Deadline: 10-Apr-23
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.
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.
Purpose
- 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.
- Projects submitted under this funding opportunity should support the EJG2G program goals detailed below:
- To help ensure that they will achieve EJG2G program goals, projects should factor in: (1) state and local data; (2) state and local leadership; (3) state and local results; (4) 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 (5) state, tribal, local, and territorial government targeting of disproportionately burdened areas.
Priorities
EPA will give special consideration to applications that address one or more of the following program priorities:
- Projects addressing Climate Change, Disaster Resiliency, and/or Emergency Preparedness – The effects of climate change and extreme weather events tend to adversely impact the most vulnerable communities and populations disproportionately. Therefore, EPA may give special consideration to projects that address the needs of underserved and vulnerable communities that have been adversely impacted or are likely to be adversely impacted by natural disasters, including, but not limited to, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, floods, earthquakes, and future pandemics.
- Rural areas – EPA will give special consideration to high-ranking proposals to be performed in rural areas as defined by the program. Rural areas, for the purposes of this competition, are defined as one of the following:
- Local areas with populations of 50,000 or less that have limited access to public or private resources commonly found in metropolitan areas
- Community Network areas selected by the Rural Partners Network
- Coal and Energy Communities
- Applicants claiming rural status must provide sufficient detail (census data, population figures, descriptions of local resources, etc.) for EPA to validate the rural status of the underserved community. The goal of this special consideration is to encourage and increase project performance in rural areas in the EPA EJ Grants program.
- Health Impact Assessment (HIA) – HIA is a “practice that aims to protect and promote health and to reduce inequities in health during a decision-making process.” One’s health is affected by genetics and the health care we receive, but also by the built, social, and natural environments in which we live and work. As such, there is growing recognition that a broad range of decisions can affect health, and health consequences, positive and negative, should be considered as part of decision-making. EPA may give special consideration to HIA projects that seek to determine the potential effects of a proposed environmental decision (e.g., policy, plan, program, project, action) on the health of underserved and vulnerable communities and the distribution of those effects within the communities.
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.
- EPA anticipates making seventy (70) awards under this announcement, awarding up to $1,000,000 per award.
- Duration: 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.
Outcomes
Examples of possible outcome measures expected to result from awards under this competition include but are not limited to:
- The reduction of waterborne pollutants in local waterbodies and/or increase in fish populations leading to reduced contaminant levels in consumed fish.
- The ongoing communication to the underserved communities resulting in measurable risk reduction in a specific media and communities’ participation directly in that risk reduction.
- The resultant changes in State or local regulation directly related to risk assessments performed in the communities which results in State/regional risk reductions.
- Reduction in asthma-related hospital visits due to air pollution remediation activities and use of zero-emission technologies
- Increase in local job opportunities and worker skills to related to workforce development programs specializing in technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions
- Reduction in local temperatures in metropolitan areas due to urban heat island mitigation activities and planning,
- Increase in residents transitioning from private vehicles to public transit, walking, and bicycling.
Eligible Projects
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 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
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 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
- NOTE: the partnership must be documented with a signed Letter of Commitment from the CBO detailing the parameters of the partnership, as well as the role and responsibilities of the community-based organization.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.