The National Historical Publications and Records Commission seeks projects that explore ways to improve digital literacy and encourage citizen engagement with historical records.

The Literacy and Engagement grant program offers support for projects that will result in archives reaching audiences

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through digital literacy programs and workshops, new tools and applications, and citizen engagement in archival processes.The NHPRC is looking to fund pilot projects in areas that:
1. Develop partnerships among archives, historical records repositories, educational, and community-based institutions to provide educational opportunities for people, particularly students, to develop their digital literacy skills when they find, evaluate, and use primary source documents online.

In addition, projects may seek to increase individual understanding of technology operations and concepts so that they can engage in effective personal digital archiving or other types of digital archives curriculum development.

2. Create or develop new online tools and applications, including mobile apps, to enhance public understanding and access to historical records.

3. Enlist “citizen archivists” in projects to accelerate digitization and online public access to historical records.

This may include, but is not limited to, improving crowdsourcing efforts for identifying, tagging, transcribing, annotating, or otherwise enhancing digitized historical records.

The NHPRC is looking for projects to experiment with new techniques and methods in these three areas that will provide models for other organizations and that people and institutions can adopt for free.

For a comprehensive list of the Commission’s limitations on funding, please see “What we do and do not fund” (http://www.archives.gov/nhprc/apply/eligibility.html).

Applications that consist entirely of ineligible activities will not be considered.

Award Information - A grant normally is for one to two years.

The Commission expects to make up to six grants of between $50,000 and $150,00 0. The total amount allocated for this program is up to $500,00 0. Grants begin no earlier than July 1, 201 5. The Commission requires that grant recipients acknowledge NHPRC grant assistance in all publications and other products that result from its support.

Eligibility Information - Eligible applicants:• Nonprofit organizations or institutions • Colleges, universities, and other academic institutions • State or local government agencies • Federally-acknowledged or state-recognized • Native American tribes or groups.

Cost sharing is required.

Cost sharing is the financial contribution the applicant pledges to the cost of a project.

Cost sharing can include both direct and indirect expenses, in-kind contributions, non-Federal third-party contributions, and any income earned directly by the project.

The Commission will provide up to 50 percent of the total project costs.Other Requirements - Applicant organizations must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) prior to submitting an application, maintain SAM registration throughout the application and award process, and include a valid DUNS number in their application.

Details on SAM registration and requesting a DUNS number can be found at the System for Award Management website at http://sam.gov.

Please refer to the User Guides section and the Grants Registrations PDF.

A complete application includes the Application for Federal Assistance (Standard Form 424), Assurances -- Non-Construction Programs (Standard Form 424B), a Project Narrative, Summary, Supplementary Materials, and Budget.

Applications lacking these items will not be considered.Ineligible applications will not be reviewed.