Military Families Outdoors Program | P24AS00337

Opportunity Information: Apply for P24AS00337

The Military Families Outdoors Program (Funding Opportunity Number P24AS00337) is a discretionary federal grant opportunity offered by the National Park Service (NPS) under CFDA 15.954, using a cooperative agreement as the funding instrument. The program sits within a broader partnership between the NPS and the Department of Defense, specifically the Defense Health Agency, with the main goal of improving the health and wellness of active-duty service members and their families by getting them outdoors and actively engaged with national parks, other public lands, and waterways. At its core, the opportunity is meant to support experiences that encourage physical activity, strengthen family connections, reduce stress, and build lasting habits tied to healthy lifestyles. A key secondary outcome is to help military families develop a deeper connection to public lands and become long-term environmental stewards, meaning participants not only recreate outdoors but also learn to care for and protect these places.

The program is designed to fund initiatives that create positive engagement experiences rather than one-off publicity efforts. In practical terms, strong projects will generally focus on structured, repeatable outdoor recreation and wellness activities that lower barriers for military families to access parks and waterways, especially if they are new to outdoor recreation or face logistical constraints such as transportation, gear, childcare considerations, or limited familiarity with park resources. Because the mechanism is a cooperative agreement, applicants should expect substantial federal involvement in the project compared with a standard grant. That typically means closer coordination with NPS staff on planning, alignment with park priorities, participant experience, safety considerations, and responsible use of park resources, along with collaborative oversight and performance reporting throughout the project period.

Eligible applicants are broad and include state governments, county governments, and city or township governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; and nonprofit organizations with IRS 501(c)(3) status (excluding higher education institutions under that nonprofit category). This eligibility structure suggests the NPS is looking for a range of potential partners who can design and deliver outdoor programming, coordinate with military installations or military-connected communities, and operate at the scale needed to reach meaningful numbers of participants. Many competitive applicants are likely to be organizations that already run outdoor education, recreation, conservation, public health, youth and family programs, or park-based engagement initiatives, and can adapt them specifically to the needs of active-duty families.

The opportunity was created on 2024-04-03 and originally closed on 2024-07-15. The award ceiling is $5,000,000, indicating that NPS is willing to support large, potentially multi-site or multi-year efforts that can reach a significant audience or establish durable programming infrastructure and partnerships. The posted information lists "ExpectedAwards:" without a number, so the public summary does not specify how many awards NPS anticipated making, which often means the total number could depend on the quality of applications, available appropriations, and program strategy.

Overall, this funding opportunity is best understood as support for collaborative, park-connected outdoor wellness programming for active-duty military families, with measurable health and engagement benefits and an emphasis on building long-term stewardship values. Competitive proposals typically align recreational and wellness outcomes (such as increased physical activity, stress reduction, family resilience, and comfort using public lands) with education and stewardship outcomes (such as Leave No Trace principles, conservation learning, volunteerism, or service projects), while demonstrating strong partnerships between community or nonprofit implementers, military-connected stakeholders, and NPS units that will host or support the experiences.

• The National Park Service in the other sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Military Families Outdoors Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.954.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-04-03.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-07-15. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $5,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for P24AS00337

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