00A01069

Description: The purpose of this agreement is to provide assistance to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to implement its project to support the Long Island Sound Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan to protect and restore Long Island Sound by: 1) developing the Long Island Sound Futures Fund Request for Proposals and associated materials; 2) disseminating the Long Island Sound Futures Fund Request for Proposals through multiple venues and in multiple formats; 3) providing multiple forms of technical assistance to applicants and subrecipients including one-to-one outreach, webinars, shared learning and networking opportunities, geographically focused technical assistance, and guidance materials; 4) developing and managing grant evaluation; 5) delivering a subrecipient and partner technical networking and announcement event; 6) delivering and supporting multiple forms of education about Long Island Sound Futures Fund investments and impact; 7) engaging federal and nonfederal partnerships; 8) supporting development of an enhanced community-facing, community of practice networks within the Long Island Sound study area boundary; 9) administering subrecipient grant agreements and the recipient cooperative from inception to closure; and 10) managing and updating a spatial decision tool and strategy about priorities for conservation investment for the Long Island Sound Futures Fund in the Long Island Sound watershed and related geography in a multi-year investment plan.

Activities: Specifically, under this cooperative agreement the recipient will: 1) develop the Long Island Sound Futures Fund Request for Proposals and associated materials. Develop the Request for Proposals and associated materials (narrative application, evaluation criteria, tips for preparing an application, and educational materials and tools including pollution calculators, budgets, Long Island Sound study educational resources, quality assurance project plan materials and portal, etc.). 2) Disseminate the Request for Proposals. Disseminate an announcement to inform potential applicants about Long Island Sound Futures Fund funding availability. Dissemination will include: 1) National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Long Island Sound study posting the announcement on their respective web pages; 2) via an electronic listserv based in the Mailchimp platform maintained by National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. 3) Conducting individual outreach within the Long Island Sound Futures Fund geography to inform potential applicants or communities of practice about Long Island Sound Futures Fund (for example, state-based 319 programs, nonpoint source pollution groups); 4) via social media; 5) via the technical field liaison team with a particular focus in non-coastal Connecticut and the upper basin states of the Long Island Sound watershed (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont); and via the Sea Grant extension professionals. 3) Provide technical assistance to applicants and subrecipients. Applicants: Technical assistance is coordinated and delivered by National Fish and Wildlife Foundation as follows through the upper basin field liaison team, Long Island Sound study partners and New York and Connecticut Sea Grant extension professionals and Long Island Sound study staff from the New England Interstate Watershed Pollution Control Commission. Technical assistance activities will involve one-to-one written and other forms of feedback about the general fit of project ideas to the conservation priorities of the Long Island Sound Futures Fund and comprehensive conservation management plan update and implementation actions, educational resources focused on LIS, a tips guidance document about preparing a Long Island Sound Futures Fund application and using the online application system and multiple on-the-ground workshops and webinars. Subrecipients: The technical assistance program is comprised of National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Long Island Sound study partners and quality assurance project plan materials and portal, etc.

National Fish And Wildlife Foundation

66.437 - Long Island Sound Program

EPA Region 1: Boston [EPA - RO]

New Haven, Connecticut United States

County-Wide

None