OpportunityTitle: Inflation Reduction Act: NOAA Climate Resilience Regional Challenge
CategoryExplanation: The NOAA Climate Resilience Regional Challenge (Challenge) will support collaborative approaches to achieving resilience in coastal regions with an emphasis on risk reduction, regional collaboration, equity, and building enduring capacity.     The Challenge is a $575 million competition with a Letter of Intent phase and two exclusive funding tracks designed to meet the needs of coastal communities wherever they are in the resilience and adaptation process. Regional Collaborative Building and Strategy Development (Track One) supports building capacity for, development of, and collaboration on transformational resilience and adaptation strategies for coastal communities. Successful applicants will receive $500,000 to $2,000,000 to support regional scale coordination, engagement, planning, advancement of equitable outcomes, and capacity building for resilience and adaptation. Total funding for all Track One awards may be up to $25 million. Implementation of Resilience and Adaptation Actions (Track Two) supports implementation of transformational resilience and adaptation strategies and associated actions for coastal communities anchored in previous planning efforts. Applicants must propose a suite of complementary adaptation actions that together build the resilience of multiple communities within a coastal region, including those that have been marginalized, underserved, or underrepresented.     Applicants can apply for not less than $15,000,000 and not more than $75,000,000, with most awards being between $25,000,000 and $50,000,000. Total funding available for all Track Two awards is up to $550,000,000.
AdditionalInformationOnEligibility: Eligible ApplicantsEligible entities who may apply include:- coastal States, territories, or Tribes;- counties, cities, or other political subdivisions of a coastal State or territory, including special purpose units of government engaged in economic or infrastructure development activities;- the District of Columbia;- institutions of higher education; and- non-profit organizations or associations, including those acting in cooperation with a State, tribal, local or territorial government; regional councils of government and regional planning councils. Coastal states are defined in the Coastal Zone Management Act (16 U.S.C. &#167; 1453(4) asany state of the United States in, or bordering on, the Atlantic, Pacific, or Arctic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, Long Island Sound, or one or more of the Great Lakes, including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and former Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands including Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, andRepublic of Palau. The term &#8216;&#8216;Tribe&#8217;&#8217; is synonymous with &#8220;tribal government&#8221; and means any Indian orAlaska Native Tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, community, component band, or component reservation, individually identified (including parenthetically) in the listpublished most recently as of the date of enactment of this subsection pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 5131. The term &#8220;tribal organization&#8221; means the recognized governing body of any Indian tribe; any legally established organization of Indians which is controlled, sanctioned, or chartered by such governing body or which is democratically elected by the adult members of the Indian community to be served by such organization and which includes the maximumparticipation of Indians in all phases of its activities (25 U.S.C 5304). While tribal organizations are eligible to apply on behalf of one or more Tribes, they must documenttribal approval prior to commencing proposed activities (per 25 U.S.C. 5304). Non-profit organizations are eligible to apply, including state-recognized tribes, Native Hawaiianentities or other non-profit organizations serving the needs of indigenous peoples. Institutions of higher education (as defined in subsection (a) of section 101 of the HigherNotice of Federal Funding Page 19 of 64Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)) are eligible. For the purposes of this competition, a group of entities who are applying together are considered a regional collaborative (also referred to as a collaborative or a collaborative team). Collaboratives teams must identify a lead entity to submit an application (i.e., thefunding recipient, who is the non-federal entity that receives a Federal award directly from aFederal awarding agency, per 2 CFR 200.1). The lead entity is responsible for the award as a whole, including monitoring, reporting, and communicating progress to NOAA. The lead entity should work with other collaborators and partners through sub awards and contractsunder 2 CFR 200.1 and other arrangements pertinent to the collaborative&#8217;s activities that do not involve the transfer of funds. In addition, the lead entity must identify a Project Director(PD), who is the individual with the appropriate level of authority and responsibility to direct the activities supported by the grant. Applicants should be aware that the terms Project Director (PD) and Principal Investigator (PI) are used interchangeably.
Description: The NOAA Climate Resilience Regional Challenge seeks to transform the resilience of U.S. coastal communities, ecosystems, and associated economies to weather and climate impacts. Applications submitted for both Track One and Track Two should consider the following program priorities in the development of their proposals:- Risk Reduction. Building resilience requires implementing adaptation actions that reduce risk to coastal populations, infrastructure, economies, and ecosystems from the impacts of drought, extreme heat, sea level rise, floods, and wildfires, and/or other future weather and climate impacts. For Track One, applicants should assess weather and climate risks and apply risk information to identity, plan and design future adaptation actions. For Track Two, applicants should propose a complementary set of adaptation actions (approximately three to eight) that collectively reduce risk by increasing community preparedness, decreasing community exposure, and/or improving community recovery. Proposed adaptation actions can include nature-based and hybrid green and gray actions. Those adaptation actions should provide co-benefits and alleviate multiple stressors within communities, such as improving public health,achieving reductions in pollution burden, enhancing habitat or other environmental benefits, and providing access to safe parks, natural areas, and waterways. Applicants must include metrics for risk reduction in their applications.- Regional Coordination and Collaboration. Regional coordination and collaboration, driven by an integrated, achievable, and ambitious vision for how to improve the resilience of the region, is critical to addressing weather and climate impacts. All applicants to both tracks should focus on ensuring that relevant entities are engage as collaborators and/or partners in building resilience across states, counties, cities, and Tribes within the region. Applicants should focus on the identification of shared needs, priorities, challenges, and strategies that can be addressed by actions at the local and regional scales. Successful applicants will support public engagement to inform planning efforts and build effective relationships between government entities and communities.- Equity and Inclusion. Inclusive and equitable adaptation strategies and actions require co-development with members of marginalized, underserved, and underrepresented communities to ensure that benefits flow to them. These adaptation strategies and actions should include Tribes, tribal priorities, and indigenous knowledge.- Enduring Capacity. Enduring capacity refers to sustaining a level of community readiness that promotes continuous adaptation to the impacts of weather and climate, including developing and maintaining specific workforce capabilities and capacities.All applicants to both tracks should focus on building capacity for adaptation that can be sustained into the future within the region (post-award period) including with community-based organizations and for marginalized, underserved, and underrepresented communities. Successful applicants will also propose efforts to extend anticipated benefits beyond their region through information sharing and transfer of knowledge to other regions. In addition to these program priorities, NOAA will consider other standard factors in evaluating the extent to which applications address these program priorities including: technical merit; qualifications of the applicant(s); project costs; and outreach an engagement (See Section V.A. for the Evaluation Criteria and weighting for Track One and Track Two). For additional information on the NOAA Climate Resilience Regional Challenge program, visit: https://coast.noaa.gov/funding/ira/resilience-challenge/.
GrantorContactEmailDescription: OCM Grants Coordinator:
GrantorContactText: OCM &lt;br/&gt;Grants Coordinator: resiliencechallenge@noaa.gov