The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Pesticide Re-evaluation Division in the Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) is soliciting applications from eligible organizations to establish a National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC), a program that provides the public with objective, science-based information on pesticide-related subjects through a website, toll-free telephone service, and outreach.
Donor Name: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
State: All States
County: All Counties
U.S. Territory: American Samoa, Guam, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 08/07/2023
Size of the Grant: $10,000,000
Grant Duration: 5 years
Details:
The purpose of the program is to help protect human health and the environment by assisting the public with informed decision-making regarding pesticides. The five-year cooperative agreement awarded under this program will provide the public with unbiased, accurate, science-based information on a broad range of pesticide-related issues, in a manner accessible to people who speak different languages at various literacy levels. NPIC staff will:
- provide accessible, pesticide-related information to the public,
- respond to questions and connect inquirers with local, state, and federal resources on pesticides and pesticide-related issues,
- keep records on inquiries and suspected pesticide exposures, and
- collaborates with state and federal agencies including State Lead Agencies, State Health Departments, and other stakeholders that support national pesticide activities including surveillance efforts. Data can be used to identify pesticide use trends, exposures to people or animals, spills, and more. However, data is not intended for targeted enforcement but may inform priority setting within enforcement programs.
The goal of the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution’s (OCSPP) environmental justice strategy, consistent with FIFRA, is to ensure that pesticides are properly sold, distributed, and used in a way that is protective of people regardless of race, economic status, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, or other minority or underserved community status, and the environment. EPA’s current efforts protect people and ecosystems that may be exposed to pesticides through its pesticide product registration and registration review programs, outreach, technical assistance, and compliance and enforcement programs. Applying an environmental justice lens to our FIFRA work will highlight efforts to protect all people from environmental and health hazards regardless of race, color, national origin, or income. It may also identify new opportunities that can be implemented with existing resources.
Examples of incorporating environmental justice are: Seek one or more perspectives on the overall design, planning and/or performance of the NPIC from one or more parties addressing environmental and public health challenges of vulnerable communities. The input could be used before the application is submitted to EPA or as part of implementation after the award. Parties addressing these challenges could be non-profit organizations; universities; state, local or tribal governments; or others. Input can be used in one or more aspects of the proposed NPIC (e.g., development of multilingual/culturally appropriate outreach materials such as infographics and fact sheets, increased outreach to agricultural communities, etc.) Provide education and outreach efforts regarding emerging public health pesticide issues to minority, low-income, and indigenous populations. Encourage or facilitate collaboration with Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). For example, applicants could identify subaward projects that are environmental justice in scope and encourage collaboration with MSIs, where appropriate. Any other approach that incorporates environmental justice into the proposed NPIC.
Objectives
EPA Strategic Plan is to ensure chemical and pesticide safety by protecting the health of families, communities, and ecosystems from the risks posed by pesticides. The cooperative agreement to be awarded under this solicitation supports this objective and:
- Serves as a source of factual, unbiased information for diverse audiences,
- Informs the public on a wide variety of pesticide-related subjects,
- Supports education and outreach efforts by federal, state and local agencies on pesticide safety topics,
- Provides education and outreach to the public,
- Provides accurate, unbiased, scientific information in a manner understandable to a lay audience,
- Collects and disseminates quality pesticide incident data via a rigorous and well defined data collection system, and
- Provides exceptional customer service.
Activities to be funded
Activities to be funded under this cooperative agreement support the purpose and objectives listed above, and include, but are not limited to the following:
- Provide services
- Develop outreach and educational pesticide safety materials
- Develop technical resources for specialized audiences (i.e., risk assessors, medical, and veterinary professionals)
- Develop web-based mechanisms for voluntary incident reporting
- Engage in partnerships/collaborations with government agencies, non-profit organizations, and other audience
- Utilize program quality control and standard operating procedures
- Environmental justice-focused activities
Outputs
Outputs may be quantitative or qualitative but must be measurable during an assistance-agreement funding period.
Examples of anticipated outputs from the cooperative agreement to be awarded under this announcement include, but are not limited to:
- Toll free telephone hotline open five days per week, six hours per day (depending on the amount of funds), responding promptly to diverse audiences with accurate, unbiased, up-to-date pesticide-related information and resources.
- Public access, Monday through Friday, to highly knowledgeable, risk communication experts capable of interacting with a diverse audience regarding pesticide-related information.
- Consultation to the medical and veterinary community on recognition and management of pesticide-related issues.
- Distribution of innovative, effective outreach materials on pesticide-related information in English and Spanish.
- Develop and make website available multilingual and culturally appropriate pesticide safety educational resources (such as infographics, videos, factsheets, etc.) taking into consideration the unique health and social vulnerabilities of the communities that might be impacted by pesticide applications.
- Conduct outreach to agricultural communities on the importance of pesticide safety, increase awareness of the potential of take-home exposures and encourage agricultural workers and pesticide handlers to utilize NPIC available resources.
- Collaboration with state and federal agencies, public health organizations, medical and veterinary communities to improve awareness of pesticide safety, encourage correct usage of pesticides according to the labels, and promote increased collaboration to improve pesticide incident surveillance systems.
- A detailed quality control and operating procedure plan.
- Regular communications with EPA regarding data collected, public concerns and sentinel events.
- Continuous evaluation plan addressing process, formative, and outcome evaluation, with clearly defined and charted measurements.
Outcomes
Outcomes may be environmental, behavioral, health related, or programmatic in nature, but must be quantitative and correlate with the objectives of the workplan. They do not have to be achieved within an assistance agreement funding period.
Examples of anticipated outcomes from the cooperative agreement to be awarded under this announcement include, but are not limited to:
- Increased protection of humans, communities, and ecosystems from illness and injury caused by exposure to pesticides.
- Expanded reach, impact and effectiveness of pesticide safety and information programs that provide reliable consultation and information on pesticide exposure.
- Continued distribution of factual, unbiased information, as well as national and local resources to diverse audiences- in a manner understandable and accessible to those audiences- on a wide variety of pesticide-related subjects.
- Increased access to pesticide-related information by a broad audience including low literacy, low technology users.
- Increased ability of the public to make informed decisions regarding use of pesticides and treatment regarding potential pesticide exposures.
- Increased public awareness of the importance and need to report pesticide illness and injuries and utilize existing surveillance systems.
- Increased recognition and treatment by healthcare providers of pesticide-related illness and injury.
- Increased availability of quality data on potential pesticide incidents and general pesticide information questions.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Program Funding: $10,000,000
- Award Ceiling: $10,000,000
Project Period
The project period for awards resulting from this solicitation is anticipated to begin in February 2024. Proposed project periods may be up to five (5) years.
Eligibility Criteria
- In accordance with Assisting Listing Research, Development, Monitoring, Public Education, Training, Demonstrations and Studies, and the EPA’s Assistance Agreement Competition Policy applications for this National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC), award will be accepted from states, U.S. territories and possessions, federally recognized Indian tribal governments and Native American organizations, public and private universities and colleges, other public or private nonprofit institutions, and local governments. Individuals and for-profit organizations are not eligible to apply.
- Consistent with the definition of Nonprofit organization at, the term nonprofit organization means any corporation, trust, association, cooperative, or other organization that is operated mainly for scientific, educational, service, charitable, or similar purpose in the public interest and is not organized primarily for profit; and uses net proceeds to maintain, improve, or expand the operation of the organization. The term includes tax-exempt nonprofit neighborhood and labor organizations. Note that, specifically excludes Institutions of Higher Education from the definition of nonprofit organization, because they are separately defined in the regulation. While not considered to be a nonprofit organization(s) , public or nonprofit Institutions of Higher Education are, nevertheless, eligible to submit applications under this announcement. For-profit colleges, universities, trade schools, and hospitals are ineligible.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
