Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program (EJ TCGM)

This program has been terminated.

The goals of this program are to make awards for the design and management of a new Environmental Justice (EJ) competitive pass-through program where EPA will competitively select pass-through entities to provide grant funds via subawards to community-based nonprofit organizations, underserved and disadvantaged communities, and other EJ community stakeholders. Per the Code of Federal Regulations (2 CFR200.74), a pass-through entity is defined as a non-Federal entity that provides a subaward to a subrecipient to carry out part of a federal program. Under this program, EPA plans to award 5 - 11 cooperative agreements in FY 23 to pass-through entities (referred to as Grantmakers by the program) who will collaborate with EPA to design and build their own processes to receive and evaluate competitive community project applications from communities and community stakeholders addressing local environmental and/or public health issues impacting underserved and disadvantaged communities. The Grantmaking program strives to increase the access Eligible Subrecipients have to funding, as well as reduce the burden of the federal grants application process on underserved and disadvantaged communities. As a result, community-based nonprofit organizations and other EJ stakeholders will be better positioned to advance and address EJ issues nationwide. This will lead to progress towards achieving the objectives of Executive Order 13985, "Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government," and Executive Order 14008, "Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis,", as well as the Justice40 Initiative.

The entities eligible to apply under this assistance listing to serve as a Grantmaker are as follows: • a community-based nonprofit organization* or • a partnership of community-based nonprofit organizations* or a partnership between*— an Indian tribe and a community-based nonprofit organization • a partnership between*— an institution of higher education and a community-based nonprofit organization. Consistent with the definition of Nonprofit organization at 2 CFR 200.1, the term “nonprofit organization means any corporation, trust, association, cooperative, or other organization that is operated mainly for scientific, educational, service, charitable, or similar purpose in the public interest and is not organized primarily for profit; and uses net proceeds to maintain, improve, or expand the operation of the organization. Note that 2 CFR 200.1 specifically excludes Institutions of Higher Education from the definition of non-profit organization because they are separately defined in the regulation. While not considered to be a nonprofit organization(s) as defined by 2 CFR 200.1, public or nonprofit Institutions of Higher Education are, nevertheless, eligible to submit applications under this assistance listing. For-profit colleges, universities, trade schools, and hospitals are ineligible. Eligible nonprofit organizations may, but are not required to be, exempt from taxation under section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code. Workforce Investment Boards and organized Labor Unions that meet these criteria may be eligible nonprofit organizations. 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. For certain competitive funding opportunities under this assistance listing, the Agency may limit eligibility to compete to a number or subset of eligible applicants consistent with the Agency’s Assistance Agreement Competition Policy. NOTE: This assistance listing is not for community applicants to apply for an EJ Grant directly from EPA. Community applicants should apply to opportunities available through Assistance Listings 66.306 , 66.312, 66.309, and 66.604 for an EPA EJ grant administered directly by EPA. The solicitations under this assistance listing will be to select the pass-through entities (Grantmakers) who will manage their own EJ Thriving Communities Grant (subaward) program in collaboration with EPA over the next 3 years. Those seeking funds to conduct a community project in a specific community may not apply under these competitions.

Unemployed, Low Income, Major Metropolis (over 250,000), Other Urban, Rural, Anyone/general public

For competitive awards, EPA will review and evaluate applications in accordance with the terms, conditions, and criteria stated in the NOFO. Competitions will be conducted in accordance with EPA policies/regulations for competing assistance agreements.