This is part of a series highlighting funding opportunities for school districts and universities. Find related resources here.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights announced a new funding opportunity to support activities that lead to measurable environmental or public health impacts in communities disproportionately affected by climate, environmental, and human health harms and risks. The Environmental Justice Government-to-Government Program (EJG2G) provides funding at the state, local, territorial, and tribal levels. The EPA anticipates making 70 awards of up to $1 million each.
Full details and requirements for the concept paper and full application are available here.
The deadline for applications is April 14, 2023, at 11:59 pm EST.
FUNDS AVAILABLE
The EJG2G Program anticipates awarding approximately $70 million of funding through 70 cooperative agreements nationwide, organized in four tracks of funding:
- $20 million annual appropriations for states partnering with Community-based Nonprofit Organizations (CBOs) proposing projects for up to $1 million each. (20 awards)
- $20 million of Inflation Reduction Act appropriations for tribal governments partnering with CBOs proposing projects for up to $1 million each. (20 awards)
- $20 million of Inflation Reduction Act appropriations for local governments partnering with CBOs proposing projects for up to $1 million each. (20 awards)
- $10,000,000 annual appropriations for U.S. Territories, Freely Associated States, Puerto Rico, and tribes in remote areas proposing projects for up to $1 million each. (10 awards)
ELIGIBILITY
U.S. territories, Freely Associated States, and tribal governments in remote areas may apply for funding. State, tribal, and local governments may also apply in partnership with a CBO.
Applications must address one of the following 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
- Reducing indoor toxics and indoor air pollution
- Facilitating engagement of marginalized communities in local, state, and federal public processes, such as advisory groups, workshops, and rulemakings
APPLICATIONS
Application packages can be submitted via grants.gov and must include:
| Section | Points | Description |
| 1.0 Program Objectives: | ||
| Project Summary Page | 2 | Summary document should include: Applicant Information (Org Name, Main Point of Contact, address, contact info) Environmental issues – e.g., Air, Land, Water related Project Abstract — Brief description (250 words or less) of the main objective, activities, and outputs/outcomes of the project, including the specific geographic areas of focus. Project Type(s) — such as research, tool development, training, small-scale construction, and monitoring Underserved Communities and Vulnerable Populations addressed by project (include geographic and location info, such as zip code, city or county) Special Considerations* – If applicable to your project, which special considerations do you believe your project qualifies for? (Climate Change/Disaster Resiliency, Health Impact Assessment, Rural Areas, or any Other Factor described below in Section V) List of Project Partners – include partner name and stakeholder group. For example, Tribal Governments (tribe); State University (academic); CBO (see definition in Section I); House of worship (faith-based); Internet Technology contractor (business/industry); etc. Will you need to develop a QAPP for your project? |
| Disproportionate Environmental and Public Health Issues Impacting Underserved Communities | 12 | Applicants must describe the following: Describe and characterize the underserved communities and vulnerable populations directly impacted by disproportionate environmental and/or public health issues and describe how those communities and populations are impacted by those issues What are the environmental/public health issue(s) that the project seeks to address? Describe other recent efforts in the State, if any, that have sought to address those issues as well What are the environmental/public health results the project seeks to achieve and how will the underserved communities and vulnerable populations benefit from those results? |
| Organization’s Recent Efforts to Directly Support Underserved Communities | 12 | Applicants must describe the following: Recent Efforts (within five years) your organization has made to provide direct support and build relationships with the underserved communities and vulnerable populations identified in your application, including the duration of involvement and circumstances that led to your organization’s involvement. Examples may include, development of new housing assistance programs, community workshops and public meetings, environmental justice programming, and neighborhood planning How your entity has worked directly with community residents and/or community based organizations of underserved communities to address local environmental and public health issues within the last five years and what are some of the results of that work How the residents were part of the decision-making process of past efforts. How those efforts increased capacity and resources for local underserved communities to address public health and/or environmental issues. And, how the applicant maintained an ongoing relationship with those communities and populations |
| Project Linkages | 2 | Briefly describe how the project supports EPA Strategic Plan Goal 2, Objective 2.1 (Promote Environmental Justice and Civil Rights at the Federal, Tribal, State, and Local Levels). https://www.epa.gov/planandbudget/strategicplan |
| Partner and Collaborate | 10 | Provide a clear and concise description of how the proposed project promotes collaborations with partners from multiple stakeholder groups, such as CBOs, business, academia, government, etc., to develop and implement solutions that will address environmental and/or public health issues. We encourage applicants to seek diversity in partnerships in an effort to enhance the process of achieving the project’s goals. Applicants are strongly encouraged to have at least THREE signed letters of commitment from partners representing at least THREE different stakeholder groups. |
| 2.0 Project Activities/ Milestone Schedule/ Detailed Budget Narrative: | ||
| Project Activities | 12 | Clear description of steps the applicant will take to meet the program objectives. Descriptions of the detailed project activities or components and the anticipated products/results associated with each activity. |
| Milestone Schedule | 4 | Clearly articulated milestone schedule, including timeframes and major milestones to complete significant project activities. It is recommended that you insert a table in your application narrative to help organize your milestone schedule. |
| Itemized Budget Sheet / Budget Narrative | 12 | Submit as Attachment (use Other Attachment Form in Grants.gov). Do not include leveraged funds from other sources in your EPA budget request. See further budget details later in this section (Section IV). |
| 3.0 Environmental Results—Outcomes, Outputs and Performance Measures | ||
| Environmental Results Outputs/Outcomes | 10 | Environmental Results (Logic Model) – Submit as Attachment (use Other Attachments Form in Grants.gov). See further instructions later in Section IV on this optional submission. |
| Performance Measurement Plan | 4 | Applicants should describe how they plan to track and monitor their project performance and progress throughout the project period. Applicants will be evaluated on the extent and quality to which the application demonstrates a sound plan for tracking progress towards achieving the expected outputs, outcomes, and associated timeframes for achieving those results. |
| Sustainability Plan and Community Vision | 4 | Based on your project planning with underserved communities and other partners, describe how your organization plans to utilize the results and momentum of the proposed project to further integrate environmental justice principles in all operations of State and/or local government work. |
| 4.0 Programmatic Capability | ||
| Organizational Experience | 4 | Organizational Experience related to the proposed project and their plan for building relationships with underserved communities, community groups, and vulnerable populations to successfully perform the project |
| Staff Experience / Qualifications of Project Manager (PM) | 4 | Provide information that clearly demonstrates that the proposed PM and other staff associated with the project are qualified to perform the project successfully. This will be determined through the description of the following: Why the PM and associated staff are qualified to undertake the project Illustrating the PM’s experience building relationships with community residents and community organizations in a professional capacity. Please include detailed descriptions of similar activities and programs that the PM has worked onto improve local communities |
| Expenditure of Awarded Grant Funds, and plan for compliance with EPA’s Pre-award Compliance Review for Nonprofit Organizations | 2 | Applicants will be evaluated based on their approach, procedures, and controls for ensuring that awarded grant funds will be expended in a timely and efficient manner and applicants must describe this in the workplan. |
| 5.0 Past Performance | ||
| List of Federally funded and/or nonfederally funded Assistance Agreements and Reporting History | 6 | Submit a list of federally and/or non-federally funded assistance agreements (assistance agreements include Federal grants and cooperative agreements but not Federal contracts) similar in size and scope to the proposed project that your organization performed within the last three years (no more than 5 agreements, and preferably EPA agreements) and describe whether, and how, you were able to successfully complete and manage those agreements and your history of meeting the reporting requirements under those agreements including whether you adequately and timely reported on your progress towards achieving the expected outputs and outcomes of those agreements (and if not, explain why not) and whether you submitted acceptable final technical reports under the agreements. |
| 6.0 Quality Assurance Project Plan | ||
| Data Collection Needs | 0 | Indicate whether you believe that your project will involve the use of existing environmental data or information or the collection of new data (use the checklist in Appendix F to assist you in making this determination). |
Questions on the Environmental Justice Government-to-Government Program and this Funding Opportunity Announcement can be directed to Burrell.Omari@epa.gov.
Funding Opportunity # EPA-R-OEJECR-OCS-23-02