BIA 2020 Tribal Resilience Program Planning Grants 

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced the 2020 Notice of Funding opportunity for the BIA Tribal Resilience Program Planning grants. This program supports tribes preparing for extreme events and harmful environmental trends that impact tribal treaty and trust resources, economies, infrastructure, and human health and safety. The Program will provide funding for projects that support tribal resilience and ocean and coastal management planning as tribes incorporate science (including Traditional Knowledge) and technical information to prepare for the impacts of extreme events and harmful environmental trends. There are seven award categories:

  • Adaptation Planning (Categories 1-3)
    • Category 1. Trainings and Workshops (maximum: $150,000)
    • Category 2. Adaptation Planning (maximum: $150,000)
    • Category 3. Travel Support for Adaptation Planning (maximum: $15,000)
  • Ocean and Coastal Management Planning (Categories 4-5)
    • Category 4. Ocean and Coastal Management Planning (maximum: $150,000)
    • Category 5. Travel Support – Ocean & Coastal (maximum: $15,000)
  • Capacity Building (Category 6)
    • Category 6. Capacity Building for Scoping Efforts to Support future Category 2 Proposal development
  • Relocation, Managed Retreat, or Protect-in-Place Planning (Category 7)
    • Category 7. Planning for Relocation, Managed Retreat, or Protect-in-Place Activities for Coastal and Riverine Communities (maximum: $150,000)

The solicitation is for federally-recognized tribes and tribal organizations* (as defined by 25 U.S.C. Section 5304(1)). Other entities may participate as sub-grantees. The solicitation is available on grants.gov, named BIA-TRP-2020-0001 and is also directly linked here on the BIA Tribal Resilience Program site. Additional details, including evaluation criteria, are described in the Notice of Funding (i.e., Request for Proposals or Solicitation).

Proposal Deadline:  March 2, 2020, by 5:00 p.m. Alaska Time / 9 p.m. Eastern Time. Send completed proposals to resilience.funding@bia.gov or by hard copy to: Ms. Jo Ann Metcalfe, Attention: Tribal Resilience Program, Grant Officer, Central Office Acquisitions, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 12220 Sunrise Valley Dr., Reston, VA 20191.

Upcoming Informational Webinar: Please register for a webinar describing the 2020 Solicitation [Thursday, January 9, 2020 from 10:00am-11:30am (Pacific Time)].

General Discussion: For the larger awards ($150,000), there is one award per category. Those awards do not include travel support. Rachel highlighted that this year’s award includes a new category that is meant to provide increased support to tribal communities in planning for relocation, managed retreat, or protect-in-place planning (category 7). The 2020 funding opportunity gives tribes a two-year timeframe for projects. There is an online application for categories 3, 5, 6 to simplify the process for smaller awards. The FAQs have been updated on the site and will be presented during webinar hosted by the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) on January 9, 2020. Rachael suggested that if you are looking for programmatic support, you should reach out to your regional tribal resilience liaison. The NW regional contact is Chas Jones, and his position is funded through a partnership between the NW CASC and the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians.