Environmental Justice Small Grants Program (US)

Deadline: 20-May-2022

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently seeking applications for its Environmental Justice Small Grants (EJSG) Program to improve the environment and public health conditions of tribal governments, low-income communities, and communities of color through the advancement of racial equity and environmental justice.

Goals

The immediate goals of the EJSG program are to support underserved communities through some of the initial steps of understanding, addressing, and developing solutions to local environmental and public health issues.
Long-term, the EJSG program seeks to help build the overall capacity of communities with environmental justice concerns and help they create self-sustaining, community-based partnerships that will continue to improve local environments in the future.
Additionally, the EJSG program is structured to be one of the more accessible federal grant programs, especially for community-based organizations that are unfamiliar with the federal grants process to strengthen their participation in the federal grant application process and build sustainable projects that continue after the award project period.

Funding Information

Estimated Total Program Funding: $1,600,000
Award Ceiling: $100,000

Tribal Governments and Public Participation

The EPA recognizes the right of the tribal governments to self-determination and acknowledges the federal government’s trust responsibility to federally recognized tribes, based on the U.S. Constitution, treaties, statutes, executive orders, and court decisions.
The EPA provides advice and recommendations to federally recognized tribes supporting the integration of environmental justice principles and programs into tribal government programs, policies, and activities, including procedures designed to ensure fair treatment and meaningful involvement of both tribal members and others living in areas affected by the tribal program.
The EPA assists federally recognized tribes in building capacity to establish public participation, community involvement, education, and communication systems to engage with tribal members and others living in areas affected by the tribal program and to conduct their own environmental justice analysis.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible applicants for this funding opportunity have been limited to the following:
- Federally recognized tribal governments.

Ineligible

Incorporated non-profit organizations;
state-recognized tribes;
intertribal consortia;
US territories;
Freely Associated States (FAS);
colleges and universities;
hospitals;
for-profit businesses;
state and local governments and their entities;
quasi-governmental entities (e.g., water districts, utilities);
national organizations and chapters of the aforementioned organizations;
non-profit organizations exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code supporting lobbying activities as defined in Section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995; and
International organizations and chapters of the aforementioned organizations.
Individuals.