RISA FY2021 Notice of Funding Opportunity

Federal Agency Name(s): Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Oceanic and Atmospheric Research , Climate Program Office

Notice of Funding Opportunity Title: Climate Program Office (CPO), Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) Program FY2021

Announcement Type: Initial

Notice of Funding Opportunity Number: NOAA-OAR-CPO-2021-2006677

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 11.431, Climate and Atmospheric Research

The Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) program supports the development of knowledge, expertise, and abilities of decision makers to plan and prepare for climate variability and change. Through this announcement, CPO is seeking applications for two competitions in FY21: 1) a competition for regional RISA teams in nine U.S. regions, and 2) a competition for collaborative planning activities in the Southeast and U.S. Caribbean. Prior to submitting applications, investigators are highly encouraged to learn more about the RISA program.

This information, along with the names and contact information of relevant Competition managers, is provided below.

In FY21, approximately $7,200,000 will be available for approximately 9 new awards in competition 1 and approximately $400,000 will be available for approximately 4 awards in competition 2. For competition 1, it is anticipated that most competition 1 awards will be at a funding level between $600,000 - $700,000/year range for core RISA work. For proposals including a sustained assessment specialist Supplement, applicants can propose an additional $100,000-$135,000/year for accompanying sustained assessment specialists components. For proposals including a small-grants competition supplement, applicants can propose up to an additional $160,000 total to support the competition. For competition 2, awards will be at a funding level of up to $100,000 total per award for projects.

General Information

The RISA program supports the development of knowledge, expertise, and abilities of decisionmakers to plan and prepare for climate variability and change. Through regionally-focused and interdisciplinary research and engagement teams, RISA builds and expands the Nation's capacity to adapt and become resilient to extreme weather events and climate change. RISA teams accomplish this through co-developed applied research and partnerships with public and private communities. A central tenet of the RISA program is that learning about climate adaptation and resilience is facilitated by and sustained across a wide range of experts, practitioners, and the public. As such, the RISA program supports a network of people, prioritizing wide participation in learning by doing, learning through adapting, and managing risk with uncertain information. Early decades of the program focused on understanding the use of climate information at regional scales (e.g., through experimental seasonal outlooks), improving predictions and scenarios, building capacity for drought early warning, and advancing the science of climate impact assessments. More recently, emphasis has shifted to address the growing urgency to advance approaches that tackle the complex societal issues surrounding adaptation planning, implementation, and building community resilience. To do so, RISA continues to prioritize collaborative approaches that incorporate multiple knowledge sources and integrate social, physical, and natural science, resulting in long-term support of and increased capacity for communities. As the adaptation community in the United States advances and evolves, RISA seeks to support new creative, solution-oriented approaches that are both responsive to communities and that integrate across silos of scientific knowledge and expertise. Central to achieving the RISA mission are:

- Regional Relevance, Local Expertise
- Integrated Scientific Approaches
- Knowledge-to-Action Partnerships
- A National Network of Resilience Researchers and Adaptation Science Specialists

The RISA program encourages applicants and awardees to support the principles of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion when writing their proposals and performing their work. Ensuring justice and equity -means paying particular attention to the most vulnerable populations, which are often low-income, those already overburdened by pollution, those who lack economic or social opportunity, and people facing disenfranchisement. Diversity here is defined as a collection of individual attributes that together help organizations achieve objectives. Inclusion is defined as a culture that connects each person to the larger organizing structure. Promoting justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion improves the creativity, productivity, and vitality of the communities in which the program engages.