Cultural Landscape Preservation and Education | P17AS00168

Opportunity Information: Apply for P17AS00168

The Cultural Landscape Preservation and Education grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number P17AS00168) is a National Park Service initiative under the U.S. Department of the Interior focused on combining youth workforce development with hands-on preservation and public education work in national park cultural landscapes. It is structured as a discretionary cooperative agreement in the education funding activity category (CFDA 15.931). Rather than being an open, competitive solicitation, it is a notice of intent to enter an agreement with Groundwork USA under an existing cooperative agreement (P15AC00034), which means no applications are being accepted and the project is set up as a single expected award.

The core of the project is to place and support young people in paid, work-based learning roles that directly contribute to preserving historic and cultural landscape resources while also building pathways into conservation and preservation careers. The opportunity is organized around three connected components: a summer youth employment program for entry-level participants (summer crew), a summer leadership track (crew leaders), and a school-year program that blends community engagement with on-the-ground resource management work. Across these components, youth participants gain real exposure to preservation practices, mentoring relationships, and the day-to-day work of park resource staff.

During the summer youth employment program, participating youth (the summer crew) complete cultural landscape preservation internships lasting 10 to 16 weeks. These internships take place at three national park units: Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site, Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area (within the National Parks of Boston partnership), and John Muir National Historic Site. The intent is for interns to contribute meaningfully to landscape preservation tasks while learning practical skills, workplace expectations, and the basics of stewardship in nationally significant historic settings.

A second summer component focuses on leadership development. Youth serving as crew leaders mentor Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) employees while working across six different park sites: National Parks of Boston at Charlestown Navy Yard, Adams National Historical Park, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, Minute Man National Historical Park, and Salem Maritime National Historic Site. This structure is designed to give more experienced youth a supervisory and coaching role, reinforcing their own technical and professional growth while strengthening outcomes for younger or less experienced YCC participants.

The school-year program shifts to part-time participation and emphasizes community-facing educational work alongside continued preservation support. School-year youth develop and implement landscape experiences for community youth, meaning they help design and deliver activities that connect local young people to park landscapes through learning experiences that are likely hands-on, place-based, and tied to cultural and historical themes. At the same time, these school-year participants work alongside National Park Service preservation staff on resource management projects, contributing labor and learning directly from practitioners. The parks listed for this school-year preservation and resource work include Adams National Historical Park, Minute Man National Historical Park, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island National Monument, Gateway National Recreation Area, and Sagamore Hill National Historic Site. Taken together, the school-year activities blend public engagement with operational stewardship, giving youth a broader view of how preservation, interpretation, and resource management fit together in a park setting.

In terms of funding and scale, the opportunity lists an award ceiling of $103,697 with one expected award. The posting date is April 6, 2017. Because the announcement is explicitly a non-competitive notice of intent tied to an existing agreement, the practical takeaway is that this funding is meant to support a defined partner-led youth preservation and education effort already selected by the agency, rather than to invite new proposals from outside organizations.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cultural Landscape Preservation and Education" 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 Apr 06, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Notice of intent to enter agreement with Groundwork USA under cooperative agreement P15AC00034 without additional competition. No applications will be accepted.. (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 $103,697.00 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).

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