Lewis-Houghton Civics and Democracy Initiative: New Awards for 2027-2029

The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, the main research arm of the U.S. Congress, and the nation's oldest federal cultural institution. Its mission is to engage, inspire, and inform Congress and the American people with an enduring source of knowledge and creativity. Through its Teaching with Primary Sources program, the Library has supported educational materials, tools, professional development, and other resources that help educators integrate digitized Library primary sources into instruction. The Lewis-Houghton Civics and Democracy Initiative is part of the Teaching with Primary Sources program and was established to support eligible U.S. organizations developing digitally enabled, creative arts-driven projects that use Library of Congress primary sources to teach history, civics, and democracy. The Lewis-Houghton Civics and Democracy Initiative: New Awards seeks projects in which the Library's music or creative arts-related digitized primary sources and other online materials are central to teaching and learning about history, civics, and/or democracy. Projects must include rights-free materials from Library music or creative arts digital collections and may develop curriculum, teaching materials, educational programs, pedagogical approaches, or other instructional tools for middle and high school educators and learners. Projects should emphasize inquiry-driven analysis of primary sources, build civic skills, foster participation in democracy, address demonstrated educational needs, and expand innovative strategies for meaningful teaching and learning with Library materials. Projects may deliver educational programming, create and distribute educational resources, convene organizations around common learning goals, and/or conduct research with significant practitioner involvement. Awardees are expected to design, develop, implement, assess, modify, and disseminate their projects and to create programming, materials, tools, or products using Library digitized primary resources. Awardees must secure necessary permissions for third-party materials, openly license new copyrightable project materials, make funded materials available online through Library-approved channels, and maintain public access to developed curriculum, instructional materials, and tools for at least five years after the cooperative agreement's period of performance. Awardees must also participate in the Teaching with Primary Sources Educational Consortium, including at least one annual in-person Consortium meeting, at least one additional online or in-person Consortium event per year, Consortium-wide activities requested by the Library, and up to 10 hours of Teaching with Primary Sources orientation. Project materials must satisfy applicable accessibility standards. Generative artificial intelligence may not be used to create or produce project materials. Voluntary cost sharing is not expected and will not be used as a merit-review factor. Eligible applicants include U.S.-based public and private organizations, nonprofit and for-profit organizations, institutions of higher education, colleges, universities, professional associations, library systems, cultural institutions, K-12 schools, after-school programs, literacy organizations, centers, clubs, associations of homeschooling parents, honor societies, professional, civic, regional, state, and community groups, collaborative partnerships, states, public and private agencies, and Indian tribes and tribal organizations. Applicants must have a record of serving learner populations that may be served by the program, must not previously have received Lewis-Houghton Civics and Democracy Initiative funding directly from the Library of Congress, and must be based in the 50 states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, American Samoa, or U.S. Virgin Islands. Proposed projects must also be conducted within those jurisdictions. Individuals and other federal agencies are not eligible. Successful applicants must complete SAM.gov registration before an award can be made. Applications must be in English, provide budget and cost information in U.S. dollars, and be submitted by email to tps-grant@loc.gov by 2:00 PM Eastern Time on September 18, 2026. Applications sent to Grants.gov will not be accepted. The opportunity number 030ADV26R0050 must appear in the email subject line. Files cannot exceed the Library's 20MB email limit, although multiple clearly identified emails may be used when necessary. Applicants must follow the prescribed file naming convention and may not submit zipped or locked files, third-party website links, or Grants.gov submissions. Required application materials include the completed Proposal Narrative Template, Budget Plan, and appropriate SF-424 Application for Federal Domestic Assistance. General questions are due September 7, 2026, and technical questions are due September 10, 2026. Questions regarding the notice are directed to tps-grant@loc.gov. Eileen Manchester is identified as the LHI Program Manager. Review panels composed of subject matter experts will evaluate eligible and complete applications. Criteria include expertise and specialized knowledge; soundness of the proposed project; effective use of Library of Congress primary sources and teaching resources; demonstrated educational need and anticipated impact; programmatic and operational capability; educational networks and dissemination; relevant past activities and institutional capacity; and the reasonableness, allowability, efficiency, and management of the proposed budget. The Library intends to make up to six cooperative agreement awards with a maximum of $100,000 each during the first 12-month budget period of January 1 through December 31, 2027. The Library intends a three-year program cycle and may continue awards for up to two additional years without competition, subject to its discretion, funding priorities, satisfactory performance, and compliance. Total funding to an individual awardee may not exceed $300,000 over the maximum three-year period. The Library may make no awards, more than six awards, or fund only part of proposed activities. Successful applicants may be asked to revise project scope or budget before receiving an Award Agreement, while unsuccessful applicants generally receive written notice within 60 days of the final agency decision.

Demonstrate relevant expertise and institutional capacity; make Library of Congress primary sources central to the educational design; show that the project addresses a recognized learner need; use appropriate methodology and effective practices; demonstrate that project personnel can successfully execute the work; provide a strong dissemination plan using existing educational networks; explain how benefits will continue beyond the award period; include a sound impact-assessment plan; demonstrate effective resource management; submit allowable, reasonable, cost-efficient project costs.