NOAA Gulf of Mexico Bay Watershed Education and Training (Gulf B-WET) Program

Grants and cooperative agreements to USA nonprofit organizations, government agencies, K-12 schools and school systems, IHEs, and tribal governments for environmental education programs benefiting students and teachers in eligible locations in the Gulf of Mexico states. Required registrations may take over one month to complete. Funding is intended to support place-based experiential learning for K–12 students and related professional development for teachers. Applicants may be physically located in any U.S. state; however, education projects must target teachers and/or students located in any part of the five Gulf of Mexico states which are Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and/or Florida.

The Gulf B-WET program is an environmental education program that promotes place-based experiential learning for K–12 students and related professional development for teachers in the five Gulf states. Projects supported by this funding opportunity will develop and promote Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs). The MWEE is a learner-centered framework that focuses on investigations into local environmental issues, leads to informed action, and increases environmental literacy. MWEEs are composed of multiple components that include learning both outdoors and in the classroom, and are designed to increase the environmental literacy of all participants by actively engaging students in building knowledge and meaning through hands-on experiences.

In FY23, Gulf B-WET funding will support student investigation of environmental topics and issues, both locally and globally, that are of interest to them. Students identify actions to address these issues and understand the value of those actions, enabling them to help to protect and restore watersheds and related ocean and coastal ecosystems. Gulf B-WET funding also supports, high quality professional development for teachers allowing them to gain confidence in the value of MWEEs and strategies for conducting MWEEs with students. Gulf B-WET also supports implementation of systemic MWEEs which reach the entire student population in one or more grades within a school district. Again this year, Gulf B-WET will support capacity building for expanded statewide K-12 environmental literacy initiatives. Such project will advance environmental literacy strategies and lay the foundation for sustainable and equitable environmental literacy, including MWEEs, at the state or multi-state level.