Past Funded Projects 2022 Grants Funded Tools and Tactics for Sustainable Small Harbors – Phase II Amount: $175,000 comprised of $50,000 from the Michigan Great Lakes Protection Fund and $125,000 from Michigan Sea Grant’s NOAA funding End date: January 31, 2024 Grantee: Michigan Sea Grant Project Leads: Dr. Donald Carpenter, Drummond Carpenter, and Dr. Michael Shriberg, Michigan Sea Grant Project Description: The project team led by Michigan Sea Grant expanded and further disseminated the Sustainable Small Harbors Tools and Tactics Guidebook, originally funded by the Office of the Great Lakes (OGL), to provide a toolkit of best practices, resources, and funding opportunities to support small harbor planning. The Guidebook was updated to include updated information and resources to support decision-making by small harbor communities, including strategies related to fluctuating water levels, decarbonization, changing economic activity, and state and federal funding and programs. The Guidebook was updated to consider how issues related to Environmental Justice may affect policy implementation, and how to address them. 2021 Grants Funded From Students to Stewards: Fostering Great Lakes Literacy to Improve School Performance Amount: $189,025, comprised of $50,000 from the Michigan Great Lakes Protection Fund and $139,025 from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, both for phase 2 End Date: September 30, 2023 Grantee: Grand Valley State University Project Lead: Larry Wyn Project Description: The State of Michigan launched the From Students to Stewards Initiative (FS2S) in 2019 to address a recommendation in the Michigan Water Strategy to grow future water stewards, leaders, and decision-makers in Michigan. The FS2S Initiative is a collaborative effort by several state-level partners: The Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy's Office of the Great Lakes, fostering Great Lakes literacy and stewardship; the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO), through its focus on talent and workforce development and the priorities of the governor's MiSTEM Advisory Council; the statewide MiSTEM Network, through its interest in authentic STEM-rich instruction; and the Michigan Department of Education, through elements of its Michigan Integrated Continuous Improvement Process. The FS2S initiative worked towards improving school performance by integrating place-based Great Lakes literacy principles into school curricula through continuous school improvement plans. FS2S worked to make progress toward closing the water literacy gap in Michigan and growing the next generation of water stewards, leaders, skilled workers, and decision-makers needed to solve complex water issues in a changing world. Simultaneously, the project demonstrated how using Great Lakes-focused, place-based, authentic educational opportunities grounded in the whole child model can improve student performance, boost teacher morale, strengthen schools' continuous improvement processes, and increase student exposure to water resource-related careers. The project started as a pilot in Phase 1 and continued through an expansion in phase 2. An initial $50,000 grant was awarded in 2019 to support the Phase 1 pilot field testing grant opportunity for schools and districts. Smart Ships Coalition and Marine Autonomy Research Site (MARS) Development Phase 2 Amount: $99,997 End date: May 31, 2023 Grantee: Michigan Technological University Project Lead: Travis White Project Description: The Michigan Great Lakes Protection Fund (MGLPF) supported the Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC) at Michigan Technological University (MTU) to continue efforts to advance the Great Lakes region as a hub for marine technology, industry, trade, and education and to support implementation of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers Regional Maritime Strategy. MTU now continues coordinating multi-sector partners through the ongoing development and administration of the Smart Ships Coalition (SSC) and oversees the operation of the Marine Autonomy Research Site (MARS), a marine technology and autonomous vehicle test bed facility located on Lake Superior near MTU's main campus. The MGLPF provided funding for Phase 1 to MTU to establish the SSC and the MARS test bed in 2018.