The first solicitation for CIVIC proposals was announced in April of 2020. Communities across the country worked with civic and research partners to propose innovative pilot projects with potential for scalable, sustainable, and transferable impact. It was funded by the National Science Foundation, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Teams applied to one of two community-identified tracks:
Communities & Mobility
Offering Better Mobility Options to Solve the Spatial Mismatch Between Housing Affordability and Jobs
Resilience to
Natural Disasters
Equipping Communities for Greater Preparedness and Resilience to Natural Disasters
Stage 1 Planning Grants
In February of 2021, 52 teams were selected to each receive $50K Stage 1 planning grants. Over the course of four months, these 52 teams refined their proposals, strengthened their civic-research partnerships, and submitted new proposals for Stage 2 pilots. Read about the 52 projects:
Projects were awarded across 30 states as well as tribal regions, Washington DC and Puerto Rico.
Stage 2 Pilots
In September of 2021, 17 teams were selected to each receive $1 million Stage 2 pilot funding. These teams will implement their research-based pilot projects over a one year period.