Funding

Deadline Unknown. Closed. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is seeking applications for Air, Climate and Energy (ACE) Centers. EPA is interested in supporting research on the development of sound science to systematically inform policy makers at the state and local levels regarding the development of innovative approaches to enable effective implementation of air pollution control strategies to achieve the greatest public health benefits by reducing exposure to harmful air pollution

Categories: Research, Air Pollution Control, public health

EPA’s Urban Waters Program helps local residents and their organizations, particularly those in underserved communities, restore their urban waters in ways that also benefit community and economic revitalization. One of the ways the Urban Waters Program is accomplishing this mission is through the Urban Waters Small Grants Program. This program recognizes that healthy and accessible urban waters can help grow local businesses and enhance educational, recreational, social, and employment opportunities in nearby communities.

Categories: Water, urban communities, community revitalization

Deadline passed on September 22, 2020. This notice announces the availability of funds and solicits applications from eligible entities, including nonprofit organizations, to deliver Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training programs that recruit, train, and place local, unemployed and under-employed residents with the skills needed to secure full-time employment in the environmental field. While Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Grants require training in brownfield assessment and/or cleanup activities, these grants also require that Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) training be provided to all individuals being trained. EPA encourages applicants to develop their curricula based on local labor market assessments and employers’ hiring needs, while also delivering comprehensive training that results in graduates securing multiple certifications.

Categories: Job program, training and development

EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality is soliciting proposals nationwide for Tribal projects that achieve significant reductions in diesel emissions in terms of tons of pollution produced by diesel engines and diesel emissions exposure, particularly from fleets operating in areas designated by the Administrator as poor air quality areas.

Categories: Emissions Reduction, Clean Energy, Transportation Infrastructure, Mitigation

RFP Closed for FY 2016. The PPIN grant program funds grants/cooperative agreements that support a national network of P2 information centers that coordinate training and information resources across the nation to minimize any duplication of effort among state programs. The centers offer training and promote new P2 technologies.

Categories: Pollution, Mitigation

Most Recent Deadline: 7/09/2021. EPA anticipates awarding approximately $5 million in DERA funding under this announcement. A total of $4.5 million will be made available to tribal governments (or intertribal consortia) and Alaska Native villages, and $500,000 will be made available to insular area governments. EPA anticipates awarding five to ten cooperative agreements to tribal governments (or intertribal consortia) and Alaska Native villages and two to four cooperative agreements to insular area governments. This year's Request for Applications (RFA) has no mandatory cost share requirement and sets funding limits to $800,000 for tribal applicants and $250,000 for insular area applicants. Each applicant may submit up to two applications. Although funding for both tribes and insular areas is planned under this single RFA, the applications will be competed separately.  Tribal applications will be reviewed, ranked and selected by one review panel, and insular area applications will be reviewed, ranked and selected by a separate review panel. EPA's ten regional offices will manage awards. The number and size of cooperative agreements made under this announcement are subject to the availability of funds, the quality of applications received, and other considerations. 

Categories: Emissions Reduction, Mitigation, Energy efficiency

Deadline passed. Most recent deadline: February 15, 2023. The EPA is seeking applications proposing projects that inform the public about new or existing residential or community recycling programs; provide information about the recycled materials that are accepted as part of a residential or community recycling program that provides for the separate collection of residential solid waste from recycled material; and increases collection rates and decreases contamination in residential and community recycling programs. Projects will improve consumer recycling education with the goal of achieving separate collection of recycled material across the nation, maximizing the efficient reuse of materials, and identifying strategies that otherwise result in an increase in volume of recyclable materials. The EPA also recognizes and encourages applications that demonstrate evidence-based messaging and strategies associated with effective communication campaigns designed to increase prevention, reuse, repair, remanufacture, recycling, anaerobic digestion, and composting in communities and/or decrease contamination in the recycling stream. This approach to community-informed messaging goes beyond education only by emphasizing researching the audience, building trust, and reducing audience barriers while emphasizing benefits for desired action.In addition, the EPA is seeking applications for recycling education and outreach projects that address environmental justice concerns and focus predominantly on addressing the disproportionate and adverse human health, environmental, climate-related and other cumulative impacts, as well as the accompanying economic challenges of such impacts, resulting from industrial, governmental, commercial and/or other actions that have affected and/or currently affect people/communities of color, low income, tribal, and indigenous populations, and if applicable, other vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, children, and those with pre-existing medical conditions. Apply here.

Categories: education, public health, social justice, recycling, waste management, BIL

Deadline Passed. Most Recent Deadline January 31, 2024. EPA’s new Clean School Bus Program is providing at least $500 million in funding to replace existing school buses with zero-emission and low-emission models. Beginning September 2023 through January 2024, EPA will be hosting a series of webinars on who is eligible, who is prioritized, and how to apply for the 2023 Clean School Bus Rebates.

Categories: Clean energy, transportation, zero-emission, education

Source Reduction Assistance (SRA) grants fund innovative source reduction approaches (also known as “pollution prevention” or “P2”). P2 means reducing or eliminating pollutants from entering any waste stream or otherwise released into the environment prior to recycling, treatment, or disposal. In keeping with the statutory authorities under this program, SRA grant projects must use one or more of the following technical assistance methods to carry out source reduction/P2 activities: a) research, b) investigation, c) experiments, d) education, e) training, f) studies and/or g) demonstration of innovative techniques.

Categories: pollution prevention, waste prevention, research, education, training, hazardous materials

Deadline Passed 08/01/2019. Deadline Unknown for 2020. This notice announces the availability of funds and solicits applications from federally-recognized tribes or intertribal consortia for the development and implementation of hazardous waste programs and for building capacity to address hazardous waste management in Indian country.  In accordance with the EPA Indian Policy of 1984, EPA recognizes tribal governments as the primary parties for managing programs for reservations.To maximize the benefits to tribes from the limited funding to support the Hazardous Waste Management Grant Program for Tribes, EPA has reassessed the criteria used to evaluate Applications submitted for funding through this grant program beginning in FY 2015.  The goal of this effort is to provide technical assistance to a greater number of tribes for activities that involve hazardous waste management on tribal lands.

Categories: Hazardous Waste Management

Under this solicitation, EPA intends to fund further development and ongoing maintenance of a web-based national information clearinghouse focused on smart growth. This clearinghouse will be designed to support communities by providing timely information that supports local decision-making that delivers better environmental and public health outcomes from growth and development

Categories: Development, Database, Smart Growth

This RFA seeks to understand the health effects from climate change mediated by indoor environments. A specific interest is the evaluation of adaptation guidelines, such as energy-saving building modifications, from a health perspective. Additional optional goals are 1) the understanding of behavioral adaptations, e. g. time spent outdoors, or use of natural ventilation and 2) extension of building ventilation models to newer energy-efficient buildings and evaluation of existing models against independent data sets.

Categories: Health, Infrastructure, Research

Deadline passed. Latest deadline: April 4, 2023. SWIFR Grants for Tribes and Intertribal Consortia will provide funds for tribes and intertribal consortia to develop or update plans focused on encouraging environmentally sound post-consumer materials management; establish, increase, or expand materials management infrastructure, utilize funds for equipment and construction related costs as part of their implementation plans, and identify, establish, or improve end-markets for the use of recycled materials.  Materials and waste streams within scope of this funding opportunity include: municipal solid waste, including plastics, organics, paper, metal, glass, etc. and construction and demolition debris. In addition, materials and waste streams considered include the management pathways of source reduction, reuse, sending materials to material recovery facilities, composting, industrial uses (e.g., rendering, anaerobic digestion), and feeding animals. Apply here.

Categories: waste management, food waste, waste diversion, recycling, composting, public health, BIL

Recent Deadline: 1/29/2021 EPA provides GAP financial and technical assistance to tribal governments and intertribal consortia to assist tribes in planning, developing, and establishing the capacity to implement federal environmental programs administered by the EPA and to assist in implementation of tribal solid and hazardous waste programs in accordance with applicable provisions of law, including the Solid Waste Disposal Act (commonly known as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, or RCRA). As described in the GAP Guiding Principles, this support promotes tribal government efforts to develop core environmental program capacities (administrative, financial management, information management, environmental baseline needs assessment, public education/communication, legal, and technical/analytical) and baseline capacities for media-specific programs (e.g., ambient air quality, water quality, managing waste, and other EPA-administered statutory programs).

Categories: Adaptation, Regulatory, Environmental Justice, Natural Resources, Conservation, Health

Deadline Passed 07/31/2018. Deadline Unknown for 2019. The Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014 (WIFIA) established the WIFIA program, a federal credit program administered by EPA for eligible water and wastewater infrastructure projects.

Categories: wastewater, infrastructure, energy efficiency, drinking water, drought prevention, mitigation

Communities receive direct technical assistance from team of national experts in one of two areas: policy analysis (e.g., reviewing state and local codes, school siting guidelines,transportation policies, etc.) or public participatory processes (e.g., visioning, design workshops, alternative analysis, build-out analysis, etc.). The assistance is tailored to the community's unique situation and priorities. EPA provides the assistance through a contractor team –not a grant. Through a multiple-day site visit and a detailed final report, the multi-disciplinary teams provide information to help the community achieve its goal of encouraging growth that fosters economic progress and environmental protection.

Categories: Infrastructure, Smart Growth

2017 deadline: June 15, 2017. Unknown for 2018. This notice announces the availability of funds and solicits proposals from eligible entities that will provide training, peer-to-peer technical assistance and travel scholarships to federally-recognized tribes in support of waste management capacity building on tribal lands. The recipient will conduct three training courses that will assist tribes in the development and implementation of sustainable waste management programs. The training will focus on implementing an Integrated Waste Management Plan (IWMP) through waste diversion programs such as recycling, composting, et al. The training courses should include tribal speakers that have developed and implemented successful waste diversion programs. In addition, the recipient will offer travel scholarships to support the trainings as well as provide travel scholarships to financially assist tribes that voluntarily participate in the EPA’s National Tribal Waste Management Peer Matching Program.

Categories: pollution, human hazard, sustainability, conservation, planning, policy, management, waste, sanitation, infrastructure

Deadline passed. Most recent deadline: April 28, 2022. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is seeking applications proposing community-engaged research that will address the drivers and environmental impacts of energy transitions in underserved communities. For purposes of this competition and the evaluation of applications, “underserved communities” refers to populations sharing a particular characteristic, as well as geographic communities, that have been systematically denied a full opportunity to participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life, including people of color, low income, rural, tribal, indigenous, and other populations that may be disproportionately impacted by environmental harms and risks. Learn more and apply here.

Categories: Energy transitions, community-engaged research, underserved communities, environmental justice

Most Recent Deadline: September 26, 2023. President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act authorized the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to implement the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), a historic $27 billion investment to combat the climate crisis by mobilizing financing and private capital for greenhouse gas- and air pollution-reducing projects in communities across the country. As part of this program, EPA is launching a $7 billion Solar for All competition — designed to spur the deployment of residential distributed solar energy to lower energy bills for millions of Americans and catalyze transformation in markets serving low-income and disadvantaged communities. Solar for All will tackle the financial and non-financial barriers that limit the ability of low-income and disadvantaged communities across the country to benefit from the rapid growth in distributed solar capacity, thus advancing the Biden-Harris Administration’s climate and environmental justice goals. This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is for the $7 billion Solar for All competition. This competition will award up to 60 grants to states, territories, Tribal governments, municipalities, and eligible nonprofit recipients to expand the number of low-income and disadvantaged communities primed for distributed solar investment—enabling millions of low-income households to access affordable, resilient, and clean solar energy. Grantees will use funds to expand existing low-income solar programs or design and deploy new Solar for All programs nationwide. EPA will not fund individual projects under this competition. EPA’s $7 billion Solar for All competition will help deliver on the climate and environmental justice goals of the United States. To achieve these goals, Solar for All grantees will provide subsidies and other financial assistance to residential rooftop and residential-serving community solar projects in and benefiting low-income and disadvantaged communities in addition to project-deployment technical assistance such as workforce development, community outreach, and other project-deployment support (e.g., interconnection technical assistance, siting and permitting support) to help overcome barriers to solar deployment.

Categories: IRA, Inflation Reduction Act, Solar, Environmental Justice

Deadline passed as of August 1, 2017. Deadline for 2018 unknown. This notice announces the availability of funds and solicits proposals to develop and stand-up a place-based estuary program encompassing one or more of the following bays in Florida’s northwest panhandle region: Perdido Bay, Pensacola Bay, Escambia Bay, Choctawhatchee Bay, St. Andrews Bay and Apalachicola Bay.

Categories: restoration, conservation, adaptation, mitigation, management, planning, policy, habitat, population, biodiversity,

Most recent deadline: 1/14/2021. EPA provides GAP financial and technical assistance to tribal governments and intertribal consortia to assist tribes in planning, developing, and establishing the capacity to implement federal environmental programs administered by the EPA and to assist in implementation of tribal solid and hazardous waste programs in accordance with applicable provisions of law, including the Solid Waste Disposal Act (commonly known as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, or RCRA). As described in the GAP Guiding Principles, this support promotes tribal government efforts to develop core environmental program capacities (administrative, financial management, information management, environmental baseline needs assessment, public education/communication, legal, and technical/analytical) and baseline capacities for media-specific programs (e.g., ambient air quality, water quality, managing waste, and other EPA-administered statutory programs).

Categories: Adaptation, Regulatory, Environmental Justice, Natural Resources, Conservation, Health

Submissions accepted on a rolling basis. The Clean Water Indian Set-Aside Grant Program (CWISA) provides funding to Indian tribes and Alaska Native Villages for wastewater infrastructure. The CWISA program is administered in cooperation with the Indian Health Service (IHS). The CWISA program provides funding for wastewater infrastructure to American Indian Tribes and Alaska Native Villages. Funds may be used for planning, design, and construction of wastewater collection and treatment systems. The CWISA program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in cooperation with the Indian Health Service (IHS) Sanitation Facilities Construction program. To be considered for CWISA program funding, tribes must identify their wastewater needs to the IHS Sanitation Deficiency System. EPA uses the IHS Sanitation Deficiency System priority lists to identify and select projects for CWISA program funding.

Categories: waste water infrastructure, monitoring, infrastructure

Deadline Passes December 15, 2017. Deadline for 2018 unknown. This notice announces the availability of funds and solicits proposals from eligible entities, including nonprofit organizations, to deliver Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training programs that recruit, train, and place local, unemployed and under-employed residents with the skills needed to secure full-time employment in the environmental field. Please note that eligible entities who received an EWDJT grant in Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) are not eligible to apply for funding in FY18. While Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Grants require training in brownfield assessment and/or cleanup, these grants also require that Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) training be provided to all individuals being trained. EPA encourages applicants to develop their curricula based on local labor market assessments and employers’ hiring needs, while also delivering comprehensive training that results in graduates securing multiple certifications.

Categories: workforce development, job training, environmental, hazardous and solid waste management, water quality improvement, chemical safety, pesticide management

Deadline Passed 12/04/2017. Deadline for 2018 Unknown. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting applications from eligible applicants as described in Section III.A to provide training and technical assistance for small public water systems to help such systems achieve and maintain compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), and to provide training and technical assistance for small publicly owned wastewater systems, communities served by onsite/decentralized wastewater systems, and private well owners to improve water quality under the Clean Water Act (CWA). Training and technical assistance activities provided to these systems, communities and private well owners should be made available nationally in rural and urban communities and to personnel of tribally- owned and operated systems.

Categories: training, technical assistance, public water systems, wastewater systems, water quality

No listed deadline. Significant human health and water quality problems exist in Alaska Native Villages (ANV) and other rural communities in Alaska due to lack of sanitation. To address these issues, Congress in 1996 authorized EPA to create the Alaska Native Villages and Rural Communities Grant Program, which is codified in 33 U.S.C. § 1263a.

The program assists these communities with the construction of new or improved wastewater and drinking water systems. Communities can also use the funding for training and technical assistance in system operations and maintenance.

EPA provides funds to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to address the needs of rural and native Alaska communities. The DEC, in turn, administers these funds through its Village Safe Water (VSW) program. The VSW program’s goal is "to improve public health and compliance with environmental laws by upgrading the level of sanitation facilities in rural [Alaskan] communities through financial and technical assistance."

Categories: Water, sanitation, public health

Deadline varies based on individual grants. Section 106 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) authorizes EPA to provide financial assistance to states and eligible interstate agencies to establish and administer programs for the prevention, reduction, and elimination of water pollution. In 1987, Congress amended section 518(e) of the CWA to include provisions that allow EPA to treat an Indian tribe in a manner similar to a state (i.e., treatment in a manner similar to a state, or TAS) for the purpose of providing Section 106 funding.

Categories: water quality, water quality standards, water quality monitoring, pollution, source water

Deadline: 2/5/2021. EPA provides Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (GAP) financial and technical assistance to tribal governments and intertribal consortia to assist tribes in planning, developing, and establishing the capacity to implement federal environmental programs administered by the EPA and to assist in implementation of tribal solid and hazardous waste programs in accordance with applicable provisions of law, including the Solid Waste Disposal Act (commonly known as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, or RCRA. EPA administers this program in accordance with the statute, applicable federal regulations, including 40 CFR part 35, subpart B, and national guidance, including the Indian Environmental General Assistance Program Guidance on the Award and Management of General Assistance Agreements for Tribes and Intertribal Consortia (2013; hereafter GAP Guidance).

Categories: administrative, financial management, information management, environmental baseline needs assessment, public education/communication, legal, ambient air quality, water quality, managing waste

Most Recent Deadline: November 21, 2024. EPA’s new Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants program (Community Change Grants) has announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for approximately $2 billion dollars in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds in environmental and climate justice activities to benefit disadvantaged communities through projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to address environmental and climate justice challenges. These place-based investments will be focused on community-driven initiatives to be responsive to community and stakeholder input. They are designed to deliver on the transformative potential of the IRA for communities most adversely and disproportionately impacted by climate change, legacy pollution, and historical disinvestments.

Categories: environmental justice, climate justice, inflation reduction act, IRA

Philanthropy Northwest & the EPA Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program. 2nd round deadline: February 28, 2025. The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program aims to make it easier for community-based organizations to access federal environmental justice funding. The Pacific Northwest Grant ($40 million) is an opportunity for nonprofit organizations, Native American organizations & Tribal governments, local governments, and institutions of higher education. This grant opportunity is to distribute federal resources to chronically underinvested communities to ensure all people are protected from disproportionate and adverse environmental and health effects. The program was created to respond to feedback from communities about the need to reduce barriers to federal funds and improve the efficiency of the awards process to ensure underinvested communities can access the grants.For more information and to apply, visit: https://philanthropynw.org/epa-environmental-justice-thriving-communities-grantmaking-program

Most Recent Deadline: July 25, 2024. This notice announces the availability of funds and solicits applications from eligible entities to incentivize and accelerate the replacement of existing non-ZE Class 6 and 7 heavy-duty vehicles with ZE vehicles. The EPA anticipates awarding up to $932 million in funds under this Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles (CHDV) Grants NOFO, subject to the availability of funds, the quantity and quality of applications received, support for communities overburdened by air pollution, applicability of different business models, and other applicable considerations described in this document. This funding to support ZE vehicles will benefit communities across the United States (U.S.), especially communities that are disproportionately burdened by air pollution and marginalized by underinvestment. These replacement vehicles will ensure cleaner air for the communities in which they operate. The reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from these vehicle replacements will also help address the outsized role of the transportation sector in fueling the climate crisis.

Categories: Vehicles (375), Air Pollution (392)