Cooperative Agreements to USA States, Tribes, and Local Agencies to Address Environmental Health Challenges

Environmental Justice Government-to-Government (EJG2G)

Agency

Federal

GrantWatch ID#

207505

Funding Source

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) and External Civil Rights (ECR)

CFDA Number: 66.312

Funding or PIN Number: EPA-R-OEJECR-OCS-23-02

Geographic Focus

All USA
USA Territories: American Samoa (USA); Guam (USA); Puerto Rico (USA); Virgin Islands (USA); Northern Mariana Islands (USA);
USA Compact Free Associations:The Federated States of Micronesia (USA) Marshall Islands (USA) Republic of Palau (USA)

Important Dates

Deadline: 04/10/23 11:59 PM ET Receipt

Grant Description

Cooperative agreements to USA and territories partnerships between states, tribes, local governments, and community-based organizations for projects to mitigate environmental risks and improve community health. Applicants are advised that required registrations may take several weeks to complete. 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.

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.

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.

For program priorities that will receive special consideration, see https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-01/EJG2G%20Request%20for%20Applications%202023.pdf#page=6.

Eligible project activities and project examples: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-01/EJG2G%20Request%20for%20Applications%202023.pdf#page=7

Recipient

Additional Eligibility Criteria

An eligible applicant must be one of the following entities:
1. A partnership between* — a state or U.S. commonwealth (includes Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) and a community-based nonprofit organization
2. 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
3. A partnership between* — tribal governments and a community-based nonprofit organization
4. A partnership between* — local governments (as defined by 2 CFR 200.1 - includes cities, towns, municipalities, and counties, public housing authorities and councils of government) and a community-based nonprofit organization
5. 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
6. Freely Associated States (FAS) – includes state and local governmental entities in the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Palau
7. 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 further details on partnerships, see https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-01/EJG2G%20Request%20for%20Applications%202023.pdf#page=16.

The following entities are ineligible to receive an award, but applicants are strongly encouraged to partner and/or enter into contractual relationships with these organizations:
A. Public and Nonprofit institutions of higher education, including state and tribal colleges and universities even if they are instrumentalities of state or tribal government.
B. Hospitals and medical facilities even if they are instrumentalities of state, tribal or local governments.
C. Non-profit organizations
D. For-profit businesses
E. Faith-based organizations and local houses of worship
F. Civic and philanthropic organizations
G. International Organizations
H. Individuals

Ineligible

Nonprofit organizations described in Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that engage in lobbying activities as defined in Section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 are not eligible to apply.

The following are examples of ineligible activities under the awards to be made from this RFA:
- Lobbying as restricted in 2 CFR 200.450 and the terms and conditions of EJG2G assistance agreements.
- Legal advice, services, or representation
- Travel for federal employees
- Projects or programs that are not eligible for funding under section 138(b)(2) of the Clean Air Act or the environmental justice implementation and training grant authority in EPA’s Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriation Act, Public Law 117-103

Pre-Proposal Conference

Applicants are invited to participate in webinars with EPA to address questions about the EJG2G Program and this solicitation.

January 26, 2022, 2:00pm - 3:30pm ET
(EJG2G Live Webinar)
Link: https://usepa.zoomgov.com/j/1607763776

February 7, 2023, 2:00pm – 3:30pm ET
(EJG2G Live Webinar)

Pre-Application Information

Tentative Schedule:
- January 10, 2023: EJG2G competition announced. Open competition period begins.
- January 26, 2023 and February 7, 2023: Webinars and Pre-application Assistance Calls
- April 10, 2023: Open competition closes. Applications must be submitted through Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. (ET), April 10, 2023. Applications received after this date will not be reviewed.
- April – May 2023: EPA will review applications for Threshold Eligibility Criteria. Ineligible applicants will be notified via email with details regarding ineligibility.
- June – August 2023: EPA review panel(s) review, score, and rank eligible applications. EPA will make the final selections for awards. All applicants will be notified of the selection results by mail and/or email.
- September 2023: Headquarters/Regional offices will request any additional application documentation from selected applicants. Awards will be made by headquarters and/or regional grant offices as determined to be appropriate.
- October 2023: OEJECR will release a national announcement for the EJG2G awardees

Organizations applying to this funding opportunity must have an active SAM.gov registration. Once your SAM.gov account is active, you must register in Grants.gov. Register in SAM.gov and Grants.gov as soon as possible. Finalizing these registrations could take a month or more.

View this opportunity on Grants.gov: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=345311

For a list of relevant application documents, go to the Package tab (press Preview) on the Grants.gov link above.

Additional Funding Information

Estimated Total Program Funding:

$70,000,000

Number of Grants

Approximately 70

Estimated Size of Grant

Up to $1,000,000 per award

Term of Contract

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.

Note: Due to the restrictions in CAA 138(b)(1), EPA cannot extend the performance periods for EJG2G assistance agreements beyond three years.

Contact Information

Applicants should confirm receipt of their application with Omari Burrell, Burrell.Omari@epa.gov as soon as possible after submission.

Agency Contacts:
- Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights: Burrell.Omari@epa.gov, Burney.Jacob@epa.gov
- Region 1: Norcross.Jeffrey@epa.gov
- Region 2: Frazier.Tasha@epa.gov
- Region 3: Scott.Gail@epa.gov
- Region 4: Thomas-Burton.Tami@epa.gov
- Region 5: Triantafillou.Kathy@epa.gov
- Region 6: Acosta.Gerardo@epa.gov
- Region 7: Espinosa.Monica@epa.gov
- Region 8: Heffernan.Daniel@epa.gov
- Region 9: Capilla.Morgan@epa.gov
- Region 10: Chu.Rebecca@epa.gov

Contact Grants.gov for assistance at 1-800-518-4726 or support@grants.gov to resolve technical issues with Grants.gov.

Cooperative Agreements to USA States, Tribes, and Local Agencies to Address Environmental Health Challenges

Environmental Justice Government-to-Government (EJG2G)

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