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Annual Awards Program to Support Tribal Climate Resilience for Federally Recognized Tribes and Authorized Tribal Organizations - FY 2023

Agency: U.S. Department of Interior
Office: Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Office of Trust Services Branch of Tribal Climate Resilience (TCR)
Multipart Grant: No
Next Due: 10/13/2023 (Application)
Solicitation Date: Unknown
   
Match Required: No
Actual Funds: $120,000,000 (Estimated)
Summary:

The purpose of this program is to support tribal climate resilience planning and strategy implementation by helping tribes as they prepare for climate change impacts on tribal treaty and trust resources, economies, regenerative agriculture and food sovereignty, conservation practices, infrastructure, and human health and safety. Funding will be provided for projects that support tribal climate resilience as tribes incorporate science, Indigenous knowledge (IK), Indigenous languages, and technical information.

Awards will be provided in the following categories:

  • Category 1: planning: planning awards are designed to support the development of climate change considerations into formal planning documents, vulnerability assessments, and the development of data analysis efforts including supplementary monitoring; examples of potential projects include:
    • Adaptation planning: development of adaptation plans, vulnerability assessments, and data analysis efforts including supplementary monitoring to address climate change impacts to treaty and trust resources integrating IK
    • Ocean and coastal management planning: marine resource planning, restoration planning, ecosystem and/or vulnerability assessments, emergency management, marine spatial planning, coastal adaptation and/or resilience analysis, resource inventories, identifying monitoring protocols and critical indicator species, implementing a unique pilot study or project that would advance tribal resilience and adaptation, ocean and coastal management knowledge, and/or infrastructure planning related to ocean and coastal challenges
    • Relocation, managed retreat, and protect-in-place (RMP) planning: decision-making processes regarding relocation, site expansion, managed retreat, partial relocation, or protect-in-place options due to threats from intensifying coastal or riverine erosion, flooding, permafrost degradation, sea level rise, increased frequency and intensity of wildfire and resulting impacts, and similar impacts
    • Trainings or workshops: design and host regional or national tribal training(s) and workshop(s) that will assist tribal leaders, program coordinators, planners, and managers in developing the skills necessary to address climate change by developing tribal adaptation plans or management options through in-person and webinar trainings and workshops
    • Internships and/or youth engagement: internships supporting college, graduate, or professional school students or recent graduates and/or youth engagement supporting K-12 students that integrate climate adaptation planning into programs for the benefit of tribes and help to integrate climate resilience considerations into new or existing youth programs
  • Category 2: implementation: implementation awards are designed to support application of on-the-ground, shovel-ready activities that already have a completed plan in place and are identified in official tribal planning document(s); examples of potential projects include:
    • Climate adaptation implementation: support climate resilient applications, operations, and actions identified in existing final plans
    • RMP implementation: support tribes dealing with urgent and acute climate change impacts requiring the movement or protection of existing infrastructure and/or the development of new infrastructure

Separate from these two award categories, the funding agency has also set aside funds for the following:

  • First-time awardees: awards are designed to assure equity in available funding for tribes at different places in their climate resilience and adaptation planning efforts
  • Habitat restoration and adaptation: awards are designed to support habitat restoration and adaptation planning or implementation projects related to conservation and restoration for cultural subsistence resources
  • RMP coordinator: awards are designed to support tribes that have limited technical staffing capacity to hire a full-time coordinator that would support and organize community involvement, coordinate with federal and nonfederal partners, and develop community RMP plans and/or implementation actions

An optional workshop and webinar are scheduled for this program. Refer to the Application section for additional information.

Last Updated: April 17, 2024

Eligibility Notes:

Eligible applicants are federally recognized tribes and authorized tribal organizations.

Eligibility for the first-time awardees set-aside is limited to tribes that have not previously received a planning or implementation award through this program. Tribes without dedicated staffing or climate programs who are at the beginning stages of their climate change program development are encouraged to apply. Applicants of this set-aside should be seeking to build internal tribal capacity for climate resilience, and are therefore only eligible to receive one additional planning award through this program. Tribal organizations are not eligible to apply for this set-aside, and consultants are not eligible as subawardees, as the intent of this funding is to build internal tribal staff capacity.

Eligibility for the relocation, managed retreat, or protect-in-place (RMP) coordinator set-aside is limited to tribes that have not previously been funded for an RMP coordinator position through this program. While this set-aside is a non-competitive category, requests may exceed funding, so priority may be given to communities with the highest risk, as detailed on pages 20-21 of the NOFA file. Tribal organizations are not eligible to apply for this set-aside, and consultants are not eligible as subawardees, as the intent of this funding is to build technical staffing capacity internal to the tribe.

Tribal organization applications will be reviewed and ranked separately from tribal applications, and tribal applications will be given priority.

Applicants are required to submit a tribal resolution and/or cover letter with signature summarizing interest and leadership support for the project.

There is a limit of two planning awards and one implementation and/or construction award per funding category per tribe. This limit includes set-aside funding. Recipients of any set-aside are limited to one award in that set-aside to promote equity across all awards and spread the benefits across tribes.

A tribe may apply to more than one category; however, the tribe must submit separate and different applications to each category. In addition, tribes should only submit one application per category, since only one application per category will be funded.

Previous award recipients include:

  • Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation
  • Nansemond Indian Nation
  • Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona
  • Chickasaw Nation
  • Native Village of Kongiganak

Refer to the Award file for additional information regarding previous award recipients.

Eligible Applicants:
Native American Tribe
Tribal Organizations/Institutions
Application Notes:

Applications must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on October 13, 2023.

Applications must be submitted online at http://portal.bia.gov.

Applications must include:

  • Cover page and/or e-form information
  • Tribal resolution and/or cover letter with signature summarizing interest and leadership support
  • Proposal describing the proposed project and associated activities (6 pages max)
  • Supplemental materials, such as letters of support, charts, graphs, maps, photographs, graphics, planning documents, and/or other relevant information (as applicable)
  • Detailed budget table and budget narrative

It is recommended that applications be formatted on numbered, single-spaced pages with double spaces between paragraphs, one-inch margins on all sides, and a 12-point font, such as Times New Roman, Arial, Georgia, Helvetica, or Palatino Linotype. The budget table must be submitted in a spreadsheet as a separate attachment, preferably in Excel format. All other files must be in Word or .pdf format.

An optional grant writing workshop will be held for this program as follows:

July 26, 2023
9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. PT
teams.microsoft.com
Call-in: (202) 640-1187
Phone conference ID: 202 963 431#

In addition, an optional frequently asked questions (FAQ) webinar will be held for this program as follows:

August 2, 2023
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. PT
Registration: nau.zoom.us

Applications will be evaluated according to criteria specific to award category or set-aside, as detailed on pages 7-22 of the NOFA file.

Refer to the NOFA file for additional application information.

Match Required: No
Actual Funds: $120,000,000 (Estimated)
Match Notes:

Matching funds are not required for this program.  

Funding Notes:

An estimated $120 million is available to support awards through this program. Maximum award amounts will vary according to award category, as follows:

  • Category 1: planning: awards of up to $250,000
  • Category 2: implementation: awards of up to $4 million

Separate from these two award categories, the funding agency has also set aside funds for the following:

  • First-time awardees: awards of up to $250,000
  • Habitat restoration and adaptation: a total of $35 million in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding is available annually for two years to support awards with no maximum award amount; however, if there are multiple competitive applications, then individual award amounts may be reduced to fund all those selected
  • Relocation, managed retreat, or protect-in-place (RMP) coordinator: non-competitive awards of up to $150,000 per year for up to three years

Award announcements are expected to be made around January 2024.

Project periods will be set up individually at the regional level, and will not exceed either the work plan or five years. Proposed project timelines should be written to be completed in one to two years.

For remote training or conference locations where eating establishments are not within a reasonable distance, food costs are allowable, but should not exceed $17,500 or 7 percent of the total requested award amount, whichever is less. Refreshments for non-remote training or conference locations are allowable up to $1,700 per application.

Reasonable costs for laptop/computer setup is limited to $5,000 per laptop/computer.

No more than 10 percent of the total travel costs may be allocated toward equipment maintenance.

No more than 10 percent of the total project costs may be allocated toward speaker fees and/or honorariums.

Contingency funds are limited to 10 percent of the total requested award amount.

Funds for the planning category, as well as for the first-time awardees and RMP coordinator set-asides, may not be used for implementation activities.

Funds for adaptation planning in the planning category may not be used for existing routing monitoring programs or research projects.

Funds may not be used for:

  • Establishing or operating a tribal office and/or purchasing office equipment not specific to the proposed project
  • Stipends
  • Supplementing employment for current positions not significantly and directly involved in the proposed project
  • International travel
  • Legal fees or contracted negotiation fees
  • Entertainment and artwork
  • Any other activities not authorized by the tribal award letter
  • Miscellaneous or other funds
  • Duplicative work

For FY 2023, a total of $120,834,164 was distributed via 146 awards through this program. For FY 2022, a total of $45,382,848 was distributed via 124 awards. For FY 2021, a total of $13,848,873 was distributed via 135 awards. Refer to the Award file for details.

Contacts:

Program Staff
Resilience.Funding@bia.gov

Agency Address
Branch of Tribal Climate Resilience
1001 Indian School Rd., NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104

Contact Notes:

Questions should be directed to the program staff, or to the appropriate regional contact listed online at www.bia.gov/service/climate-resource-directory.

Applications must be submitted online at portal.bia.gov.

The agency address provided is for reference purposes only.

Files:
NOFA File: US10918_NOFA_FY2023.pdf (411.2 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US10918_Overview_FY2023.pdf (106.0 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US10918_Contact_FY2023.pdf (49.1 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US10918_FAQ_FY2023.pdf (450.6 Kb)
Award File: US10918_Award_FY2023.pdf (3.1 Mb)
File Notes:

The NOFA file contains the full solicitation for this program. The Overview file contains general program information, including information regarding an optional workshop and webinar scheduled for this program. The Contact file contains contact information for this program. The FAQ file contains a list of answers to frequently asked questions regarding this program. The Award file contains information on previous award recipients.

April 17, 2024
Information regarding awards through this program has been released and appended to the Award file. A brief summary of the awards has been added to the Financial section, and a sample of award recipients has been added to the Eligibility section.

Grant Keywords
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Grant Categories
Training & Vocational Services
Environment/Natural Resources
Science/Technology