Lewis Houghton Civics and Democracy Initiative - Continuing Awards

The Library of Congress is offering a continuing funding opportunity under the Lewis-Houghton Civics and Democracy Initiative (LHI), administered as part of its Teaching with Primary Sources program. This initiative stems from congressional appropriations under the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act of 2023 and is designed to expand civic education through the use of the Library’s extensive digital collections. The Library of Congress, as the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and research arm of Congress, maintains vast archives including books, recordings, maps, and primary historical documents. Through the TPS program, it has long supported educators in integrating primary sources into teaching, and the LHI builds on this by emphasizing civics, history, and democracy through creative and arts-based educational programming. This specific funding opportunity is limited to existing LHI partner organizations that have previously received awards from the Library and have developed educational materials under prior LHI funding. The purpose of this continuation funding is to scale and expand previously developed instructional tools, materials, and programming. Applicants are expected to revise and enhance their prior work, broaden dissemination through established and new networks, collaborate with other organizations, and extend prior research findings. The initiative prioritizes reaching diverse learner populations across professions, geographic regions, and demographic groups, ensuring that educational resources are accessible and impactful across a wide audience. Funded projects must incorporate the Library’s digitized primary sources and align with one or more programmatic approaches, including delivering educational programming, creating instructional materials, convening collaborative networks, or conducting research on educational impact. Awardees are required to design comprehensive educational projects that include defined learner populations, measurable outcomes, and scalable dissemination strategies. They must also ensure that all materials developed are accessible online, openly licensed for public use, and maintained for at least five years following the project period. The program also mandates participation in TPS Consortium activities, including annual meetings and collaborative initiatives. Funding is provided through a cooperative agreement structure, with up to six awards anticipated. Each award may total up to 250,000 dollars across three budget periods. The first period spans 15 months, followed by two 12-month continuation periods, contingent on performance and availability of funds. The initial award may provide up to 100,000 dollars, with subsequent continuation funding of up to 75,000 dollars per period. The Library retains discretion over final award amounts, number of awards, and continuation decisions. Matching funds are not required, although cost sharing may be proposed voluntarily. Eligibility is restricted to organizations that are current LHI partners and have demonstrated prior success in developing educational materials using Library resources. Eligible entities include a broad range of U.S.-based organizations such as nonprofit and for-profit entities, institutions of higher education, K-12 schools, libraries, cultural institutions, and tribal organizations. Applicants must be based within the United States or its territories and must host project outputs on U.S.-based servers. Individuals and federal agencies are not eligible, and applicants must not have multiple overlapping cooperative agreements for the same project. Applications must be submitted via email by May 18, 2026, with earlier deadlines for general and technical questions. Submissions require a completed proposal narrative and budget plan, along with the standard SF-424 form. Applications are evaluated based on the quality and impact of prior LHI products, the proposed project’s potential reach and effectiveness, organizational capacity, strength of partnerships, and alignment with program goals. Successful applicants may be notified within approximately 60 days after final review. The expected project start date is October 1, 2026, and awardees must comply with federal regulations, accessibility standards, and intellectual property requirements, including open licensing of materials.

Emphasize demonstrated success of prior LHI projects, scalability of materials, strong partnerships, and clear dissemination strategy aligned with Library goals