11th Hour Racing Grants, Systemic Change to Restore Ocean Health, Request for Application, Due: Mar 31, 2025

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11th Hour Racing Grants, Systemic Change to Restore Ocean Health

• Date Posted: N/A
• Deadline: March 31, 2025
• Funding Institution(s): 11th Hour Racing
• Brief Description: The 11th Hour Racing Grants support projects that foster systemic change to restore ocean health. Funding focuses on initiatives in ocean literacy and stewardship, clean technologies and best practices, and ecosystem restoration. Typical grants range from $40,000 to $150,000, with an average size of $75,000. Eligible projects must be tied to specific, measurable outcomes and aligned with one or more of the organization’s strategic goals. Priority is given to community-led projects, youth engagement, and solutions for historically under-resourced communities.
• Link: (https://11thhourracing.org/apply-for-a-grant/).

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Assessment of Strategic Fit with NumFOCUS Projects

The 11th Hour Racing Grants focus on fostering systemic change to restore ocean health through initiatives in ocean literacy, clean technologies, and ecosystem restoration. While this mission is outside the direct scope of NumFOCUS’s core mission, there are areas of alignment where NumFOCUS projects and tools could contribute meaningfully to these objectives.

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Relevance to NumFOCUS Mission

1. Data-Driven Solutions

   • Alignment: NumFOCUS tools such as pandas, matplotlib, and scikit-learn are widely used for data analysis, visualization, and modeling. These tools could be applied to:
     • Analyzing data from community-led campaigns or restoration projects.
     • Developing predictive models for assessing the impact of interventions on ocean health.
   • Potential: Projects involving citizen science or data collection could leverage NumFOCUS tools to process and share findings transparently and reproducibly.

2. Technology for Environmental Impact

   • Alignment: NumFOCUS projects promote open-source scientific computing, which aligns with the grant's focus on clean technologies and best practices for reducing environmental footprints.
   • Potential: Developing open-source platforms to monitor or optimize sustainable practices (e.g., plastic pollution prevention, water quality improvement) could align with grant priorities.

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Opportunities for Strategic Alignment

1. Ocean Literacy and Stewardship

   • Potential Contribution: NumFOCUS could support projects that use data science to improve ocean literacy through storytelling or educational tools. For example:
     • Interactive dashboards using bokeh or plotly for exploring local waterway data.
     • Visualization tools for citizen science projects focusing on under-resourced communities.
   • Example Use Cases:
     • An open-source tool to track and visualize changes in water quality or ecosystem restoration efforts.

2. Clean Technologies and Best Practices

   • Potential Contribution: NumFOCUS-supported tools could contribute to the development of technologies that reduce the environmental impact of human activities. For example:
     • Modeling the efficacy of composting systems or ghost gear removal with PyMC or statsmodels.
     • Data pipelines for tracking plastic pollution or assessing the impact of behavior change campaigns.

3. Ecosystem Restoration

   • Potential Contribution: Open-source tools could be developed to monitor and assess ecosystem restoration efforts, such as:
     • Using machine learning (scikit-learn) to analyze the effectiveness of mangroves or seagrass in carbon sequestration or coastal resilience.
     • Data visualization tools to track progress in restoring coastal habitats and engaging stakeholders.

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Challenges

1. Domain-Specific Expertise

   • Limitation: NumFOCUS's core mission does not directly involve environmental science or ocean health, requiring partnerships with domain-specific organizations to contextualize its contributions.
   • Mitigation: Collaboration with NGOs or academic institutions specializing in ocean health could bridge this gap.

2. Focus on Applied Environmental Solutions

   • Limitation: The grants emphasize applied environmental technologies and solutions, which may require tailored applications of NumFOCUS tools.
   • Mitigation: Proposals should demonstrate how open-source tools can enable data-driven insights for actionable outcomes.

3. Requirement for Measurable Outcomes

   • Limitation: Grants require projects with measurable outcomes, which may challenge generic applications of NumFOCUS tools.
   • Mitigation: Focus on creating project-specific solutions (e.g., dashboards, predictive models) with clear, trackable results.

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Recommendations

1. Collaborate with Environmental Organizations

   • Partner with organizations in the fields of ocean health, sustainability, and ecosystem restoration to provide the technical backbone for data collection and analysis.

2. Develop Ocean-Focused Data Tools

   • Propose projects that use NumFOCUS-supported tools for:
     • Tracking and visualizing environmental data.
     • Modeling the impact of community-led initiatives or restoration projects.

3. Showcase NumFOCUS Tools in Environmental Applications

   • Highlight case studies or proof-of-concept applications that demonstrate the versatility of NumFOCUS tools in addressing environmental challenges.

4. Engage with Youth-Led or Community Initiatives

   • Leverage NumFOCUS tools to create accessible, reproducible data platforms for youth or citizen science initiatives in under-resourced communities.

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Conclusion

The 11th Hour Racing Grants present an opportunity for NumFOCUS to expand its impact into the environmental and sustainability sectors. By partnering with domain experts and emphasizing the role of data science and open-source tools in addressing challenges like ocean literacy, clean technologies, and ecosystem restoration, NumFOCUS could position itself as a valuable contributor to systemic change for ocean health. This alignment would require careful project framing to demonstrate measurable outcomes and relevance to grant priorities.