NOAA has announced funding opportunities for informal/nonformal science education projects through their Environmental Literacy Grants (ELG) Program. A previous recipient of ELG funding, The Ocean Project, recently released a report called America, the Ocean, and Climate Change: New Research Insights for Conservation, Awareness, and Action. Their summary of key findings offers some insight into the type of project funded by this program as well as useful information for C3 partners addressing ocean issues. More information below (and on NOAA’s website), but note the following deadlines:

Informational Telecon
An informational teleconference with the program officers will occur on January 21, 2010 at3:30 PM EST. Interested applicants are required to register and will receive the call-in information by contacting oed.grants@noaa.gov and include in the Subject line of the email: “Interested in FFO Teleconference – Need Details.” Please provide the interested parties’ names, institutions and telephone numbers in the body of the message.

Deadlines
Letters of Intent are required.  The deadline for letters of intent is 5:00 PM EST February 16, 2010.
The deadline for full applications is 5:00 PM EDT on April 6, 2010.

Additional Information on Funding Opportunity
NOAA’s Office of Education (OEd) has issued a request for applications for informal/nonformal science education projects that engage the public in activities that utilize emerging and/or advanced technologies and leverage NOAA assets to improve understanding and stewardship of the local and global environment.  There is specific interest in projects that use emerging and/or advanced technologies to (1) facilitate outdoor experiences involving scientific inquiry and exploration of the natural world apart from formal K-12 curricula and (2) visualize, display, and interpret data to improve understanding and provide a systems perspective of Earth’s dynamic processes. All projects must focus on one or more of the following informal/nonformal science education activities:

• Technologically facilitated outdoor experiential learning for youth and adults;
• Public participation in science related to one or more of NOAA’s mission goals;
• Exhibitions and online programs allowing the visualization and exploration of data supporting the interpretation of ocean, coastal, Great Lakes, weather and climate sciences for public audiences;
• Spherical display system (including NOAA’s Science On a Sphere) installations and programming; and
• Professional development programs and training programs for informal/nonformal education staff.