Please share this information widely! And please sign up to receive these updates in your inbox every 2 weeks or so.
1) The Anthropocene Alliance (A2) and the Environmental Protection Network (EPN) will be co-hosting monthly virtual discussions at 1pm eastern on the second Wednesday of every month, focused on federal funding and other topics of interest for frontline and environmental justice communities nationally.
- TOMORROW, January 10, 1pm ET – will focus on EPA’s Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers (TCTACs). Jacob Burney, Division Director, EJ Grants, USEPA, will give a presentation followed by a Q&A. TCTACs are and will continue to provide assistance navigating federal grant application systems, developing strong grant proposals, and effectively managing grant funding. Here is the zoom link.
- February 14, 1pm ET – EPN will present information about EPA Community Change Grants, and the EPA Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program. We’ll also talk about how A2 and EPN can support you and your applications. Here is the zoom link.
To be added to the monthly calendar invites, email Harriet@AnthropoceneAlliance.org, and If you have topics you would be interested in learning more about, please email Kathy.Pope@EnvironmentalProtectionNetwork.org with suggestions.
2) EPN will continue to hold SAM.gov Registration Office Hours every other Wednesday. The next one is January 17 at 2pm eastern. EPN staff will help you begin, continue, or finish up your registration process. As a reminder, federal funding applicants must have an active SAM.gov and Grants.gov registration in order to apply. To sign up and get the Zoom link, go to tinyurl.com/EPNSAM. Please email davina.resto@environmentalprotectionnetwork.org with any questions.
3) The Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ) has a Small Grants Program for grassroots groups working on environmental health and justice issues. Grassroots communities of color, low wealth, rural, and urban groups are encouraged to apply. This grant program will support projects that help groups move toward their goals by building leadership, increasing capacity, or providing training and education. Potential applicants are encouraged to carefully read the guidelines and areas of interest before applying. You can access more information on what kinds of projects we are more likely to fund on CHEJ’s website, and if you have questions about your project and if it will meet the guidelines, email grants@chej.org. Proposals are due February 2, 2024. Your project must be complete, and your final report submitted by September 6, 2024.
The grant application is different for different sized organizations.
- Small organizations and all-volunteer groups with budgets under $50,000, fall under TIER 1 (download application). Grants in this tier range from $1,000 to $5,000.
- Organizations with budgets no greater than $250,000, call under TIER 2 (download application). Grants in this tier range from $5,000 to $10,000.
- Larger organizations with budgets over $250,000 yet under $1,000,000, fall under TIER 3 (download application). Grants in this tier range from $10,000 to $20,000.
To further clarify the application process, CHEJ will be hosting a Training Call on Friday, January 19th at 12 PM EST. Register here.
4) EPA Region 9 and 10s Clean School Bus Rebate Weekly Office Hours: EPA Region 9 staff is offering optional weekly office hours Tuesdays 11am-12pm PT throughout the month of January, for potential 2023 Clean School Bus Rebate applicants to ask questions about the application process. Region 10 applicants are also welcome to attend! Register to attend here. Please note you may submit questions ahead of time to R9cleanschoolbus@epa.gov or R10_Mobile_Sources@epa.gov.
The 2023 Clean School Bus (CSB) Rebate Program will award at least $500 million in rebate funding. Rebate applications are due January 31, 2024 at 1pm PT.
5) Don’t forget that EPN and EPA have a number of critical resources for the EPA Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants (Change Grants) and the EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) Implementation Grants Competitions. Please reach out to info@environmentalprotectionnetwork.org for individual assistance with your applications.
On a December 7th webinar, EPA noted that although the final deadline for the Change Grants is November 21, 2024, there will be initial award announcements in March 2024. Recognizing the need for organizations to try to apply early, EPN has updated our 6-step application guides for Track I and Track II with a suggested deadline of February 20, 2024. If you haven’t already, please fill out our Partner and Assistance Survey so that you can use the responses (publicly available here) to find partners and share information. Also, you can request pro bono technical assistance from EPA for preparing a Community Change Grant application by filling in this form.
EPN has created numerous step-by-step guides to the CPRG Implementation application process for the General Competition (due April 1, 2024), and the Tribal/Territories Only Competition (due May 1, 2024). In addition, recognizing that tribes and territories may be interested in applying for both, EPN has created a step-by-step guide for Applicants Interested in Applying to both the General Competition and the Tribal and Territories Only Competition
In addition, EPA will be hosting two webinars for the CPRG implementation grants – one for the general competition and one for the Tribes and Territories competition.
- January 16, 1 PM (ET) – Getting Ready to Apply for the CPRG Implementation Grants General Competition Register Here
- January 24, 1 PM (ET) – Getting Ready to Apply for the CPRG Implementation Grants Tribes and Territory Competition Register Here
Lastly…
Happy New Year! Here are some of EPN’s 2023 Highlights:
- EPN submitted over 30 sets of formal comments and letters.
- EPN responded to almost 400 requests for technical assistance, connected over 100 unique volunteers to communities, and assisted communities in accessing over $7.5 million in federal funding.
- EPN produced 12 roundtable/mentoring events and connected almost 70 EPN volunteers to prospective EPA applicants.
- EPN volunteers were quoted in over 150 news stories and we continued to produce timely and insightful op-eds.
To read more about our work in just the last two months, please check out the latest edition of our bimonthly newsletter: EPN In Action: November-December 2023. Here are some highlights of our most recent national policy work:
- EPN submitted comments on EPA’s Procedures for Chemical Risk Evaluation Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
- EPN also submitted comments on EPA’s Proposal to Regulate Trichloroethylene Under TSCA.
- EPN sent a letter to EPA requesting an extension for Near-Term Strategies for the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program, which was later granted.
- EPN submitted comments on EPA’s Clean Water Act Section 402 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permitting Guidance.
- EPN also submitted comments on EPA’s Revisions to the Air Emissions Reporting Requirements.