Career Discovery Internship Program | F17AS00136

Opportunity Information: Apply for F17AS00136

The Career Discovery Internship Program (CDIP) is a federal assistance opportunity from the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), designed to bring a culturally and ethnically diverse group of students into conservation-focused internships hosted at USFWS sites nationwide. The core goal is to help young people, including young women and men from diverse backgrounds, build practical stewardship skills while getting a real look at what conservation careers in the Federal Government can involve. Positioned within the broader Youth in the Great Outdoors Initiative, CDIP emphasizes hands-on service on public lands and structured exposure to professional expectations, teamwork, and problem-solving in a conservation work setting.

Programmatically, CDIP follows a structured summer format. Interns first participate in a specialized, week-long orientation and training that is hosted at a National Wildlife Refuge. During this orientation, interns learn directly with and from USFWS staff and the implementing partner about environmental stewardship, practical problem solving, workplace culture, and cultural and intergenerational understanding. After the orientation, interns complete an additional 12-week placement period, working at various USFWS field sites across the country. This design combines centralized training with on-the-ground work experience so participants can connect classroom-style learning with real operational conservation work.

This funding opportunity is issued as a cooperative agreement, meaning the Fish and Wildlife Service expects to be substantially involved in carrying out the supported activities rather than simply providing funds and stepping back. Specifically, USFWS anticipates responsibilities that include reviewing and selecting applicants for intern positions, hosting the orientation at a refuge, delivering several orientation sessions, supervising interns throughout the summer work period, and evaluating interns at the end of the program. In other words, the agency is not only funding the program but also actively shaping intern selection, training content, work supervision, and final assessment.

Administratively, this announcement is not a competitive grant solicitation and does not have an application process for outside entities. It is a notice of intent to make a single-source award to the Student Conservation Association (SCA) without competition under Departmental justification 505DM 2.14.B.4. The rationale given is that competition is not practical because USFWS and SCA have jointly developed and implemented CDIP since 2008 and have tailored the program over time to meet the needs of both the Service and participating students. The notice also emphasizes SCA's established capacity as one of the largest providers of conservation service opportunities for high school and college students, and asserts that SCA is uniquely qualified to continue this long-standing partnership.

Key opportunity details include the funding opportunity title "Career Discovery Internship Program," funding opportunity number F17AS00136, and classification as a discretionary award using a cooperative agreement instrument. The activity areas are listed as education, employment/labor and training, environment, and natural resources under CFDA number 15.676. The expected number of awards is one, with an award ceiling of $280,000. The posting date is March 1, 2017, with an original closing date of March 8, 2017, though the notice clarifies that the closing date does not reflect an open application period because the award is intended as a single-source agreement to SCA.

• The Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service in the education, employment, labor and training, environment, natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Career Discovery Internship Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.676.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 01, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 08, 2017 There is not an application process for this funding opportunity. This is a notice of intent to award a single source cooperative agreement to the SCA under justification 505DM 2.14.B.4.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $280,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for F17AS00136

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