Green Resilience Project: Helping Texas Communities | P19AS00201

Opportunity Information: Apply for P19AS00201

The Green Resilience Project: Helping Texas Communities (Funding Opportunity Number P19AS00201) is a National Park Service, Department of the Interior discretionary funding opportunity offered as a cooperative agreement under the Natural Resources funding activity category (CFDA 15.945). Created on May 23, 2019, with an original closing date of June 1, 2019, it was structured as a single anticipated award (Expected Awards: 1) with an award ceiling of $843,133. Eligibility for applicants was limited to public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, meaning the funding was intended to flow through a university or similar public higher-ed institution that would then carry out the project work in partnership with participating communities and the federal agency.

At its core, the project is designed to help Texas communities strengthen resilience by moving from high-level ideas to implementable projects that use green infrastructure and hazard mitigation approaches, especially in areas impacted by Hurricane Harvey. The work is framed as practical, on-the-ground assistance rather than purely academic research. The selected awardee would assemble a project team capable of delivering planning services and technical support directly to communities, guiding them through the steps needed to shape feasible, fundable, and buildable projects that reduce risk while also creating environmental and recreational benefits.

One major component is direct, hands-on planning support delivered to a set of communities chosen through an application process. Those communities would be selected through a call for applications, and in exchange for receiving intensive assistance, they would be expected to contribute a match in the form of in-kind professional support. The planning focus is explicitly on resilience, green infrastructure, and hazard mitigation, with the intent of helping communities advance concepts into actionable implementation pathways. As part of this hands-on work, the project team would also identify and support a Demonstration Project, intended to function as a model effort that others can learn from and replicate. This demonstration element is meant to produce a concrete example of how natural or green infrastructure strategies can be planned and positioned for real-world delivery.

A second component centers on training and capacity-building to promote resiliency across the Hurricane Harvey-impacted region. The project team would provide training to communities on the use of natural infrastructure for both recreation and hazard mitigation, emphasizing approaches that can manage flooding and storm impacts while improving quality of life and access to outdoor spaces. The training would be delivered through informational webinars and/or in-person training events hosted in communities throughout the impacted area, making the content accessible to local leaders, practitioners, and partners who may be responsible for planning, parks, drainage, floodplain management, or related functions.

A third component focuses on information and resource sharing through the development of a casebook that documents successful examples and best practices. This would take the form of a printed report and/or an interactive online database, curated to help communities and practitioners understand what works, how projects are put together, and what partnerships and timelines are realistic. The casebook would include relevant resources and case studies with practical details such as project specifics, partners, timelines, and innovative approaches, and it is explicitly modeled after the National Park Service RTCA casebook Floods, Floodplains, and Folks (1996). In effect, this product is meant to outlast the grant period by serving as a reference guide that communities can use to design and justify green infrastructure solutions that reduce hazard risk while delivering co-benefits like recreation and environmental restoration.

Overall, the opportunity is best understood as a coordinated technical-assistance and knowledge-sharing initiative: one award to a qualified public higher-education institution that can (1) deliver targeted planning help to selected communities (with a required in-kind match from those communities), (2) train Harvey-impacted communities through webinars and in-person sessions, and (3) publish a practitioner-focused casebook of proven green resilience strategies and lessons learned. The emphasis throughout is on natural or green infrastructure as a tool for hazard mitigation and community benefit, with deliverables that combine direct local impact, regional training reach, and durable reference materials.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Green Resilience Project: Helping Texas Communities" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.945.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 23, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 01, 2019. (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 $843,133.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education.

Apply for P19AS00201

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