Deadline: 31-Aug-23
The Environmental Protection Agency has announced a request for applications for the Community-Based Research for Effective Programs, Policies, and Decisions to Mitigate Cumulative Health Impacts and Environmental Health Disparities in Underserved Communities.
This Request for Applications (RFA) aims to further advance the scientific knowledge essential for obtaining an accurate and realistic assessment of the cumulative impacts from multiple chemical and non-chemical stressors, exacerbated by environmental factors, including racial and social injustices in underserved communities. It seeks applications for community-based scientific research to assess cumulative impacts from multiple combined and interacting environmental (chemical [pollutants/contaminants] and non-chemical) stressors upon human health in underserved communities.
This RFA is a follow-up to the EPA STAR RFA, “Cumulative Health Impacts at the Intersection of Climate Change, Environmental Justice, and Vulnerable Populations/Lifestages: Community-Based Research for Solutions” in terms of making progress toward developing and evaluating practical approaches or methods to conduct cumulative impact assessments that incorporate key environmental justice factors into solutions. While many environmental issues may be common across communities, each community is also unique in terms of its people and the issues they face. A program or policy that works for one community may not work for another. Therefore, for the solution to be effective, it must reflect and address the community’s needs to eliminate environmental health disparities.
The goal is not only to understand cumulative impacts from a community perspective, but also to consider community dynamics and variability in the development of solutions.
The applicants are asked to identify and work with specific communities, state, tribal, and/or local programs and policies that cumulative impact assessment can improve and inform explicitly where in the decision-making process the cumulative impact assessment can be applied.
Awards made under this solicitation will support:
- Goal 2: Take Decisive Action to Advance Environmental Justice and Civil Rights,
- Objective 2.1: Promote Environmental Justice and Civil Rights at the Federal, Tribal, State, and Local Levels, of the Plan.
Research Areas
- Propose cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research to improve health, well-being, and quality of life outcomes by assessing and addressing cumulative impacts resulting from combinations of chemical and non-chemical stressors in underserved communities. Investigate how the scientific information can be used to develop effective cumulative impact assessment approaches and/or methods. Identification of specific health outcomes and key stressors (both chemical and non-chemical) are required.
- Propose research to investigate how cumulative impact assessment approaches and/or methods can be used to shape better informed practical programs, policies, and decisions to eliminate environmental health disparities.
Funding Information
- It is anticipated that a total of approximately $10 million will be awarded under this announcement, depending on the availability of funds, quality of applications received, and other applicable considerations. The EPA anticipates funding approximately five awards under this RFA.
- Requests for amounts in excess of a total of $2,000,000 per award, including direct and indirect costs, will not be considered. The total project period requested in an application submitted for this RFA may not exceed 3 years.
Eligibility Criteria
- Public and private nonprofit institutions/organizations, public and private institutions of higher education (IHEs), and hospitals located in the U.S. and its territories or possessions; state and local governments; Federally Recognized Indian Tribal Governments; and U.S. territories or possessions are eligible to apply. Profit-making firms and individuals are not eligible to apply.
- Consistent with the definition of Nonprofit organization at 2 CFR § 200.1, 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 2 CFR § 200.1 specifically excludes Institutions of Higher Education from the definition of non-profit organization because they are separately defined in the regulation. While not considered to be a nonprofit organization(s) as defined by 2 CFR § 200.1, public or nonprofit Institutions of Higher Education are, nevertheless, eligible to submit applications under this RFA. Hospitals operated by state, tribal, or local governments or that meet the definition of nonprofit at 2 CFR § 200.1 are also eligible to apply as nonprofits or as instrumentalities of the unit of government depending on the applicable law. For-profit colleges, universities, trade schools, and hospitals are ineligible.
- 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. Nonprofit organizations exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that lobby are not eligible for EPA funding as provided in the Lobbying Disclosure Act, 2 U.S.C. 1611.
- Foreign governments, international organizations, and non-governmental international organizations/institutions are not eligible to apply.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
