Description
Background In 2011, a multi-agency federal partnership was created to support innovative community efforts to provide safe, healthy and accessible outdoor spaces. A strong component of this effort focused on engaging local communities in the revitalization of their waterways. This new Urban Waters Federal Partnership initially focused on improving coordination between federal agencies. As new agencies joined the Partnership, and the response from local communities increased, it became clear that a convenient mechanism was needed to provide funding to support the urban waterway revitalization project ideas that were emerging from within the partner communities. In 2013, the Urban Waters Federal Partnership approached the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) about managing a small urban waters program to provide seed funding for the community-based projects that were emerging around the country. NFWF believe the urban water goals would fit nicely in the existing Five Star Restoration Program managed by NFWF. The Five Star Restoration Program began in 1999 as a partnership with the Environmental Protection Agencyâ¿¿s (EPA) Wetland Office and several corporate partners including Southern Company and Fed Ex. The goal of the program was for applicants to bring together a minimum of five partners to implement urban wetland restoration projects. With funding from EPAâ¿¿s Office of Water and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) State and Private Forestry, NFWF launched the new Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Program. The revised program is a national effort that seeks to develop community stewardship of urban natural resources, while building partnerships at the local level. Projects address water quality issues in priority watersheds, such as erosion due to unstable streambanks, pollution from stormwater runoff, and degraded shorelines caused by development. The program requires the establishment and/or enhancement of diverse partnerships and an education/outreach component that will help shape and sustain behavior to achieve conservation goals. The requirement for engagement with at least five partners remained. Program Overview Through the Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program (known as Five Star Restoration Program from 1999 - 2012), NFWF funded over 700 projects nationwide, including projects in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. More than $13.3 million in grants has leveraged more than $56 million in other funds or donated services. Projects have engaged over 160,000 community members across the country in conservation efforts; restored and improved a broad range of habitat types in many different landscapes including coastal areas, forests, urban centers, streams and rivers; and more than 75,000 acres of land have been restored including more than 350 acres of wetland habitat. In 2015, the Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Program was expanded to include funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Additional FWS priorities around urban refuges and migratory birds were added to the program. Total program partners now include FWS, EPA, USFS, Southern Company, Fed Ex, Alcoa Foundation, and Bank of America. Purpose and Objectives The purpose of this new award is to provide $250,000 in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) funds to continue support of the Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program, managed by NFWF. This funding will be used by NFWF to support an Urban Refuge focal area in the competitive Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Program. Funding from FWS will be leveraged by funds already committed by U.S. Forest Service (USFS), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and numerous non-federal corporate partners. Through this program, NFWF will solicit projects from state and local governments, non-profit organizations, Tribes, and academic institutions that engage communities in conservation on easily-accessible lands that the Service does not own. Projects shall involve residents in place-based outdoor experiences that foster connections with fish, wildlife and their habitats and must meet at least one of the eight Standards of Excellence for Urban Wildlife Refuges and Partnerships: 1. Know and relate to the community; 2. Connect urban people with nature via stepping stones of engagement; 3. Build partnerships; 4. Be a community asset; 5. Ensure adequate long-term resources; 6. Provide equitable access; 7. Ensure visitors feel safe and welcome; and 8. Model sustainability. The Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program, a unique public-private partnership, invests in urban community-based conservation efforts that result in measurable conservation outcomes, engage the public and provide a better understanding of how fish and wildlife conservation contributes to community well-being. Through the administration of the grant program, NFWF, FWS, FS, EPA, and corporate entities will leverage public and private funding to target resources for priority urban watersheds. All projects selected for FWS Urban Refuge funding will be in proximity of FWS lands or offices or in locations where there are existing FWS urban partnerships. The objectives of the Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program include: -Partnerships: Projectsâ¿¿ proposals should include partner organizations (public and private) with the demonstrated ability or articulated strategy to work with specifically identified urban cultures and communities. Proposals will describe how the partnership with FWS staff can help achieve common goals of connecting people with nature. -Measurable Benefits: Projects should result in measurable outcomes that document greater participation in fish and wildlife related activities among diverse urban audiences and a better understanding of how fish and wildlife conservation contributes to community well-being. -Sustainability: Projects should reflect a commitment to neighborhood and community strength, and long term capacity to remain engaged as a Service partner beyond the life of the grant. -Community Assets: Projects will articulate tangible ways the Service can become an asset to the urban community. Examples of asset building would include, providing technical assistance in fish and wildlife issues, providing pathways for youth employment, supporting urban bird conservation, or community education and recreational enjoyment. Need FWS and NFWF both have a desire to work with urban audiences to promote community-based engagement in conservation activities. As populations continue to grow in urban areas, and as communities become less connected to their natural surroundings, increased efforts need to be taken to reengage these communities in local conservation efforts. The Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Program provides an opportunity for FWS to take advantage of the NFWF grant program infrastructure already developed, the additional federal and non-federal partners committed to the program, and the broad selection of national, regional, and local organizations who regularly submit community-based projects through this program. All projects selected for FWS Urban Refuge funding will be in proximity of FWS lands or offices or in locations where there are existing FWS urban partnerships. Projects will involve residents in place-based outdoor experiences that foster connections with fish, wildlife and their habitats and must meet at least one of the eight Standards of Excellence for Urban Wildlife Refuges and Partnerships. Timeline Listed below is the planned annual schedule for administering the program over the life of the cooperative agreement. This timeline includes outreach activities, Five Star partner and review meetings. October 2016 â¿¿ Begin conducting outreach to potential applicants November 2016 â¿¿ RFP and Application published on program websites and Wildlife Habitat Council Symposium November 2016 â¿¿ Webinar for applicants February 2017 â¿¿ Proposals Due Mid-Feb to Late-March 2017 â¿¿ Proposal Review April 2017 â¿¿ Initial Review Committee Meeting (NFWF, FWS and other partners); Final Review Committee Meeting/Funding Decisions May-June 2017 â¿¿ Final slate approval by all funders; Congressional Notification Early/Mid-July 2017 â¿¿ Press releases developed; award letters sent to grantees Mid-July to August 2017 â¿¿ Negotiation grant agreements with grantees August 2017 â¿¿ NLT September 2019 â¿¿ Monitor progress, track results of funded projects December 2019 â¿¿End of FWS-NFWF award Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Environmental Outcomes In 2007, NFWF, in consultation with the Five Star Partners (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Association of Counties, Southern Company, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and Wildlife Habitat Council) commissioned Oregon State University to complete an evaluation of the Five Star Restoration Program. This program required a minimum of five or more organizations to implement projects that restore stream banks and wetlands. The evaluation analyzed applications, interim and final reports from 123 projects funded between 1999 and 2005. The partners used this evaluation to refine overall programmatic evaluative metrics and then incorporated them into the NFWFâ¿¿s electronic grants management system. The outcomes evaluated by OSU for Five Star subgrant projects completed between 1999 and 2005, as well as new priorities provided by the Urban Bird and Urban Water partners, serve as the basis for the program. NFWF staff will continue to work with NFWFâ¿¿s Science and Evaluation staff and agency leads to identify performance measures for the Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Program. These measures effectively gauge progress toward achieving the Programâ¿¿s goals and objectives. On the project level, these evaluation criteria have been incorporated into the RFP, application and the proposal review process. Program partners adapted application materials from NFWFâ¿¿s existing templates to meet specific program needs and streamline evaluation. NFWF requires applicants to identify activities, project outputs and project outcomes, as well as indicators and baseline values to be used to measure change over time. NFWF staff continually evaluates outcomes to ensure that the most effective measures are utilized. These project-level measures track directly to the program-wide measures and the baseline mentioned above. These may include, for example, the number of volunteers engaged in the project. Indicators defined in proposals are tracked in the NFWFâ¿¿s electronic grants management system. Under the conditions of the NFWFâ¿¿s standard grant agreement templates, grantees are required to provide periodic and final programmatic and financial reports at the end of their projects to document their accomplishments and ensure appropriate use of Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Program funds. This approach allows NFWF staff to monitor the progress of each project (e.g., is the grantee meeting their targets and if not, is corrective action required) while also facilitating efficient and timely payments of grant funds. Programmatic and financial reports are due annually. NFWF requires that all grantees use standard reporting templates and data standards to assist NFWF in in ensuring data compatibility with FWS requirements. NFWFâ¿¿s Compliance Department monitors all federal regulations and agreements to ensure that all regulations are met by NFWF and our subgrantees. Upon completion of each project, grantees are required to provide a project evaluation report summarizing how they satisfied the specific objectives contained in their grant agreement. Grantees also report on the specific activities and targets in terms of outputs, outcomes and environmental results. NFWF similarly evaluates the success of the projects against their applications. NFWF will summarize and report the accomplishments by grantees and analyze the overall program accomplishments in a final report to FWS for the entire cooperative agreement. Authorizing statutes for this program include Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act of 1934 (16 U.S.C. 2901-2911); Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 (16 U.S.C. 742(a)-754); Refuge Recreation Act of 1962 (16 U.S.C. 460k-460k(4)); National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd); Youth Conservation Corps Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1701-1706); Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 (16 U.S.C. 470aa-47011); The National Wildlife Refuge System Act of 1997 (Public Law 105-57); National Wildlife Refuge System Volunteer and Community Partnership Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-327); Federal Aid for Highways, HR 4348 (23 U.S.C. 201-204 and 206, Public Law 112-141).