CIVIC 2022 Officially Launches - MetroLab Welcomes New Cohort
Washington, DC — MetroLab Network is honored to continue supporting the National Science Foundation’s Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC), which, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), launched a new cohort of community partners across the U.S. on October 17th.
The Civic Innovation Challenge is a multi-agency, federal government research and action competition that aims to fund ready-to-implement, research-based pilot projects that have the potential for scalable, sustainable, and transferable impact on community-identified priorities — from large to small and from rural to urban — across the US.
CIVIC consists of two tracks:
- Track A focuses on living in a changing climate, in the context of pre-disaster action around adaptation, resilience, and mitigation.
- Track B focuses on Resources and Service equity, with projects focused on bridging the gap between essential resources and services, and community needs.
In this iteration of CIVIC, all 56 Stage 1 grantees, which span 26 states and Puerto Rico, have received funding for pilots in their local communities. The teams will utilize this funding to design projects that offer solutions to identified needs-based issues in their communities. Teams that have been selected for this first round are eligible to receive awards of up to $50,000 and will have 6-months to complete their work. To learn more about the recently announced Stage 1 teams, please visit: https://nsfcivicinnovation.org/awardees/.
MetroLab will support the work of the CIVIC grantees by facilitating a community of practice among awardees. This community of practice will support teams in retaining the transferability and sustainability of their projects. “We’re honored to support the work of the Stage 1 grantees as they partner with their communities to address issues around climate and equity,” said Kate Burns, MetroLab’s Executive Director.
In early 2023, Stage 1 awardees will submit proposals for Stage 2 consideration. Teams that are selected for a second round of funding will be eligible for awards of up to $1 million to begin piloting and evaluating the projects designed during Stage 1.
MetroLab Network has been involved with NSF’s CIVIC since its inception. MetroLab contributed to the design of the Civic Innovation Challenge (award #1833054) and currently has a cooperative agreement (award #2223449) with NSF to continue supporting this work.
To learn more about the Civic Innovation Challenge, visit: https://nsfcivicinnovation.org/.
