Tribal Perspective Travel Guide for Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail- LECL | NPS NOIP19AC00173

Opportunity Information: Apply for NPS NOIP19AC00173

The Tribal Perspective Travel Guide for the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail (LECL) grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number: NPS NOIP19AC00173) was a discretionary National Park Service funding program under the U.S. Department of the Interior designed to support a multi-year project focused on elevating tribal voices and improving how the public experiences the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. The central idea was to increase public awareness, understanding, and access to tribal histories, perspectives, and present-day communities connected to the Trail by developing travel-oriented information and experiences that are guided by tribes themselves rather than filtered solely through non-tribal historical narratives.

The project emphasized tourism as a practical way to connect visitors with tribal stories while also benefiting tribal communities. The National Park Service intended this effort to identify and highlight tribal tourism opportunities for travelers, improve both the quantity and quality of visitor experiences along the Trail, and make tribal perspectives more visible and accessible to the public. In other words, the program aimed to help travelers find authentic, tribally informed points of interest and experiences, while also strengthening the overall visitor experience by adding depth, context, and living cultural connections that are often missing from conventional Trail tourism.

A major goal was community and economic development that remains compatible with cultural preservation. The opportunity explicitly sought to empower tribal communities along the Trail to expand tourism and recreation in ways that can spur local economic development, increase jobs, and grow tourism revenue, while still protecting cultural heritage. That framing signals that the project was not only about producing a guide or outreach product, but also about supporting tribally led decision-making around what stories are shared, how they are presented, what locations or experiences are appropriate for visitors, and how tourism can be structured to respect cultural protocols and community priorities.

The award was offered as a cooperative agreement, which typically indicates substantial involvement by the federal agency during the project, such as collaboration on planning, review, coordination, or implementation. The funding activity categories listed included community development, regional development, and research and development, reflecting that the work was expected to combine practical tourism development with planning, coordination, and potentially research or evaluation related to visitor access, interpretation, and experience design. The CFDA number associated with the opportunity was 15.935.

Eligibility was limited to Native American tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments, meaning the intended applicants were tribal nonprofits or tribal community organizations rather than tribal governments applying directly. The opportunity anticipated a single award (Expected Awards: 1), with an award ceiling of $335,000, suggesting a focused, centralized project rather than multiple smaller grants distributed across many recipients.

Timing-wise, the opportunity was created on May 17, 2019, with an original closing date of May 27, 2019, indicating a short application window. Overall, this funding opportunity was aimed at producing a tribally informed travel guide or comparable tourism-access product and related work that strengthens public access to tribal perspectives along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, while simultaneously supporting tribal economic opportunities and protecting cultural heritage through tribally guided tourism and recreation development.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the community development, regional development, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Tribal Perspective Travel Guide for Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail- LECL" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.935.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 17, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 27, 2019. (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 $335,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments).

Apply for NPS NOIP19AC00173

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