eeBLUE 21st CCLC Watershed STEM Education Partnership Grant Program

The North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) is pleased to offer an opportunity for your organization to apply for a Watershed STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) Education Partnership grant. Through the Watershed STEM Education Partnership grant program, NAAEE supports the mutual STEM education goals of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Department of Education (U.S. ED). These grants will provide Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) access to authentic STEM experiences that use NOAA's unique education mission as a context for engagement.  

U.S. ED’s 21st CCLC program provides academic enrichment opportunities during non-school hours for students, particularly those who attend high-poverty and low-performing schools. The program helps students meet state and local learning standards in core academic subjects, such as reading and STEM; offers students a broad array of enrichment activities that complement their regular academic programs; and provides literacy support and other educational services to the families of participating children.

The Watershed STEM Education Partnership grants will support access to academic enrichment experiences for program participants at 21st CCLC program sites. The total portfolio of funded projects is anticipated to reach a minimum of 40 21st CCLC sites, primarily in geographic areas served by the NOAA Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program. Grant activities will focus on delivering essential elements of NOAA B-WET’s Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences, or MWEEs, to the audiences served by the 21st CCLC program. The MWEE is the core B-WET program experience based on research, evaluation results, and lessons learned from over a decade of program implementation. 

In managing a grant program focused on building partnerships, NAAEE is pleased to work with partners at the NOAA Office of Education and U.S. ED to support a wide range of opportunities in outreach and education through the Watershed STEM Education Partnership grants program. NAAEE is interested in leveraging NOAA and 21st CCLC resources to increase participants’ understanding and stewardship of local watersheds and related ecosystems. NAAEE is also interested in forging lasting collaborations between environmental education providers and 21st CCLC sites to achieve greater impacts at several levels by: 

Important Dates

January 29, 2024: Request for proposals announced
January 31, 2024: Informational Webinar
February 29, 2024: eeBLUE Q&A Session 
April 5, 2024 (new date!): Request for proposals closes
April 6–May 31, 2024: Review and selection