The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing this solicitation to request applications for the design and management of a new Environmental Justice (EJ) competitive pass-through program where EPA will competitively select multiple pass-through entities to provide grant funds via subawards to community-based nonprofit organizations and other eligible subrecipient groups representing underserved and disadvantaged communities.
Applicants must address all three phases in their applications. Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III Subgrants may address a wide range of environmental issues and consist of a variety of project types including (but not limited to) the following:
Air quality & asthma
Fence line air quality monitoring
Monitoring of effluent discharges from industrial facilities
Water quality & sampling
Small cleanup projects
Improving food access to reduce vehicle miles traveled
Stormwater issues and green infrastructure
Lead and asbestos contamination
Pesticides and other toxic substances
Healthy homes that are energy/water use efficient and not subject to indoor air pollution
Illegal dumping activities, such as education, outreach, and small-scale clean-ups
Emergency preparedness and disaster resiliency
Environmental job training for occupations that reduce greenhouse gases and other air pollutants
Environmental justice training for youth.
Funding Information
Estimated Total Program Funding: $550,000,000
Award Ceiling: $50,000,000.
Outcomes
Examples of expected outcomes from projects may include the following:
Increase in number of residents who know how to access local air quality information
Increase in number of communities who have access to reliable data specifically about the environment issues impacting their community
Increase in number of communities with a community-wide plan in place to tackle environmental and public health issues
Increase in partnerships between community stakeholders
The reduction of waterborne pollutants in local waterbodies and/or increase in fish populations.
The increased ongoing communication to the underserved communities resulting in measurable risk reduction related to a specific environmental issue and communities’ participation directly in that risk reduction.
Improved public health (e.g., lead, asthma, etc.) in community through taking actions that reduce exposure to environmental risks
Increased greenspace, green infrastructure and/or approaches to address extreme weather and flooding.
Eligibility Criteria
The entities eligible to apply under this assistance listing and serve as an EJ Thriving Communities Grantmaker are as follows:
a community-based nonprofit organization (includes philanthropic organizations and community foundations); or
a partnership of community-based nonprofit organizations
a partnership between— a federally recognized tribal government and a community-based nonprofit organization
a partnership between— an institution of higher education and a communitybased nonprofit organization;
