The Environmental Protection Agency is soliciting applications under the BIL funded SFBWQIF Request for Applications (RFA) to fund projects that have measurable positive impacts in underserved communities, particularly those facing climate change stressors in the San Francisco Bay and its watersheds.
Donor Name: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
State: California
County: Selected Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 09/20/2022
Size of the Grant: $5,000,000
Grant Duration: 4 years
Details:
Program Priorities
- All applications must be consistent with the San Francisco Estuary Partnership’s (SFEP) Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) and must indicate the CCMP objective(s) and action(s) to be implemented under the project. (Attachment A identifies a list of the CCMP objectives and actions that address program priorities and should be used as a basis to provide this information in the proposal narrative.)
- Environmental Justice (EJ)/Underserved Communities: This RFA aims to support a broad array of project types that will deliver environmental and public health benefits to EJ/underserved communities within the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties.
EPA is seeking applications that demonstrate the diversity of organizational support and partnerships within historically underserved communities (i.e. economically disadvantaged or other populations with disproportionate exposure to environmental harm). A project that benefits an underserved community could, for example, include implementation of green infrastructure to improve water quality and reduce a community’s vulnerability to flooding from aging infrastructure. Achieving equity in the Bay Area for shoreline and watershed restoration projects will likely include technical and financial support for community representation throughout a project’s multi-year planning process. Applications that identify the true cost of community engagement in their budgets to ensure community support of a restoration project is evidence of meaningful engagement.
Examples of EJ program priority projects include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Community visioning aimed at developing conceptual plans for shoreline projects to improve climate change resilience
- Installation of green stormwater infrastructure features to treat stormwater
- Public education and training programs to build community capacity in the water quality sector
- Building community/volunteer networks to support project implementation, including planting of native plants, removing invasive plants, and trash cleanups
- Community representation in implementation of multi-benefit shoreline projects
- Watershed and urban infrastructure improvements in EJ communities
- Organizational capacity building and career development to benefit the Estuary and its communities
- Contaminant investigations in local communities
- Technical trainings and outreach programs to improve tribal traditional knowledge in the environmental field, etc.
- Solutions that reduce water quality impacts associated with people and communities experiencing homelessness
- Fish consumption outreach programs, etc.
Funding Information
- Award Ceiling: $5,000,000
- It is anticipated that the grants or cooperative agreements awarded under this announcement will have one to four-year project periods.
Eligibility Criteria
The following entities are eligible to apply for funding under this announcement: State, local government agencies, districts, and councils; regional water pollution control agencies and entities; State coastal zone management agencies; public and private universities and colleges; and public or private nongovernmental, non-profit institutions. Nonprofit organizations must have documentation of non-profit status from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service or their state of incorporation. Non-profit organizations as defined in Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that engage in lobbying as defined in Section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act 1995 or superseding legislation are ineligible.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
