NOTICES
DEPARTMENT OF
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
2025 Environmental Education Grants; Grant Opportunity
[54 Pa.B. 5307]
[Saturday, August 17, 2024]The Department of Environmental Protection (Department) announces a new round of Environmental Education Grants. The project period is July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026.
The Environmental Education Grants Program (Program) is now open and accepting applications. Applications must be submitted electronically through the Single Application for Assistance at https://www.esa.dced.state. pa.us/Login.aspx by 11:59 p.m. on November 15, 2024. Applications submitted by ineligible organizations, past the deadline or through mail or fax will not be considered.
Funding is provided on a reimbursement basis. Priority will be given to environmental education proposals that engage people living, working or attending school within Environmental Justice (EJ) areas in topics related to climate change or water, or both.
Projects may engage a wide range of audiences, preschool through adult, using education methods and strategies that are appropriate to the audience. Projects may be delivered in a variety of settings such as classrooms, community centers, field sites and the like. Projects may introduce new environmental concepts or build upon the audience's existing knowledge and interests.
Three levels of funding will be offered: mini grants of up to $5,000 may be awarded for local, school, county, municipality or other defined area environmental education projects. General grants (level I) ranging from $5,001 through $30,000 may be awarded for implementation of large-scale regional or Statewide environmental education projects.
General grants (Level II) ranging from $30,001 through $65,000 may be awarded for nonformal education projects that engage youth and teachers from at least 60 counties in this Commonwealth at three levels: local, State and National. General grant (Level II) projects must demonstrate that at least 30% of program participants live, work or attend school within an EJ area. Individuals may use the Department's PennEnviroScreen at https://gis.dep.pa.gov/PennEnviroScreen/ to determine if the project will engage audiences within designated EJ areas. Individuals can contact the Department's Office of EJ with questions.
The Program was established by the Environmental Education Act of 1993 (35 P.S. §§ 7521—7528), which mandates setting aside 5% of the pollution fines and penalties the Department collects annually for environmental education in this Commonwealth. In its 31-year history, the Program has awarded more than $14 million to schools, nonprofit organizations, colleges and universities, municipalities, county conservation districts and businesses.
The 2025 Program guidelines and application instructions are available on the Department's web site at www.dep.pa.gov (select the ''Grants'' icon, then under Businesses, scroll to ''Environmental Education—for educational projects in climate change, environmental justice, water quality, and other areas'').
Questions concerning the 2025 Program should be directed to the Department's Environmental Education and Information Center at RA-epEEgrants@pa.gov.
JESSICA SHIRLEY,
Acting Secretary
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 24-1160. Filed for public inspection August 16, 2024, 9:00 a.m.]
No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Bulletin full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.
