Alternatives to Equipping Journalists to Counter Anti-American Propaganda

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) announces up to $10 million to support a National Fund Manager (NFM) to design and manage a Lead-Safe and Healthy Homes Financing Demonstration (the Fund). The Fund will be a national platform to pool public and private capital to accelerate the reduction of residential lead exposure, particularly childhood lead poisoning, and improve housing-related health conditions in low-income communities ("lead-safe and healthy homes activities").While HUD and EPA programs have addressed lead and other environmental hazards in many homes, progress remains slow relative to the scale of need. For example, since 1993, HUD has remediated lead hazards in over 230,000 low-income housing units, but tens of millions of U.S. households continue to face risk from lead and additional residential environmental stressors. Expanding access to private capital alongside public funding is critical to increasing the pace and scale of remediation.Traditional home repair financing remains difficult to access due to strict underwriting, high denial rates, and lender risk concerns, leaving many older homes in disrepair. The Fund will build upon successful local models that combine public and private resources and expand this approach nationally by aggregating capital and supporting local financing programs.The NFM will be responsible for leveraging the initial $10 million in public funds to raise private capital investments, structuring financing mechanisms, and providing technical assistance to support the Fund's operations. The NFM will also be responsible for the distribution of the funds through eligible activities by using no more than $1 million of the federal award for administrative activities, while deploying the remaining capital through loans, grants, and other financial products that flow to state, regional, and local governments and nonprofit organizations selected by the NFM. The NFM will select and enter into agreements with organizations, which will in turn provide financing for conducting lead-safe and healthy homes activities in homes of low-income homeowners and homes owned by small landlords, in low-income communities. HUD will maintain oversight through review of Fund structure, performance, and compliance rather than by participating in investment selection decisions.The organizations selected for funding by the NFM will ensure that the financing conditions require use of appropriately qualified contractors, laboratories, and financial entities in accordance with applicable Federal, state, and local requirements and this NOFO. The NFM will establish and oversee compliance, reporting, and quality assurance processes to ensure that lead-safe and healthy homes activities are performed and financed in accordance with program requirements.

The purpose of the Lead Hazard Reduction (LHR) Grant Program is to maximize the number of children under the age of six protected from lead poisoning by assisting states, Native American Tribes, cities, counties/parishes, or other units of local government in undertaking comprehensive programs to identify and control lead-based paint hazards in eligible privately-owned rental or owner-occupied housing, which must be target housing. In addition, there is Healthy Homes Supplemental funding available that is intended to enhance the lead-based paint hazard control activities by comprehensively identifying and addressing other housing hazards that affect occupant health in homes with lead-based paint hazards being treated under the grant.

The Healthy Homes Production Program (HHP) is part of HUD"s overall Healthy Homes Initiative launched in 1999. The program takes a comprehensive approach to addressing multiple childhood diseases and injuries in the home by focusing on housing-related hazards in a coordinated fashion, rather than addressing a single hazard at a time. The program builds upon HUD"s successful Lead Hazard Control programs to expand the Department"s efforts to address a variety of high-priority environmental health and safety hazards. Applicants receiving a Healthy Homes Production award under this NOFO will be expected to accomplish the following objectives:a. Maximize both the number of vulnerable residents protected from housing-related environmental health and safety hazards and the number of housing units where these hazards are controlled;b. Identify and remediate housing-related health and safety hazards in privately owned, low-income rental and/or owner-occupied housing, especially in units and/or buildings where families with children, older adults 62 years and older, or families with persons with disabilities reside;c. Promote cost-effective and efficient healthy home methods and approaches that can be replicated and sustained;d. Support public education and outreach that furthers the goal of protecting children and other vulnerable populations from housing-related health and safety hazards;e. Build local capacity to operate sustainable programs that will prevent and control housing-related environmental health and safety hazards in low- and very low-income residences, and develop a professional workforce that is trained in healthy homes assessment and principles;f. Promote integration of this grant program with housing rehabilitation, property maintenance, weatherization, healthy homes initiatives, local lead-based paint hazard control programs, health and safety programs, and energy efficiency improvement activities and programs;g. Build and enhance partner resources to develop the most cost-effective methods for identifying and controlling key housing-related environmental health and safety hazards;h. Promote collaboration, data sharing, and targeting between health and housing departments;i. Ensure to the greatest extent feasible that job training, employment, contracting, and other economic opportunities generated by this grant will be directed to low- and very-low-income persons, particularly those who are recipients of government assistance for housing, and to businesses that provide economic opportunities to low- and very low-income persons in the area in which the project is located. For more information, see 24 CFR 135 (Section 3).

Panama’s universities have become an increasingly important arena for strategic competition.  The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has expanded its influence through Confucius Institutes, academic exchanges, research partnerships, scholarships, and sustained engagement with students, faculty, and university leadership.  These influence operations foster distrust of the United States and promote CCP narratives at a critical time in the U.S.-Panama relationship.   Embassy Panama seeks to expand the U.S. presence on university campuses by creating sustained opportunities for students, faculty, administrators, and researchers to engage directly with American institutions, experts, companies, and exchange alumni.  Through English-language programming, AI and emerging technology workshops, entrepreneurship initiatives, visiting speakers, research collaborations, and public discussions on academic freedom and research integrity, the program will demonstrate the advantages of partnering with the United States while providing a credible alternative to CCP-sponsored programming.   Working alongside EducationUSA, American Spaces, the Regional English Language Office, and existing Embassy initiatives, the project will complement existing exchange and advising programs by focusing on institutional engagement and public diplomacy.  The Embassy seeks a year-long initiative that establishes enduring U.S.-Panama academic partnerships, expands American visibility across Panamanian campuses, and directly advances U.S. efforts to counter CCP influence in higher education.   

The opportunity for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Center of Excellence for Alternative Jet Fuel and Environment (AJFE) was awarded in 2013 to the ASCENT cooperative aviation research organization. ASCENT is a coalition of 16 leading US research universities committed to improving the understanding of aviation noise and emissions and the modeling of aviation systems. ASCENT is co-led by Washington State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (https://ascent.aero/). Any new grant opportunities under AJFE are open and available only to the university members of ASCENT.”

The United States Marine Highway Program (USMHP), codified at 46 U.S.C. 55601, was originally established by Section 1121 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to reduce landside congestion through the designation of Marine Highway Routes. The USMHP statute authorizes the U.S. Department of Transportation (“Department” or “DOT”) to make grants to implement Projects or components of Projects that 1) provide a coordinated and capable alternative to landside transportation; mitigate or relieve landside congestion; promote Marine Highway Transportation; or use vessels documented under 46 U.S.C. chapter 121; and 2) develop, expand, or promote Marine Highway Transportation or shipper use of Marine Highway Transportation

The Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) is a Federal formula grant program that provides financial assistance to States, and U.S. Territories to reduce the number and severity of crashes, injuries, and fatalities and hazardous material incidents involving commercial motor vehicles.

AMS will award these funds competitively to at least one eligible organization that meets program requirements and whose expertise is consistent with the purpose of the grant program. The selected grant recipient(s) will provide management, oversight, consultation and expertise necessary to advance the purpose and activities of the program, primarily through a subaward program to support cold storage within the middle of the supply chain. These equipment investments will be made through subawards to food banks, faith-based organizations, and other public or private nonprofit organizations that provide nutrition assistance, such as prepared meals or food for use at home, to people with low-income or challenging financial circumstances.

Established by Congress in fiscal year (FY) 1997, the Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) Land Acquisition Grant program was designed to reduce conflicts between the conservation of listed species and competing land uses on specific parcels of land associated with approved and permitted HCPs. Under this program, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) provides matching grants to State agencies in support of land acquisition projects that will conserve species habitat in perpetuity through fee simple acquisition or the acquisition of permanent conservation easements. FWS considers the use of Federal acquisition dollars by States for habitat protection associated with HCPs to be an important and effective mechanism to promote species recovery, prevent extinction, and preclude the need to list species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the future. All land acquired through these grants complements, but does not replace, the mitigation, minimization, and/or monitoring commitments of the HCP. Thus, this work is additive to the conservation commitments entered into when HCPs are permitted and serves as a meaningful way to leverage non-Federal investment in species recovery and connect conservation lands across the landscape.

Advancing Oil and Natural Gas Production and Delivery This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is seeking proposals to advance cost-effective technologies for improving the efficiency, reliability, and resilience of the Unites States oil and natural gas supply chain. This funding opportunity spans research and development efforts focused on enhancing resource utilization, modernizing infrastructure, and accelerating digital transformation within the sector.

Treasury is publishing multiple funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) for its RESTORE Act grant programs. This announcement applies only to the Direct Component and is only for applications for eligible construction and real property acquisition activities, including environmental restoration projects and including projects with or without a non-federal cost-share for another federally funded project or program. To apply for eligible activities that do not involve any construction, land acquisition, or environmental restoration, applicants should use the non-construction funding opportunity announcement (GR-RDC-25-002). All construction and real property acquisition activities, and any activity that requires a permit from a federal or state agency, including natural resource restoration projects, should be submitted under this construction and real property acquisition funding opportunity announcement. Trust Fund amounts are available to carry out eligible activities described in the RESTORE Act and Treasury’s implementing regulations at 31 CFR 34.201. These are: 1) Restoration and protection of the natural resources, ecosystems, fisheries, marine and wildlife habitats, beaches and coastal wetlands of the Gulf Coast region. 2) Mitigation of damage to fish, wildlife, and natural resources. 3) Implementation of a Federally- approved marine, coastal, or comprehensive conservation management plan, including fisheries monitoring. 4) Workforce development and job creation. 5) Improvements to or on State parks located in coastal areas affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. 6) Infrastructure projects benefitting the economy or ecological resources, including port infrastructure. 7) Coastal flood protection and related infrastructure. 8) Promotion of tourism in the Gulf Coast region, including promotion of recreational fishing. 9) Promotion of the consumption of seafood harvested from the Gulf Coast region. 10) Planning assistance. 11) Administrative costs. Eligible activities 1 through 7 listed above must be carried out in the Gulf Coast region.

Treasury is publishing multiple funding opportunity notices for its RESTORE Act grant programs. This announcement applies only to the Centers of Excellence Research Grants Program.Trust Fund amounts are available to establish one or more Centers of Excellence through competitive subawards to nongovernmental entities and consortia in the Gulf Coast Region, including institutions of higher education. Funds may be used to establish Centers of Excellence, and by those Centers of Excellence for science, technology, and monitoring in one or more of the following disciplines as described in the RESTORE Act and Treasury’s implementing regulations at 31 CFR 34.704: 1) Coastal and deltaic sustainability, restoration, and protection, including solutions and technology that allow citizens to live in a safe and sustainable manner in a coastal delta in the Gulf Coast Region. 2) Coastal fisheries and wildlife ecosystem research and monitoring in the Gulf Coast Region. 3) Offshore energy development, including research and technology to improve the sustainable and safe development of energy resources in the Gulf of Mexico. 4) Sustainable and resilient growth, economic and commercial development in the Gulf Coast Region. 5) Comprehensive observation, monitoring, and mapping of the Gulf of Mexico.Eligible applicants issuing subawards to Center(s) of Excellence must establish and implement a program to monitor compliance with its subaward agreements.