Funding

Deadline Passed April 30, 2019. Deadline Unknown for 2020. Since 2008, FNS awards funding for nutrition education projects through Food Distribution Program Nutrition Education (FDPNE) grants each fiscal year. Indian Tribal Organizations (ITOs) and State agencies (SAs) that are current FDPIR allowance holders (have a direct agreement with FNS to administer FDPIR) are eligible to apply for funds to conduct projects that provide nutrition information and services to FDPIR participants. The Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 SNAP Education Plan Guidance is the basis for FDPNE nutrition, gardening, and physical activities

The Village Safe Water Program provides technical and financial support to communities to design and construct water and wastewater systems. It is meant to assist Alaska Native Villages and Alaska rural communities with the construction of new or improved drinking water and wastewater systems. This funding can also be used to provide training and technical assistance in the operations and maintenance of these systems.

Smart Growth America and Global Green USA are soliciting applications for technical assistance, which is available under grants EPA awarded to these two organizations through the Office of Sustainable Communities' Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities grant program. (Listen to the November 6 webinar about both offerings.) Global Green USA's technical assistance is based on the LEED for Neighborhood Development standard, which provides a nationally recognized method for creating neighborhoods that are walkable, bikeable, resource-efficient, and equitable. At the conclusion of the assistance, the team will provide recommendations for both physical and policy changes that can enhance neighborhood sustainability.

Deadline Passed 01/06/2020. Deadline Unknown for 2020.  The purpose of the Environmental Education Local Grants Program in Region 10 is to support locally-focused environmental education projects that increase public awareness and knowledge about environmental and conservation issues and provide the skills that participants in its funded projects need to make informed decisions and take responsible actions toward the environment.

Deadline passed. Most recent deadline: April 14, 2023. The Environmental Justice Government-to-Government (EJG2G) program provides funding at the state, local, territorial, and Tribal level to support  government activities that lead to measurable environmental or public health impacts in communities disproportionately burdened by environmental harms. Model EJG2G programs should leverage existing resources to develop processes or tools that integrate environmental justice considerations into governmental decision-making at all levels. Applications submitted in response to this funding opportunity that will receive must address one of the following five 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;   
• reducing indoor toxics and indoor air pollution; or   
• facilitating engagement of marginalized communities in Local, State and Federal public processes, such as advisory groups, workshops, and rulemakings. 

Apply here: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=345311 

Deadline Passed. Most recent deadline: June 15, 2023. EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program will provide noncompetitive planning grant opportunities for Federally recognized Tribes, tribal consortia, and U.S. Territories interested in participating in the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program. The Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) program will provide grants to states, territories, tribes, air pollution control agencies, and local governments to develop and implement plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful air pollution. Section 60114 of the Inflation Reduction Act provides an investment of $5 billion to support these efforts to develop and implement strong, local greenhouse gas reduction strategies. This two-staged grant program provides funding of $250 million for noncompetitive planning grants, and $4.6 billion for competitive implementation grants.

Past Deadline: 5/7/2021. The Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving (EJCPS) Cooperative Agreement Program provides financial assistance to eligible organizations working on or planning to work on projects to address local environmental and/or public health issues in their communities. The program assists recipients in building collaborative partnerships with other stakeholders (e.g., local businesses and industry, local government, medical service providers, academia, etc.) to develop solutions that will significantly address environmental and/or public health issue(s) at the local level. Additionally, the EJCPS Program requires selected applicants, or recipients, to use the EPA’s Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Model as part of their projects. The model aims to address local environmental and/or public health issues in a collaborative manner with various stakeholders such as communities, industry, academic institutions, and others. Case Studies highlight some of the successful and effective strategies of previous projects.

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).

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.

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.

Deadline passed. Most recent deadline: June 20, 2023. The purpose of the Pollution Prevention Grant: Environmental Justice Through Safer and more Sustainable Products is to provide pollution prevention (P2) technical assistance to businesses (e.g., information, training, expert advice) in order to improve human health and the environment in disadvantaged communities by increasing the supply, demand and use of safer and more sustainable products, such as those that are certified by EPA’s Safer Choice program, or those that conform to EPA’s Recommendations for Specifications, Standards and Ecolabels for Federal Purchasing (Recommendations).

Applications Accecpted Year-Round. The Technical Assistance to Brownfields (TAB) Communities Program helps communities, states, tribes and others understand risks associated with contaminated or potentially contaminated properties, called brownfields, and learn how to assess, safely clean up and sustainably reuse them. EPA funds three organizations—Kansas State University (KSU), the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and the Center for Creative Land Recycling (CCLR)—to serve as independent sources of technical assistance. Each of these TABs has an extensive network of partners, contractors and other contacts that provides services across the country. They help communities tackle a variety of challenges related to identifying, assessing, cleaning up and redeveloping brownfields. The technical assistance comes at no cost to communities. This makes the TAB program a great resource for small, underserved, rural and other communities that might otherwise struggle to address their brownfields.

Deadline Passed 04/03/2019. Deadline Unknown for 2020. EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality is soliciting applications nationwide for Tribal projects that achieve significant reductions in diesel emissions and diesel emissions exposure, particularly from fleets located in areas designated as having poor air quality. EPA anticipates $2 million will be awarded to eligible Tribal applicants.

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.