Chesapeake B-WET is a competitive grant program that supports existing, high-quality environmental education programs, fosters the growth of new, innovative programs, and encourages capacity building and partnership development for environmental education programs throughout the entire Chesapeake Bay

credit:

watershed.

Successful projects advance the environmental literacy goal of the Chesapeake Bay Agreement and goals of the NOAA Education Strategic Plan by building capacity to support hands-on environmental education about issues affecting the Chesapeake Bay watershed for students and related professional development for teachers, administrators, and other educators who serve formal K-12 audiences.

These Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs) integrate field experiences with classroom activities and instruction in NOAA-related science content.

Through this funding announcement, NOAA is soliciting proposals that support two Priority Areas under the theme of Capacity Building for MWEEs:
(1) State or Multi-State K-12 Environmental Literacy Initiatives, which advance MWEE Implementation, and, (2) MWEE Mini Grant Program Administration, which supports elements of MWEE implementation at the school-level.

Chesapeake B-WET has traditionally issued one funding opportunity annually, however, in FY 2017, NOAA is issuing two separate funding opportunities under the Chesapeake B-WET program due to the variation in B-WET Program Priorities and the types of projects supported under these Priorities.

This FFO is to support Capacity Building efforts that support MWEEs; direct support for Systemic MWEE Implementation and Emerging MWEE projects is not covered under this FFO.