AIANTA:Funding Opportunities: NEH, EPA and IMLS

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

March 2, 2018

Dear Members, Partners and Friends:

We have three funding sources for this announcement that could be useful for enriching any cultural tourism programs.

The Common Heritage grants program of the National Endowment for the Humanities which can help collect and digitize important materials for tribes to tell their stories;
The Environmental Education grants program of the Environmental Protection Agency can support agritourism by using farmers’ markets and farm to table systems to teach about the environmental benefits of local food supplies; and,
The Native American Library Services Enhancement grant program of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Libraries can be a tourist attraction, not only for book lovers, but for any visitor. For ideas about how to expand your libraries tourism offering, listen to this webinar: We’re All Tourists Sometime: Learning from libraries who serve both tourists and residents

Good luck with your efforts.

National Endowment for the Humanities Opens Common Heritage Grants Program

Deadline May 31, 2018

The Common Heritage program aims to capture this vitally important part of our country’s heritage and preserve it for future generations. Common Heritage supports both the digitization of cultural heritage materials and the organization of outreach through community events that explore and interpret these materials as a window on the community’s history and culture.

The program supports events organized by community cultural institutions, which members of the public will be invited to attend. At these events experienced staff will digitize the community historical materials brought in by the public.

Project staff will record descriptive information-provided by community attendees-about the historical materials.
Contributors will be given a free digital copy of their items to take home, along with the original materials.
With the owner’s permission, digital copies of these materials would be included in the institutions’ collections.
Historical photographs, artifacts, documents, family letters, art works, and audiovisual recordings are among the many items eligible for digitization and public commemoration.

Projects must also provide community outreach via public events that would expand understanding of the community’s heritage. Public programs could include lectures, panels, reading and discussion groups, special gallery tours, screening and discussion of relevant films, presentations by a historian, special initiatives for families and children, interpretation by curators about items brought in by the public, workshops on preserving heritage materials, or other activities that bring humanities perspectives on heritage materials to community audiences.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

For questions, visit the NEH website or contact the staff of NEH’s Division of Preservation and Access at preservation@neh.gov and 202-606-8570. Applicants who are deaf or hard of hearing can contact NEH via Federal Relay (TTY users) at 800-877-8399.

EPA Issues Environmental Education Grant Solicitation Notice

Deadline: April 11, 2018

Under the Environmental Education Grants Program, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeks grant proposals from eligible applicants to support environmental education projects that promote environmental awareness and stewardship and help provide people with the skills to take responsible actions to protect the environment.

This program provides financial support for projects that design, demonstrate, and/or disseminate environmental education practices, methods, or techniques, that serve to increase environmental literacy and encourage behavior that will benefit the environment in the local community(ies) in which they are located.

Separate solicitations were issued from each of the 10 EPA Regional Offices, and selections and awards will be made in each respective Region. Applicants must provide non-federal matching funds of at least 25%. Proposals should start no earlier than September 1, 2018.

Proposals must address at least one of these Educational Priorities to be considered eligible.

Agricultural Education: Educating students and/or training their educators or community leaders on how to teach about environmental issues — in such areas as integrated pest management, nutrient management, integrated vegetation management, and air, soil and water quality issues– and how to find creative solutions to such issues.
Community Projects: Increasing public understanding of the benefits of and participation in environmental and conservation stewardship through community collaboration on such issues as water and soil quality issues, food waste management, increase of locally sourced food in farm to table systems, management of ecosystem health and/or local fire or flood prevention and fire, flood or hurricane preparedness as related to human health and environmental protection.
Career Development: Educating students of any age group and/or training their educators or community leaders on how to teach about environmental and conservation issues, solutions and stewardship for the purpose of encouraging interest in careers in environmental fields, including conservation, natural resources, chemical safety, and water and air quality management fields.

Sample topics include working collaboratively to educate school-aged children, their parents, and the community on food issues as related to environmental health issues; e.g.using farmers’ markets and farm to table systems to teach about the environmental benefits of local food supplies.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Visit the EPA website to view or download: a basic logic model template (under “Helpful Resources”), descriptions of projects funded under this program in each state and U.S. territory (under “Grants Awarded”) and other education links and resource materials at http://www.epa.gov/education/frequently-asked-questions-about-environmental-educationgrants-program).

Applications Open for Native American Library Services Enhancement Grants

Deadline: May 1, 2018

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is accepting applications for projects that support libraries and archives serving Native Americans and Native Alaskans. Native American Library Services Enhancement Grants augment existing library services or implement new library services for eligible Native American libraries.

Successful grant projects will align with one of three project categories: Preservation and Revitalization; Educational Programming; or Digital Services. Funded projects include those that:

support individuals’ needs for education, lifelong learning, workforce development, and digital literacy skills;
improve the quality of and access to library and information services; or
enhance the skills of the current library workforce and leadership.

Native American Library Services Enhancement Grants are competitive grants of up to $150,000 for two years. They are available to any library that has an active basic grant. A grantee with an active enhancement grant may not apply for another enhancement grant that would have an overlapping period of performance.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Grant guidelines and descriptions of previously funded projects are available on the IMLS website. Program contacts for Native American or Native Hawaiian Library Services grants are Dr. Sandra Toro, Senior Library Program Officer, 202-653-4662, storo@imls.gov, and Stephen Mayeaux, Program Specialist, 202-653-4761, smayeaux@imls.gov.