Marine Protected Area Outreach and Education Small Grants Program

The Marine Protected Area (MPA) Outreach and Education Small Grants Program is a program funded by the Ocean Protection Council (OPC) through the Once-Through Cooling Mitigation Fund. Additional matching funds for Round 2 of this Program are provided by The Marisla Foundation and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

The goal of this Program is to increase outreach and education efforts to improve compliance with MPA regulations statewide and increase marine life associate with MPAs in the geographic region of once-through cooling facilities.

Projects funded through this grant Program help meet the following objectives:

• Provide significant value for the state through replicable methods
• Increase local capacity through project implementation and technical assistance
• Provide capacity-building support for underserved communities

Additionally, funded projects help produce the following outcomes:

• Increased ocean stewardship, engagement, compliance, and leadership
• Increased docent and educator capacity
• Reduced illegal take of marine life in MPAs
• Increased diversity of stakeholders engaged, including both traditional and non-traditional audiences as well as underserved audiences (e.g. the recreational fishing community)

The Small Grants Program has existed for two rounds of funding, the first round in 2017 and the second round in 2019.

Click on the images to below to learned about each round of funding.

The MPA Outreach and Education Small Grants Program Round 3 is being considered for funding at the OPC February Council meeting. Updates on the future of the Program will be posted here as soon as possible. If you have questions, please contact us at info@coastal-quest.org