The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency solicits applications from eligible entities for up to six cooperative agreements to be awarded pursuant to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan III.
Donor Name: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
States: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 08/11/2023
Size of the Grant: $20,000,000
Grant Duration: 6 years
Details:
This RFA is the Great Lakes National Program Office’s (GLNPO’s) major competitive grant funding opportunity for FY-23 and uses funding provided by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, P.L. 117-58, 2021 (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) builds on the prior efforts of federal, state, and local agencies; Indian tribes; businesses; public interest groups; interested citizens; and others to develop a collaborative and comprehensive approach to restoring and protecting the Great Lakes ecosystem.
The purpose of this RFA is to solicit applications for awards for one or more cooperative agreements through which recipients will develop and implement Great Lakes Environmental Justice Grant Programs (GLEJGP) in cooperation with EPA. This represents a new type of funding opportunity designed by EPA’s GLNPO to implement the Administration’s goal of directing funds to projects benefitting underserved communities experiencing or affected by adverse and disproportionate environmental and human health risks or harms. In alignment with EPA Strategic Plan Goal 2 and the six priorities identified by the EPA in its Equity Action Plan, the GLEJGPs are being established to make GLRI funds available to underserved communities to promote the restoration and protection of the Great Lakes ecosystem in or near those communities.
EPA intends to make up to $30 million available for one or more GLEJGPs via this RFA to provide funding for the implementation of environmental protection and restoration projects in underserved communities that will further the goals of the GLRI. This RFA expects to provide funding available for two types of applications:
- applications that aim to create a GLEJGP to provide funding for projects in a particular region of the Great Lakes Basin; and
- applications that aim to create a GLEJGP to provide funding for projects across the entire Great Lakes Basin.
While the primary goal of this RFA is the implementation of projects in underserved communities, EPA recognizes that many such communities may not have the capacity for pursuing such grants directly from EPA. Due to historical under-investment, these communities may lack the resources that would enable them to:
- effectively prepare competitive federal grant applications that can be readily submitted and processed through grants.gov; or
- effectively comply with the wide array of requirements that accompany receipt of a grant from EPA, such as grant management and oversight, reporting, and closeout. Additionally, the awards process (i.e., the time it takes for a successful federal applicant to receive the funding) can be very time-consuming such that the awarded funding may not be made available to grantees for 6 months or more. This RFA and the resultant GLEJGPs reflect GLNPO’s attempt to address this lack of resources by: alleviating the administrative and other burdens faced by such communities when trying to apply for federal funds and; where appropriate, providing technical support to selected Project Subrecipients that will better enable them to utilize and manage federal funds.
GLEJGP Programmatic Elements
Consistent with achieving the goals described above, and the programmatic and environmental results, activities to be performed by the Principal Recipient applicant may include, but are not limited to:
- Developing and implementing an outreach and engagement strategy to potential Project Subrecipients that is targeted to underserved communities along the U.S. portions of the St. Mary’s River, Lake St. Clair and the St. Lawrence River (at or upstream from the point at which the St. Lawrence River becomes the international boundary between Canada and the United States) and in the historic Great Lakes Basin, which includes the Chicago River watershed;
- Developing and implementing a methodology to ensure that the financial and environmental benefits of the Project RFA are targeted to underserved communities. Applicants can utilize review criteria, subrecipient eligibility, or any other methods that comply with the EPA Subaward Policy to achieve this goal;
- Conducting a robust and transparent process for selecting subaward applications from Project Subrecipients, including: working with EPA to review applications that address the priorities identified in this RFA; responding to input from EPA; considering the needs of underserved communities within the Great Lakes region; and articulating transparent review criteria and clear, simplified processes for receiving subaward applications as well as evaluating and selecting subaward applications;
- Coordinating expert review of subaward applications, making selections, and/or providing advice to Coalition Member(s) on selections;
- Awarding and managing subawards, including ensuring compliance by subrecipients with all regulatory fiscal, administrative, programmatic, and reporting requirements. The Principal Recipient should describe how they have the administrative capacity to manage subawards commensurate with the size of the subaward;
- Assisting Project Subrecipientsin meeting all administrative requirements(reporting, accounting) and developing grants management and reporting systems;
- Convening at least one annual meeting for Project Subrecipients (and coalition members, if applicable) to update and learn from each other;
- Managing subawards to achieve project activities and monitoring and evaluating outputs and outcomes and to comply with budgets, timelines, and federal and funding source requirements;
- Submitting electronic semi-annual performance reports to EPA consistent with requirements described in programmatic terms and conditions. Semi-annual reports, and brief updates as necessary, will summarize environmental as well as EJ outputs and outcomes of projects implemented through the subawards and outreach/support actions under this award. Reports will need to include any updates on project and program progress including any project or program issues, GLRI Action Plan measure results, location information, and EJ output results for each Project Subrecipient. Additionally, the Principal Recipient will develop an evaluation plan for measuring success for the GLEJGP over time; and
- Other activities the applicant believes will achieve the goals of the RFA provided those activities are eligible for funding under Assistance Listing Number 66.469 as authorized by the Clean Water Act, Section 118(c)(7).
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Program Funding: $20,000,000
- Award Ceiling: $20,000,000
- Award Floor: $2,000,000
Project Period
For this RFA, it is EPA’s expectation that the award, including all subawards, will have a total period of performance of up to six years (e.g., October 2023 – December 2029) with incremental funding provided on an annual basis.
Eligibility Criteria
- Qualified non-federal entities eligible to apply for grants include non-federal governmental entities: State agencies; any agency or instrumentality of local government; interstate agencies; and federally recognized tribes and tribal organizations. Institutions of Higher Education and non-profit organizations are also eligible to apply. Non-profit organizations described in Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that engage in lobbying activities as defined in Section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 are not eligible applicants as provided in the Lobbying Disclosure Act, 2 U.S.C. 1611. ‘For profit’ organizations, federal agencies, foreign entities, and individuals are not eligible applicants.
- Nonprofit organizations that are not exempt from taxation under Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code must submit other forms of documentation of nonprofit status such as certificates of incorporation as nonprofit under state or tribal law.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
