U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing this solicitation requesting applications for projects that support and/or create model state, tribal, local, and territorial government activities that lead to measurable environmental or public health results in communities disproportionately burdened by environmental harms and risks.
Donor Name: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
State: Selected States
County: All Counties
U.S. Territories: American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 04/10/2023
Size of the Grant: up to $1,000,000
Grant Duration: 3 years
Details:
These projects will help transform disadvantaged and underserved communities into healthy, thriving communities capable of addressing the environmental and public health challenges they have historically faced, as well as current and future challenges.
The purpose of the EJG2G program is to support and/or create model state, tribal, local, and territorial government activities that lead to measurable environmental or public health results in communities disproportionately burdened by environmental harms and risks. These models should leverage or utilize existing resources or assets of state, tribal, local, and territorial agencies to develop key tools and processes that integrate environmental justice considerations into all levels of government and government programs.
Projects Sought Under this Funding Opportunity
Projects submitted under this funding opportunity should support the EJG2G program goals detailed below:
- achieve measurable and meaningful environmental and/or public health results in communities;
- build broad and robust, results-oriented partnerships, particularly with community based nonprofit organizations (CBOs) within disproportionately impacted areas;
- pilot activities in specific communities that create models, which can be expanded or replicated in other geographic areas; and
- strengthen the development and implementation of specific approaches to achieve environmental justice.
To help ensure that they will achieve EJG2G program goals, projects should factor in: state and local data; state and local leadership; state and local results; relationships between delegated programs (i.e., federal environmental programs delegated to and carried out by states, tribes, local government, and US territories) and state, tribal, local, and territorial environmental justice policies, and state, tribal, local, and territorial government targeting of disproportionately burdened areas.
Funding Information
The total estimated funding expected for all awards under this solicitation is approximately $70,000,000, broken down as follows:
- $40,000,000 of Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) appropriations for local governments partnering with CBOs and tribal governments partnering with CBOs
- $30,000,000 of annual appropriations for OEJCR for States partnering with CBOs and U.S. Territories, Freely Associated States, and tribes in remote areas
Between these two sources of funds, EPA anticipates awarding approximately seventy (70) cooperative agreements nationwide up to $1,000,000 per award.
Project Period
The estimated project period for awards resulting from this solicitation is three years, from October 2023 to September 2026. Applicants should plan for projects to start on October 1, 2023. NOTE: Due to the restrictions in CAA 138(b)(1), EPA cannot extend the performance periods for EJG2G assistance agreements beyond three years.
Eligible Projects
Projects Sought Under this Funding Opportunity:
Eligible Project Categories – Consistent with section 138(b)(2) of the Clean Air Act, applications submitted in response to this funding opportunity should address one of the following four broad categories:
- community-led air and other pollution monitoring, prevention, and remediation, and investments in low- and zero-emission and resilient technologies and related infrastructure and workforce development that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants;
- mitigating climate and health risks from urban heat islands, extreme heat, wood heater emissions, and wildfire events;
- climate resiliency and adaptation; or
- reducing indoor toxics and indoor air pollution
Eligible Project Activities – The following are more specific examples of the types of activities which may be considered for funding under this solicitation. It is provided for illustrative purposes only and is not all inclusive.
- research that is incidental to the project design
- public education
- small-scale construction and demolition work (if needed for project)
- small-scale clean-ups
- installations of air or water filtration systems
- major disposal training
- energy recovery projects training
- building refurbishments that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants
- mitigation of pollution
- remediation of lead or asbestos
- workforce development to support low and zero emission and resilient technologies that reduce greenhouse gas and other air pollutants.
- Environmental Justice partnership building that engages disadvantaged communities in Local, State and Federal public processes, such as advisory groups, workshops, and rulemakings
- community revitalization planning in support of climate resiliency and adaptation
- monitoring of sources of pollution
- efforts to improve equitable transportation and mobility including through efforts to address barriers of cost and safety related to walking, bicycling, and public transit in order to reduce air pollution
- development of disaster preparedness plans
- community revitalization planning addressing local pollution and greenspace
- facilitating the engagement of disadvantaged communities in State advisory groups, workshops and rulemakings and other public processes.
Eligibility Criteria
In accordance with CFDA 66.312 (as it will be updated to be consistent with this announcement), an eligible applicant must be one of the following entities:
- a partnership between — a state or U.S. commonwealth (includes Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) and a community-based nonprofit organization
- a partnership between — an instrumentality of the state (i.e., government-created organization which performs governmental functions but does not have full power of the state government) and a community-based nonprofit organization
- a partnership between — tribal governments and a community-based nonprofit organization
- a partnership between — local governments (as defined by 2 CFR 200.1 – includes cities, towns, municipalities, and counties, public housing authorities and councils of government) and a community-based nonprofit organization
- U.S. Territories – includes territorial and local governmental entities in American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands
- Freely Associated States (FAS) – includes state and local governmental entities in the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Palau
- Tribal governments in remote areas.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
