Teaching Traditional Building/Landscape Skills Training Project- SLBE | NPS NOIP16AC00553

Opportunity Information: Apply for NPS NOIP16AC00553

The Teaching Traditional Building/Landscape Skills Training Project - SLBE is a National Park Service (NPS) cooperative agreement opportunity designed to expand a hands-on workforce development partnership at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The project grows out of an existing master cooperative agreement between the U.S. Department of the Interior/NPS and SEEDS, Inc., created to support local, practical responses to broader environmental and community needs while giving young people real experience in "green collar" career pathways. In this context, green collar work is framed as benefiting natural resources and strengthening communities, not just producing economic gains.

At its core, the project focuses on teaching traditional building and landscaping skills to youth participants ages 16 to 25 through service learning. The model emphasizes skill transfer through direct practice: small crews complete real park projects matched to their ability level, and participants learn through close mentor-apprentice relationships rather than classroom-only instruction. The intent is that these traditional skills can translate into career opportunities, help supplement income, and also become lifelong, healthy pursuits that participants can continue beyond the program.

The statement of work lays out a shared implementation approach where the recipient (the partner organization carrying out the work under the cooperative agreement) takes responsibility for planning support, staffing, logistics, and reporting, while NPS provides technical oversight and active project involvement. On the recipient side, key duties include working with the traditional skills educator and the park historical architect to plan and choose projects, tailoring tasks to the progressive skill level of each crew. The recipient must also recruit, assemble, and employ crews and crew leaders, ensure they show up to job sites on schedule, and provide transportation. In addition, the recipient collaborates during on-the-ground project execution, coordinates materials and tool selection so everything needed is available when required, and completes reporting and ongoing communications, including notifying NPS staff about progress changes or scheduling issues and attending required meetings.

On the NPS side, the agency commits to jointly participating in carrying out the work rather than simply issuing funds and stepping back. NPS will provide a technical representative and may involve the park historical architect as well as building and utilities staff to support specialized needs. NPS also controls quality and sequencing by reviewing and approving each stage of work before the next stage begins, and it retains the authority to direct or redirect work if it intersects with other park priorities. If performance specifications are not being met, NPS can immediately halt activities. The opportunity is explicitly structured as a cooperative agreement, meaning substantial federal involvement is expected throughout the project, including close monitoring and operational engagement while allowing the recipient some discretion in how it organizes staffing and operations.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity from the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, listed under CFDA 15.931, and categorized across education, employment and training, environment, and natural resources. The funding opportunity number is NPS NOIP16AC00553, with a posted creation date of August 17, 2017, and an original closing date of August 31, 2017. The opportunity anticipated a single award with a maximum award amount (ceiling) of $110,000. Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others" with additional eligibility detail referenced in the full announcement.

Overall, the opportunity is best understood as a structured, supervised training-and-work program where youth crews learn traditional trades and landscape skills by completing real preservation and maintenance projects at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, with SEEDS-style youth programming capacity on the recipient side and strong technical oversight and staged approval on the NPS side.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the education, employment, labor and training, environment, natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Teaching Traditional Building/Landscape Skills Training Project- SLBE" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.931.
• This funding opportunity was created on Aug 17, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 31, 2017. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $110,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for NPS NOIP16AC00553

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: