Grants / Department of Commerce / DOC NOAA - ERA Production

NOAA-NMFS-HCPO-2025-29689: Coastal Habitat Restoration and Resilience Grants for Tribes and Underserved Communities, Under the BIL Round 3

Closed Closed May 12, 2025 Opportunity NOAA-NMFS-HCPO-2025-29689 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. A newer notice from the same program is open now: DARRP Restoration Implementation Grants (2026) (NOAA-NMFS-HCPO-2026-33781). Status: Closes November 18, 2026 (11 days left). It is in our archive of DOC NOAA - ERA Production notices from 2024.

• Award ceiling$2.0 million
• Award floor$75,000
• Total funding$20.0 million
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeCooperative Agreement

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to nonprofits, colleges and universities, state and local governments, tribes, small businesses and businesses.

Eligible applicants are tribes, applicants that can demonstrate status as a tribal entity, an underserved community (see definitions in Section I.A.), or entities that partner with tribes, tribal entities, and/or underserved communities such as institutions of higher education, non-profit organizations, commercial (for profit) organizations, U.S. territories, and state, local, and Native American and Alaska Native tribal governments. As part of their applications, applicants must demonstrate their status as, or connection to, a tribe, tribal entity, and/or an underserved community. This status or connection will be reviewed by NOAA as part of the initial eligibility review, and through the application merit review process. NOAA will validate the applicant’s description against publicly available demographic and economic data. Up to 15% of the funding in this opportunity is only available to Indian tribes (as defined in 25 U.S.C. Section 5304 (e)) and Native American organizations that represent Indian tribes through formal legal agreements (e.g. tribal commissions, tribal consortia, tribal conservation districts, and tribal cooperatives). Funding to Indian tribes and Native American organizations may be direct awards or subawards. 25 U.S.C Section 5304 (e) states that “Indian tribe” or “Indian Tribe” means any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, including any Alaska Native village or regional or village corporation as defined in or established pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (85 Stat. 688) [43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.], which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians. Applicants demonstrating a connection to a tribe, tribal entity and/or an underserved community may do this through proposed subawards, contracts, informal collaboration, or other engagement with, or approval of, one or more tribes, tribal entities, and/or underserved communities. The application will be evaluated based on the strength of the partnership with the underserved community or communities. The partner submitting the application is required to provide supporting documentation in the application demonstrating that they have been endorsed by one or more tribes, tribal entities, and/or underserved communities for the specific work proposed. The documentation may be provided in the form of letters of support from one or more tribes, tribal entities, and/or underserved communities for the specific work proposed, and should be attached with other Supplemental Materials. Applications from federal agencies or employees of federal agencies will not be considered. However, federal agencies or employees may serve as unfunded collaborative project partners. Foreign entities should participate as partners (contractors, sub-recipients, or informal collaborators) of a prime recipient based in the U.S. Applicants must propose work in coastal, estuarine, marine, or Great Lakes areas (see Section I.A. for a definition of coastal areas). Eligible applicants for Great Lakes projects must propose work within the Great Lakes basin within one of the eight U.S. Great Lakes states (New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota). Applications that propose projects in the Commonwealth and Territories of the United States, for this funding opportunity defined as American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, are eligible, but those in the Freely Associated States (the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia) are not eligible to submit an application.

More grants for nonprofits, colleges and universities, state and local governments, tribes, small businesses, businesses.

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past Habitat Conservation awards averaged $4.3 million; this notice allows up to $2.0 million per award.
• Most of the program's money (52% over five years) went to nonprofits.
• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

The principal objective of this funding opportunity is to support opportunities for tribes, and/or tribal entities, and underserved communities to meaningfully engage in coastal habitat restoration activities. NOAA anticipates up to $20 million will be available under this opportunity, of which up to 15% will specifically be available as direct awards and subawards to Indian tribes (as defined in 25 U.S.C. Section 5304 (e)) and Native American organizations that represent Indian tribes through formal legal agreements (e.g. tribal commissions, tribal consortia, tribal conservation districts, and tribal cooperatives). The remaining funding will be available to all eligible applicants. Funding will prioritize capacity building, meaningful engagement, and restoration project activities that enhance resilience of tribes, tribal entities, and underserved communities and have the greatest potential to lead to habitat restoration in coastal, estuarine, marine, and Great Lakes areas. This funding opportunity is authorized under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) (BIL, Public Law 117-58), 135 STAT. 1356 (Nov. 15, 2021). This funding opportunity does not have a formal matching requirement. Projects that are most responsive to the program priorities will be more competitive. Potential activities include: 1) capacity building, which may include (but is not limited to) participation in municipal or regional-scale resilience planning, project planning and feasibility studies, stakeholder engagement, proposal development for future funding, and outreach and education, as well as hiring of staff to increase capacity to support the planning, design and implementation of restoration actions, as well as capacity to support overall award management including tracking, reporting, and project coordination/development; 2) meaningful engagement, which may include (but is not limited to) engaging the community through educational opportunities, community discussions, and/or paid experiences that support the successful execution of the proposed project activities; 3) restoration project activities, including for demonstration projects, which may include engineering and design, permitting, on-the-ground restoration, and pre- and post project implementation monitoring. Competitive applications will directly benefit tribes or underserved communities. Applicants may apply for funding to support one or more of these activities.

Category: Community Development, Environment.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Apply under the newer notice, NOAA-NMFS-HCPO-2026-33781, which is open now.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.