Special Bulletin: EPA Environmental Justice Resources

Special Bulletin: EPA Environmental Justice Resources

The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act provided $3 billion for Environmental & Climate Justice Programs and $27 billion for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, both administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Our Special Bulletins alert you as funding and other opportunities become available for community based development organizations.

EPA Connects with Community Developers 

We were honored that Tami Thomas Burton, Region 4 Environmental Justice Regional Coordinator at EPA, joined us at the NACEDA Summit on October 25. She presented an overview of the new grant and technical assistance opportunity from EPA’s Environmental and Climate Justice Communities Program. In addition, she engaged in a panel discussion and held office hours to speak personally with summit participants. Burton  provided two salient pieces of advice to community developers: 

• Intentionally connect and utilize your region’s Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center in leveraging these grant opportunities. 

• Get started on your environmental and climate justice proposals and partnerships now so you will be ready when historic funding opportunities open. (See opportunities below.)

Grant Announcement and Opportunities

Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program

Awardees are expected to be announced in late November for this $550 million program. It will fund 11 grantmakers nationwide to provide thousands of subgrants to nonprofit community-based organizations for assessment, planning, and project development activities centering environmental justice. These grantmakers will reduce barriers to the federal grants application process for communities and increase the efficiency of the awards process for environmental justice grants. 

Community Change Grants Program

The Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) has been released for this $2 billion grant program. The grant competition’s one-year proposal window will open soon. The program will provide funding to communities to advance infrastructure, revitalization work, and significant implementation activities related to environmental justice issues. Eligible entities must include  nonprofit community-based organizations. Go to this EPA webpage for the NOFO and TA and resources available to help you apply.

TA for Grant Applications & Management Support

Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers  (TCTACs)

Sixteen TCTACs across the country are currently standing up their technical assistance (TA) request processes, websites, and staff – and a few are now operational. TCTACs provide TA services, including grant writing training, grant management training, and capacity-building support to underserved communities. Refer to the TCTACs webpage to see which centers are already offering resources, training, and accepting TA requests. 

Learn More

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Other Opportunities

Host a Climate Corps Fellow

Climate Corps Fellows provide cost-effective staffing to support organizations’ sustainability projects. Climate Corps will help recruit fellows, serve as the employer of record, scope partner’s projects, train partner’s fellows, and provide access to the program’s extensive network. ​If your organization is interested in hosting a fellow through becoming a Climate Corps Partner, fill out the interest form on their site. The deadline for the Spring cycle is December 31, 2023.