustainable recreational experience by delivering up-to-date and engaging visitor information online and in person.

Funded projects under this program will focus on high priority work such as activities that promote forest and woodland health, sustainable forest management, fire resiliency, biomass utilization for bioenergy, habitat conservation needs, and insect, disease and fire recovery on public lands. These activities could include, but are not limited to: planting trees, pre-commercial and commercial thinning, salvage/sanitation forest treatments, control of competing vegetation, fuels reduction, riparian or upland restoration, project development and layout, planning analysis and document preparation needed in concert with or to carry out NEPA, Endangered Species Act or cultural clearances, data collection, and monitoring. Priority activities under this announcement include preparation, administration, or implementation projects that treat forest and woodlands nationally (see following description):

1. One or more components of preparing a project (site surveys, environmental clearances, NEPA preparation, project layout, timber cruising, timber marking, boundary designation, and other tasks related to preparing a project).

2. One or more components of administering a project (subcontracting, advertising for bid, awarding a subcontract or timber sale, subcontract performance inspection, and other tasks related to administering a project.

3.Activities to achieve Land Management Goals (see Stewardship Manual for definition) or acres/ units of forest or woodland treatments conducted.

Blue-Sky Training Program for Grid Scale Energy Storage Systems aims to enhance community safety for utilities with Energy Storage Systems. As storage technologies continue to be deployed, it is critical that communities are storage ready and that necessary stakeholders are brought to the table to ensure a new or existing Energy Storage Systems will operate safely and reliably. In localities across the country, uncertainty over proper response procedures to security threats and unanticipated failures of Energy Storage Systems can delay or even prevent deployment.

Renewable Integration Management with Innovative High Voltage Direct Current Power Circuit Breakers (REIMAGINE BREAKERS). Developing standards for High Voltage Direct Current Circuit Breakers (HV DCCB) will support the protection and interoperability of hardware within Multi-Terminal HVDC (MTDC) transmission systems and allow for seamless interconnection and coordination of HV DCCBs into existing high voltage AC & DC transmission systems. Standardization will provide key stakeholders with guidance to ensure all HV DCCBs developed are compatible with existing and future transmission networks. Additionally, the advancement of HV DCCB designs will aid in the development of novel ideas to reduce overall cost and footprint of the technology.

HARMONY: Human-Centric Analytics for Resilient & Modernized Power sYstems This NOFO aims to enhance grid reliability and resilience in the face of growing uncertainties and in the age of big data to accelerate pathways towards DOE grid modernization goals. Successful implementation of projects will enable rigorous quantification of risks and uncertainties and their communication to decision-makers and human operators for enhanced grid visibility and resilience.

The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) Bureau of Nutrition and Physical Activity (BNPA), in partnership with the Arizona Department of Economic Security (ADES) provides a program called the AZ Health Zone. The AZ Health Zone is funded by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – Education (SNAP-Ed) program through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

1. Awardees funded by this program will implement community-level interventions that address health inequity among those with limited access to nutrition, physical activity, and/or other resources. This is done through Policy, System, and Environmental (PSE) changes with complementary direct nutrition education (DE) to youth and/or adults and
supportive marketing approaches.

1.1.1. The AZ Health Zone is a community health program that supports greater access to physical activity, nutritious food, and nutrition education to improve health equity among those with limited access to these resources.
1.1.2. The ADHS will contract with local public and non-profit organizations to implement community-level initiatives that build resilient communities and increase health equity with an emphasis on the program’s foundational principles:
1.1.2.1. Engagement with residents in SNAP-Ed communities to consult, involve, collaborate, and empower on program planning and implementation in order to meet their needs and desires.
1.1.2.2. Implementation of trauma-aware approaches at each level of the program to ensure that interventions are meeting participants where they are at (i.e. interventions are relatable, relevant, created with community for community) and avoiding harm.

2.2. Awardees will use the above-mentioned approaches to meet one or more of the following statewide program
objectives:

2.2.1. September 30, 2030, reduce household food insecurity and hunger through policy, system, and environmental changes in Arizona SNAP-eligible communities.
2.2.2. By September 30, 2030, increase neighborhood facilitators for physical activity in underserved populations through policy, system, and environmental changes in Arizona SNAP-eligible communities.
2.2.3. By September 30, 2030, improve outreach and engagement efforts to underserved populations to ensure demographics for participants reached aligns with the demographics of SNAP participants in that county.
2.2.4. By September 30, 2030, statewide professional development in equity and trauma-informed approaches will be offered annually and integrated into organizational systems to support staff and administer the program to and from diverse communities.
2.2.5. By September 30, 2030, community residents in SNAP-eligible communities will be involved in planning and collaborating in local policy, system, and environmental change projects.
2.3. The AZ Health Zone program interventions are called strategies and projects, which are topically organized by focus areas, including Active Living, Early Care and Education (ECE) Systems, Food Systems, and Youth and Adolescent Systems.

Purpose
The BIA Branch of Tribal Community Resilience and the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals are seeking videographer(s), animator(s), and/or graphic designer(s) to produce a series of 3-5 minute videos, infographics, and 2-3 minute animations to accompany a report, The Estimated Unmet Need of Coastal Tribes in the Lower 48 States Facing Relocation Due to Climate Impacts. The purpose of these outreach materials is to enhance the awareness and understanding by Congress and broader audiences about the challenges faced by coastal Tribes in the lower 48 states as they address climate-related relocation and protection-in-place issues. We encourage potential contractors to apply to complete either part or all of the project deliverables.

Project background
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Branch of Tribal Community Resilience (TCR) received a directive from Congress to produce a report, The Estimated Unmet Need of Coastal Tribes in the Lower 48 States Facing Relocation Due to Climate Impacts. The report was produced in collaboration with the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) and completed in December 2023. The report is undergoing a variety of review processes prior to its submission to Congress. Given that the directive was provided to BIA, the report only considers federally recognized Tribes. The draft report will be provided to hired contractors upon their signing of a confidentiality agreement.

General Information

Posted Date: December 10, 2024

Closing Date: Proposal reviews will start immediately. RFP will remain open until filled.

Deliverables due date: Fully edited videos, infographics, and animations will be due on or before March 14, 2025.

Storytelling Videos

TCR and ITEP anticipate a series containing up to 5 videos with each video being approximately 3-5 minutes in length and would like the videos to emphasize storytelling with individuals sharing their experiences, challenges, and successes related to relocation and to protection-in-place. Video topics may be adjusted in consultation with the Tribes themselves, TCR, and ITEP.

TCR and ITEP will assist with introducing videographer(s) to individuals who have indicated that they are interested in participating in this effort and all individuals will be asked to sign informed consent forms detailing how videos will be used, stored, and owned.

New footage: If desired by the individual, videographer(s) may travel to Tribal sites to film on location. However, if filming on Tribal lands, approval of either the Tribe's film office or Tribal Council will be needed.

B-roll footage: B-roll footage taken on Tribal lands may be used with the permission of the the entity who has copyright of the footage and the Tribe’s film office or following their policies

Photos: Photos on Tribal lands taken by individuals, for which they have the copyright and provide permission to use, are able to be included without Tribal Council approval.

*Note: Videographer(s) are responsible for providing all equipment to be used for filming purposes.

The videos produced will ultimately be housed on the TCR website and may become part of a storymap developed to accompany the report. The videos will be owned by the Tribal participants involved in the particular video and by TCR, and the Tribes and TCR will be able to use the videos on their websites, for meetings, presentations, conferences, and more with proper attribution to the videographer. While videographers will be able to link their websites to the TCR website, they do not have permission to share the videos in any other fashion without the express permission of the Tribes in the video and TCR.

Infographics

TCR and ITEP anticipate a series of up to 5 infographics displaying relevant information, data and/or key points from the draft Unmet Need report. Examples of infographics may include: types of risks associated with relocation and protection-in-place; key points from the Executive summary; number of coastal tribes per region; etc. The decision about which infographics to produce will be made in collaboration with TCR and ITEP.

Animations

TCR and ITEP anticipate a series of up to 5 animations with each animation being approximately 2-3 minutes in length describing how coastal Tribes are faced with relocation and protection-in-place due to climate change impacts. Specific topics will be decided in collaboration with TCR and ITEP.

A few things to consider

Executive summary topics

The executive summary includes key points made about:

Continued stewardship of and access to places no longer inhabited as a key component of Tribal self determination

Staffing and funding challenges faced by Tribes trying to relocate and protect-in-place

Integrity of evacuation routes and shoreline protection infrastructure in the face of increasing climate extremes

Need to establish a lead entity to support Tribal relocation and protection-in-place efforts

Challenges around terminology

Complicated history and trauma around the term “relocation” including its usage in relation to climate impacts.

Solicitation Requirements

Applicant proposal must include the following:

1. Cover letter with contact information and signature

2. Resume

3. References (3 total)

4. Examples of videos, infographics, animations you have completed (include links as needed)

5. Cost Proposal. Please note: ITEP will arrange and pay for travel to Tribal locations as needed. You do not need to include travel costs in your proposal.

Again, please note that contractors can apply to complete either part or all of the project deliverables.

Evaluation

All responsive proposals will be opened, reviewed and rated based upon the following evaluation factors:

Price

Compliance with solicitation requirements

Experience, quality and/or past performance

Experience working with Tribes

Points of Contact

Elisha Flores, Regional Tribal Community Resilience Coordinator, Branch of Tribal Community Resilience, Bureau of Indian Affairs, elisha.flores@bia.gov, 510-504-8998

Colleen Cooley, Consultant, Tribes and Climate Change Program, Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals, colleen.cooley@nau.edu, 928-523-1625

Submission of Proposals

Proposals must be submitted by email to Elisha Flores and Colleen Cooley. Please see email addresses provided above.

Purpose
The BIA Branch of Tribal Community Resilience and the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals are seeking a contractor to develop regional summaries of climate change projections for approximately 30 federally recognized Tribes currently located along the shores of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Puget Sound, Gulf of Mexico, and the shores of the Great Lakes. These regional summaries would accompany a report, The Estimated Unmet Need of Coastal Tribes in the Lower 48 States Facing Relocation Due to Climate Impacts. The purpose of the projections would be to support Tribal climate change adaptation planning efforts and provide supplemental information for the report describing anticipated climate change impacts for coastal Tribes and associated timeframes that the impacts might take place.

General Information

Posted Date: December 10, 2024

Closing Date: Proposal reviews will start immediately. RFP will remain open until filled.

Deliverables due date: March 20, 2025

Project background and summary
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Branch of Tribal Community Resilience (TCR) received a directive from Congress to produce a report, The Estimated Unmet Need of Coastal Tribes in the Lower 48 States Facing Relocation Due to Climate Impacts. The report was produced in collaboration with the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) and completed in December 2023. The report is undergoing a variety of review processes prior to its submission to Congress. Given that the directive was provided to BIA, the report only considers federally recognized Tribes. The draft report will be provided to hired contractors upon their signing of a confidentiality agreement.

Project scope
Key questions for Tribes include:

How might sea level rise, high tide flooding, storm surges, and coastal erosion affect Tribal infrastructure and lands, where, and by when?

What are the protect-in-place options and how much would they cost?

The contractor hired would make use of existing datasets to produce deliverables that could include regional summaries of:

Sea level rise, high tide flooding, storm surge, and coastal erosion scenarios of Tribal lands and the timing of the expected impacts.

Shoreline protection options and potential costs of developing protection options, such as berms and levees under different climate change scenarios.

In order to protect Tribal data sovereignty, Tribal-specific data would be summarized according to regions, and the summaries would then be provided to TCR and ITEP. Please note that it is not expected that proposals will seek to produce all of the deliverables specified within the time available, thus the review team looks forward to learning more about the feasibility and expected level of effort for the proposed deliverables.

Solicitation requirements

To submit a proposal, please describe or provide the following:

Project team, capabilities, and past related projects, and resumes for senior personnel.

Overview and relevant details of the proposed project, identifying the specific proposed assessments to be completed by the specified deadline using existing datasets for the Coastal Tribes. If certain datasets are not available for some of the geographic areas specified, please identify those limitations.

Experience working with Tribes, Tribal organizations, and tribally relevant data sovereignty issues, including how your team will address any Tribal data sovereignty concerns that arise.

Cost estimate and project timeline.

Evaluation

All responsive proposals will be opened, reviewed and rated based upon the following evaluation factors:

Price
Compliance with solicitation requirements
Experience, quality and/or past performance
Experience working with Tribes

Points of Contact

Elisha Flores, Regional Tribal Community Resilience Coordinator, Branch of Tribal Community Resilience, Bureau of Indian Affairs, elisha.flores@bia.gov, 510-504-8998

Chas Jones, Consultant, Tribes and Climate Change Program, Institute of Tribal Environmental Professionals, Chas@picea.group, 815-456-4173

Submission of Proposals

Proposals must be submitted by email to Elisha Flores and Chas Jones. Please see email addresses provided above.

The Hydrologic Sciences Program is a disciplinary program within the Division of Earth Sciences. Hydrologic science has a distinct focus on continental water processes at all scales, and the program supports research with a primary focus on these processes. The program supports fundamental research about water on and beneath the Earth's surface, as well as relationships of water with material and living components of the environment. A major focus is the study of hydrologic processes (e.g., rainfall and runoff; infiltration and subsurface flow; evaporation and transpiration), as well as fluxes of water (e.g. in soils, aquifers, and streams). Many projects involve the study of hydrologic transport (e.g., of dissolved solutes, sediment), coupling of hydrological processes with other systems (e.g., ecosystem processes, geochemical cycles, food and energy systems, socio-ecological systems), or hydrologic responses to change (e.g., changes in land use, climate, or watershed management). Observational, experimental, theoretical, and modeling approaches are supported.

The Hydrological Sciences Program focuses on linking the fluxes of water and the components carried by water across boundaries between interacting components of the terrestrial system, as well as the mechanisms by which these fluxes co-organize over a variety of temporal and spatial scales. The program supports the study of hydrologic processes (e.g., rainfall and runoff; infiltration and subsurface flow; evaporation and transpiration), as well as fluxes of water (e.g. in soils, aquifers, and streams). Many projects involve the study of hydrologic transport (e.g., of dissolved solutes, sediment), coupling of hydrological processes with other systems (e.g., ecosystem processes, geochemical cycles, food and energy systems, socio-ecological systems), or hydrologic responses to change (e.g., changes in land use, climate, or watershed management). The program is interested in how hydrological processes couple to and interact with the geosphere, the critical zone, the landscape, and ecosystems, as well as how the water cycle and its coupled processes are altered by land use and climate. Observational, experimental, theoretical, and modeling approaches are supported.

The Hydrologic Sciences Program is committed to supporting the most meritorious research in any relevant area, including but not limited to: current and future changes to the water cycle in response to global change; how hydrologic processes, water availability, and water quality are altered in human-impacted waterscapes; advancing our capabilities in integrated and realistic modeling of hydrologic systems from pore to continental scales using the full model continuum (from data-driven to process-based); applications of data fusion and assimilation to advance hydrologic sciences; and applications of new technologies to inform understanding of fundamental hydrological processes across scales (e.g. geophysical methods, remote sensing). The Hydrologic Sciences Program is also interested in developing collaborative research with federal agency partners and leveraging capabilities of NSF-supported facilities. Additional information on current research needs in Hydrologic Sciences can be found in the following reports:

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. A Vision for NSF Earth Sciences 2020-2030: Earth in Time. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25761.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Next Generation Earth Systems Science at the National Science Foundation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26042.
National Research Council. 2012. Challenges and Opportunities in the Hydrologic Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/13293.
Hydrologic science has a distinct focus on continental water processes at all scales, and the program supports research with a primary focus on these processes. Hydrologic science is also linked to ocean, atmospheric, and solid Earth sciences. Further, hydrological processes are crucial for society and ecosystems, and solutions to water issues are often at the interface of disciplines (e.g., environmental science, environmental engineering, or social science). Therefore, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary proposals submitted to the Hydrologic Sciences program may require joint review with related disciplinary or integrated programs and may be considered for joint support. Before submission of a proposal that may cross disciplinary boundaries, principal investigators are strongly encouraged to contact the cognizant Program Officers in all relevant programs.

A broad portfolio of Broader Impacts activities is supported by the Hydrologic Sciences program, as described below in Section VI.A. Successful projects will include creative, well-integrated, and effective broader impact activities developed within the context of the mission, goals, and resources of the organizations and people involved. The expertise of collaborators, the proposal budget, and budget justification should reflect this integration. Example activities might include but are not limited to those that create effective methods of engagement with local communities or the public at large; develop infrastructure in the lab or the field; translate research to benefit broader societal needs; involve early career researchers and students with diverse experiences and backgrounds; and/or foster new partnerships (e.g., with Minority Serving Institutions, two-year colleges, or internationally). Plans for undergraduate and graduate student mentoring should include evidence-based strategies for effective recruitment, retention and/or training to be provided. We welcome innovative efforts that advance belonging, accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion or identify and remove barriers that have historically excluded some groups from the geosciences.

Other types of NSF proposals, such as Research Coordination Networks (RCN), Rapid Response Research (RAPID), and conference proposals, must be discussed with a Program Officer prior to submission. Additional guidance on RAPID proposals can be found in the Proposal Preparation Instructions section below.

Projects currently and previously supported by the program can be found by using the NSF Award Search (Program Information) engine and entering Element Code 1579.

Challenge Overview
The Good Jobs in Clean Energy Prize is designed to encourage coalition-building in communities across the country that focus on creating quality jobs and fostering an equitable and inclusive workforce in clean energy sectors.

A Coalition Competition Structured for Success
The Good Jobs in Clean Energy Prize encourages building new and newly focused placed-based coalitions to create quality, accessible jobs and training partnerships in their community. Each coalition is required to include, at a minimum, one coalition representative from each of the five key stakeholder groups below:

Labor organizations
Clean energy employers
Community-based organizations
Public agencies
Education and workforce providers
These competing coalitions will develop and implement Coalition Action Plans that improve the quality of and expand access to good jobs in clean energy.

Competitors participate in three prize phases designed to increase the long-term engagement of place-based coalitions to ensure that the clean energy jobs created nationwide are high quality and accessible to target populations. Coalitions must compete and win in Phase One of the prize to qualify to compete in Phase Two and Phase Three of the prize. Qualified coalitions will have the chance to win part of $3,375,000 prize pool to help them develop plans and accelerate the implementation of their solutions.

More than $3 Million in Prizes
The three-phase competition catalyzes coalition building to understand, plan, and improve job quality and job access within the clean energy economy for target populations.

The Three Phases

Phase One: Coalition Formation

Up to 15 winning coalitions / $50,000 cash prize each

Winning coalitions are selected for:

Identifying a clean energy employment opportunity and workforce challenge in a specific sector and target community, and
Displaying robust partnerships that include at least one organization from each of the five stakeholder types: labor organization, clean energy employer, community-based organization, public agency, and education and workforce provider.
Phase Two: Coalition Action Plan

Up to 10 winning coalitions / $100,000 each

Competing coalitions participate in a virtual U.S. Department of Energy-led training on High Road economic and workforce development strategies for clean energy and develop a robust Coalition Action Plan to create quality, accessible jobs, and training partnerships.

Phase Three: Implementation and Impact

Up to 10 winning coalitions. First place: $300,000 / Second place: $250,000 / Third place: $200,000 / Seven runner-up coalitions: $125,000

Competing coalitions implement their Phase Two Coalition Action Plans and participate in community-of-practice activities and quarterly check-ins with prize administrators.