The Maine Department of Education (DOE) is excited to launch Phase 2 of the climate education professional development grant pilot program. The grant application is due on May 3rd, 2024. The program window runs from July 1st, 2024 until June 30th, 2025. There is $750,000.00 in funding available for local education providers to apply to partner with a community-based organization for climate-related, interdisciplinary professional development. This grant program was designed out of LD 1902 which passed in the spring of 2022.

There have been minor refinements from Phase 1 of this grant program in the fall of 2023. Overall clarity and simplicity of the application have been improved as well as a focus on applicants demonstrating increased access to historically underserved communities. The full RFA and application can be found by following the link below.

This program is overseen by Teddy Lyman, the Maine DOE’s Climate Education Specialist. Teddy will coordinate this program including the application, awards, and contracts. During the RFA application window, Teddy cannot communicate directly with anyone who might benefit from direct communication that is not publicly available.

Questions about the RFA should be emailed to Teddy at: Theodore.Lyman@maine.gov by 11:59 pm on March 29th, 2024. Questions and answers will be posted publicly at the link below.  The Climate Education Action Taskforce was also launched this spring to design the future of climate education (more information can be found below).

For more information and updates, check out the DOE climate education webpage.