EPA is issuing this solicitation to request applications for projects supporting community-based nonprofit organizations (CBOs) in their efforts to collaborate and partner 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) in communities disproportionately burdened by environmental harms and risks. 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.
Collaborative Problem-Solving Model - The program’s objective is to support projects that demonstrate the utility of the Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Model. For the purposes of the EJCPS Program, collaborative problem-solving is defined as an effort to bring together groups and resources (e.g., information, labor, money) by three or more stakeholders to solve a set of problems that any single entity cannot solve individually. Collaborative problem solving builds upon existing community understanding to establish and maintain partnerships capable of producing meaningful environmental and/or public health results. To provide a systematic approach towards collaborative problem-solving, OEJECR has developed a Collaborative Problem-Solving Model (Model). Such a Model is intended to assist vulnerable and underserved communities in developing proactive, strategic, and visionary approaches to address their environmental justice issues and achieve community health and sustainability.
The EJCPS Program has funded a wide range of projects and project types over the years that address local environmental and public health concerns through collaborative partnerships. All proposed projects should include activities designed to engage, educate, and empower communities to understand the local environmental and public health issues and to identify ways to address these issues at the local level. Types of projects the EJCPS program has funded in the past and would be eligible to be funded under this competition with CAA 138 IRA funding, include, but are not limited to, the following:
All work plans should include strategies for addressing local environmental and public health issues, educating and empowering the community about those issues, and approaches to building consensus and setting community priorities. In addition, the work plan should demonstrate collaboration with other stakeholders (e.g., other community-based organizations, environmental groups, businesses, industry, federal, tribal, state and local governments, and academic institutions) in an effort to realize project goals and objectives and build project sustainability leading to ongoing efforts that address the local environmental justice issue(s).
For this competition, EPA will give special consideration to applications that focus on the following program priority:
More information about the special considerations can be found at https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-01/EJCPS%20Request%20for%20Applications%202023.pdf#page=7.
Eligible Project Categories and Activities can be found at https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-01/EJCPS%20Request%20for%20Applications%202023.pdf#page=8.
Estimated Total Program Funding:
