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The 21st Century Conservation Service Corps and Civilian Climate Corps ProgramsOverview: NPS Youth and Veteran Development Programs represent the future of the NPS and encompasses a full range of 21CSC/CCC oriented developmental programs and projects conducted in and around national park units, NPS support offices, as well as in local communities and with partner organizations. NPS Youth Development Programs are committed to evolving and advancing vibrant and relevant youth and young adult programming that emphasize the mission of the NPS. NPS Youth Development Programs are designed to provide employment, education, experiential learning, and public service opportunities to U.S. citizens and legal residents who are between the ages of 16 and 30, and veterans up to 35 years of age.The 21CSC/CCC is a collaborative effort between federal government agencies and non-profit service organizations to put America’s youth and veterans to work protecting, restoring and enhancing America’s great outdoors. Through the 21CSC/CCC, young people and veterans will accomplish meaningful work, and gain important personal and professional skills while building a lifelong connection to the outdoors. The 21CSC/CCC strives to achieve the following public purpose goals and objectives:1) Put Americans to Work: The 21CSC/CCC will provide service, training, education and employment opportunities for thousands of young Americans and veterans, including low income and disadvantaged youth.2) Preserve, Protect, and Promote America's Greatest Gifts: The 21CSC/CCC will protect, restore, and enhance public and tribal lands and waters as well as natural, cultural, and historical resources and treasures. By producing high-quality, cost-effective project work from the 21CSC/CCC will also increase public access and use while spurring economic development and outdoor recreation.3) Build America's Future: Through service to the United States of America, the 21CSC/CCC will help develop a generation of skilled workers, educated and active citizens, future leaders, and stewards of natural and cultural resources, communities, and the nation.4) Provide a Living Wage: A reasonable living wage which is at the minimum equivalent to the minimum wage for the area. A continuum of benefits to support a corps members whole person can include compensation, housing, and other benefits.5) Provide a Pathway to Employment: Build a pipeline of talent and skilled labor of individuals inspired to enter public service or set them up for good-paying careers through intentional labor partnerships, pre-apprenticeship programs, and more.6) Represent America: Corps members should reflect the rich diversity of America, including hiring people from underserved communities, individuals with disabilities, Native Tribes, returning veterans, and unskilled young adults seeking vocational, internship, and educational opportunities.7) Tackle Climate Change: Tackle climate change from all angles by expanding the scope of climate solutions projects eligible for federal government support.8) Appropriate conservation projects and other appropriate projects to be carried out on federal, state, local, or private land as part of a federal disaster prevention or relief effort.Purpose: The NPS Youth Development Programs Division seeks to develop collaborative partnerships with non-profit youth-serving organizations who have the expertise to develop and administrator 21CSC programs that focus on providing employment, education, and engagement opportunities for U.S. citizens and legal residents in NPS units and affiliated sites such as National Register of Historic Places, National Heritage Areas, National Wild and Scenic Rivers, National Historic Landmarks, National Trails, and adjacent gateway communities. The primary purpose of the funds is for the benefit of the interns participating in the program.Participant Requirements: U.S. citizens and legal residents between the ages of 16 and 30 years of age, and veterans up to 35 years of age.Types of Projects: Natural and cultural resource conservation projects that are developed in collaboration with NPS officials with an emphasis on public purpose for the benefit of the American public, as well as, for providing employment and educational opportunities to young people and veterans. These projects will provide the participants with job skills training, education, and/or professional development. The employment focused projects are organized in either: 1) a crew-based format where the participants work collectively and intensely together and are directly supervised by trained and experienced crew leaders or conservation professionals; or 2) a individual or small team-based format where participants work individually or in coordinated teams under the direction of conservation professionals on initiatives that require specific skills and dedicated attention. The work projects include significant outdoor activity and/or helps young people and veterans connect with “America’s Great Outdoors”. Some projects may include work primarily indoors (i.e., research, policy, web development, visitor services, or administration) but also has a clear and direct connection to natural and cultural resource conservation.Project Examples:Climate change mitigation and resilienceCyclic maintenanceDevelopment of educational resource materials for visitorsEcosystem restorationEnhancing recreational opportunitiesField-based service such as trail building/restoration, removing invasive species and habitat restoration.GIS and mapping resourcesInterpretation of natural and cultural resourcesMuseum curationPreserving historic structuresProtecting of wildlife and preserving lands and structuresResearch such as scientific, historic, archival, archaeological digs, oral histories, historic preservation, and habitat surveys etc.Restoration and rehabilitation of facilitiesSupport management of natural and cultural resources such as developing and implementing resource stewardship plans, developing educational and informational materials for park visitorsTechnologically based natural and cultural resource educational programs and communication outreachVisitor educationEducation Projects: The National Park Service is committed to providing educational opportunities to 21CSC qualified individuals that help them to learn about American values, civic engagement, and citizenship stewardship. These projects utilize various educational techniques to convey and teach the NPS mission of natural and resource conservation.Education Project Examples:Projects that target 21CSC qualified participants and provide place-based learning opportunities with a focus on natural and/or cultural resource stewardship.Seminars that provide training opportunities for 21CSC qualified participants that promote natural and cultural resource stewardship and gateway community collaboration.Applicant Organizational RequirementsThe applicant organization should be able to clearly demonstrate their ability to design natural and cultural resource conservation projects that accomplish needed and important work on public lands while at the same time providing their 21CSC participants with educational, technical, life, and leadership skills. Each participant should develop a sense of community and purpose from their work on these projects. NPS may give preference to qualified youth or conservation corps organizations (see definition below) located in a specific area that have a substantial portion of members who are economically, physically, or educationally disadvantaged to carry out projects within the area. Park asset acquisition or personal services are not allowable.Public Land Corps Law DefinitionQualified Youth or Conservation Corps means any program established and administered by a State or local government, by the governing body of any Indian tribe, or a nonprofit organization that: 1) Carries out appropriate conservation projects on or related to eligible service land; 2) Is capable of offering meaningful, full-time, productive work for individuals between the ages of 16 and 30, inclusive, or veterans age 35 or younger, in a natural or cultural resource setting; 3) Engages participants in a variety of work experience, basic and life skills, education, training, and support services; 4) Provides participants with the opportunity to develop citizenship values and skills through service to their community and the United States; and 5) Provides the individual with a living allowance, stipend, or wages.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS or Service) is the premier government agency dedicated to the conservation, protection, and enhancement of fish, wildlife and plants, and their habitats. We are the only agency in the federal government whose primary responsibility is the conservation and management of these important natural resources for the American public. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s origins date back to 1871 when Congress established the U.S. Fish Commission to study the decrease in the nation’s food fishes and recommend ways to reverse that decline. The FWS is committed to building and retaining a diverse and inclusive workforce that reflects the ethic, age, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, and language diversity of contemporary America. The FWS operates a variety of programs that promote wildlife conservation and public land management under the Public Lands Corps Act (PLC) through engagement, employment, and education of our nation’s diverse youth and veterans. FWS programs operating under the Public Lands Corps Act have been designated as covered programs under Justice40 (Executive Order 14008). The FWS strives to meet the Federal Government’s goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal Investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution. The categories of investment are: climate change, clean energy and energy efficiency, clean transit, affordable and sustainable housing, training and workforce development, remediation of reduction of legacy pollution, and the development of critical clean water and wastewater infrastructure. The Public Lands Corps (PLC) Program is authorized by Congress under Title 16 USC Sec. 1721-1726; Public Law 109-154, Public Lands Corps Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2005 (amends the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993), and all subsequent amendments. Guidance authorizes U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to (1) establish PLC Programs (2) certify participants who meet the PLC eligibility requirements for the PLC non-competitive hiring authority status, and (3) ensure consistent program standards throughout the FWS. The purpose of the FWS PLC Programs is to provide work and education opportunities for youth (defined as ages 16-30 inclusive, and up to age 35 for veterans) participants in the areas of natural and cultural resource conservation, development, and scientific research. Participants perform work on our nation’s public lands by providing additional, unique capacity designed to boost the impact of the FWS for the conservation and management of fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the American people. The PLC FWS Youth Corps Program allows the FWS to establish partnerships with Partner organizations (Partners), generally defined as “qualified youth or conservation corps,” using financial assistance/cooperative agreements or MOUs, to employ the next generation of conservationists in paid PLC projects and internships. Partners must be designated as an official member of the FWS Youth Corps in order to certify Participants. FWS Youth Corps application information is available in the attachments to this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). The purpose of this NOFO is not to establish new partnerships. See Full Announcement for additional information and application instructions. Unsolicited partnership applications or projects that are not collaboratively developed between an existing FWS Youth Corps member and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be returned as ineligible. ***Applicants seeking technical or financial assistance from a FWS PLC programs are requested to consult with a local FWS office BEFORE developing or submitting an application (see FWS Youth Program Contacts included in the Related Documents of this announcement or visit U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (fws.gov) to locate a FWS office in your area. ***Unsolicited Partnership applications submitted through Grants.gov will be returned as ineligible. See Related Documents for application instructions for FWS Youth Corps.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Community Services (OCS) announces the availability of grants to Community Action Agencies (CAAs) and tribes that were funded directly by the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) in FY 2024 that own affordable housing units and provide wraparound supportive services to residents of the affordable units, including educational opportunities for youths and adults; afterschool and/or summer programs for children and teens; early childcare, Head Start, Early Head Start, or other early childhood education programs/opportunities for young children ages 0 to 5; older adult care services; mental health, alcohol, and addiction services; services for individuals with disabilities; self-sufficiency resources; resources on future homeownership; financial literacy training; transportation services for residents; referrals and connections to resources to help meet concrete needs; and health care services.Through this funding opportunity, recipients will be able to leverage their expertise and partnerships to provide wraparound supportive services to residents of affordable housing, with the goal of improving housing stability and economic mobility. Applicants will need to demonstrate a long-standing ability to: 1. promote safety, stability, and economic mobility for residents through strengthened wraparound supportive services 2. advance equity through their affordable housing and supportive service efforts; and3. collect data related to residential services and evaluate efforts.Recipients will participate fully in a federal evaluation and follow all evaluation protocols established by ACF and/or its designee contractor(s). Fully participating in a federal evaluation may include supporting and complying with data collection requirements, providing administrative data on program participation, and other activities. In addition, the federal evaluation may include an evaluation of the implementation of this demonstration.

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission seeks applications involving collaborative teams of archivists and other practitioners to address archival capacity building and 2 related challenges in the processing, long-term preservation, discovery, access, and research use of archival collections at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The Commission seeks applications from collaborative teams involving HBCU-based repositories, libraries, research centers, and/or other archival or community-based archival entities serving to build capacity at HBCUs, working together to advance the capacity and effectiveness of HBCU archives to care for their collections and make them discoverable and accessible to the public and to the broader field of researchers, students, and teachers. The collaborative teams should demonstrate a commitment to building meaningful, mutually-beneficial and respectful collaborations by promoting resource sharing and capacity building at all levels. Collaborative teams also must demonstrate commitment to institutional advancement and capacity-building for small and underserved HBCU archives and repositories, especially those organizations with missions to serve a collective of HBCUs; strengthen the archival ecosystem that supports HBCU collections and history; and/or service similar organizations that preserve collections that document African American or other marginalized histories. Prospective applicants to the Capacity Building for HBCU Archives program may: ? share affinities among the scope and subject matter of their collections; and/or ? provide a service or services to a member-based collective, consortium, or alliance of similar organizations; and/or ? serve similar types of user communities such as HBCUs. Competitive proposals will focus on one or more of the following areas: Education and Training ? To provide archival training for working professionals and other stakeholders currently working in HBCU libraries and archives that have insufficient archival training but whose essential job duties require archival activities on a regular basis. Such training should equip working professionals with practical archival tools, skills, and best practices to integrate into their daily work and archival processes at their home institution. ? To provide education and training for HBCU archivists and other stakeholders on current electronic records systems and related tools and best practices for preserving, arranging, processing, and describing these and other born-digital and digitized records collections. ? To create a “traveling archivist” or similar field-service program that will send professional archivists and librarians to provide high quality assistance on-site. Library or archival staff at partnering HBCU repositories will receive practical and affordable 3 recommendations they can undertake to improve collection preservation and access. For example, activities can include a site visit to the participating repository and a survey of their collections followed by specific recommendations made by the traveling or visiting archivist. ? To provide archival education and training programs, in collaboration with community-based archives or other local cultural memory entities, to cultivate a community of practice that can lead to cost-savings and long-term sustainability for HBCU archives. Capacity Building ? To hire consultants to assist archives and libraries at HBCUs to develop basic planning and process documents to enhance eligibility for higher levels of funding. Examples include but are not limited to the development of strategic plans, collection management plans, preservation plans, emergency plans, digital infrastructure plans; sustainability plans, and/or climate action plans. ? To provide direct assistance to HBCUs for the development of strategic plans and assessment documents to increase the capacity to sustain collections long term. Examples include but are not limited to preservation assessment, self-assessment, and/ or conservation assessment. ? To develop or expand existing models for collaboration with community-based archives or consortia that support enhanced discovery, online access to, and expanded research use of HBCU archival collections. ? To assist HBCU archives and their community-based partners in developing programs that leverage their collective professional knowledge, skills, and resources. Preservation and Digitization Preparation Grants ? To purchase or provide essential preservation needs, such as shelving, archival furniture, and related archival equipment or systems for collections management. ? To purchase or provide essential archival rehousing supplies for collections at HBCUs. This includes but is not limited to protective enclosures and archival boxes and shelving. ? To purchase or provide digitization equipment and accompanying training. ** If you have additional ideas for a possible application – whether involving one of the above suggested areas of focus, or another idea that builds the capacity of HBCU archives to care for and provide discovery and access to their collections – we strongly encourage you to get in touch to discuss your plans before drafting or making your application. All applicants are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to submit draft materials for additional comment and feedback. (Drafts are due no later than August 15, 2024.) 4 Award Information The Capacity Building for HBCU Archives grant is for one year. Awards may range from $150,000 to $250,000 with the possibility of renewal up to two years. The NHPRC expects to make up to six grants in this category for up to $1,000,000. Applications are due on November 7, 2024. Building Capacity at HBCU Archives Grants begin no earlier than July 1, 2025. Eligibility Eligible applicants: ? US nonprofit organizations including HBCUs, educational institutions serving HBCUs, and/or similar community-based organizations serving HBCUs. ? Colleges, universities, and other academic institutions actively serving HBCUs. ? State or local government agencies. Applications from and collaborations involving Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are strongly encouraged. For a comprehensive list of the Commission’s limitations on funding, please see “What we do and do not fund.” Applications that consist entirely of ineligible activities will not be considered. In order to ensure eligibility, applicants should first review the rules and regulations governing NHPRC grants under the Administering an NHPRC Grant section. Cost Sharing Cost sharing is not a requirement for this program. However, the applicant's financial contribution may be included on the NHPRC Budget form. Cost share may include both direct and indirect expenses, in-kind contributions, non-Federal third-party contributions, and any income earned directly by the project. Indirect costs must be listed under the applicant’s cost sharing contribution. NHPRC grant recipients are not permitted to use grant funds for indirect costs (as indicated in 2 CFR 2600.101). Other Requirements 5 Applicant organizations must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) prior to submitting an application, maintain SAM registration throughout the application and award process, and include a valid Unique Entity ID in their application. To register or request a Unique Entity ID, go to https://sam.gov. Already manage an entity that does business with the federal government? You may want to consult this article on the transition from DUNS to the Unique Entity ID. Ensure your SAM.gov and Grants.gov registrations and passwords are current. It may take up to one month to register or reactivate your registration with SAM.gov and Grants.gov. NHPRC will not grant deadline extensions for lack of registration.