Further information about the Community Change Grants will be in the NOFO once it is released. In the interim, please contact CCGP@epa.gov with any additional questions.
All applicants must have an active SAM.gov and Grants.gov registration to apply for a grant under the Community Change Grants. You should register in these systems now if you think you may apply for a Federal grant.
The process can take a month or more for new registrants. Information about how to register
Yes, in addition to broad technical assistance that can be provided by the EPA Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center (EJ TCTACs) network, there will be dedicated technical assistance available to help applicants apply for, manage, implement, and report on Community Change Grants projects. Further details will be outlined in the NOFO.
Awards under the Community Change Grants are limited by statute to three years in duration. Therefore, Community Change Grants proposals must be designed to be performed and completed within three years from award date. No project extensions will be considered or granted beyond the three years due to statutory requirements.
The Climate & Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) is a tool used to identify disadvantaged communities in furtherance of the Justice40 Initiative from EO14008. EPA’s EJScreen is an environmental justice mapping and screening tool that provides demographic and environmental information at a fine geographic resolution across the United States. These tools are used to help ensure that projects benefit disadvantaged communities.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) requires funding under this program “benefit disadvantaged communities, as defined by the [EPA] Administrator.” Disadvantaged communities may be geographically and/or non-geographically defined.
Geographically defined disadvantaged communities under the Community Change Grants will be identified as any community that meets at least one of the following characteristics:
- Identified as disadvantaged by the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST)
- Any census block group that is at or above the 90th percentile for any of EJScreen’s Supplemental Indexes when compared to the nation or state; and/or
- Any geographic area within Tribal lands as included in EJScreen (1)
Examples of non-geographically defined communities include migrant farmworker communities. EPA’s Community Change Grants NOFO will contain additional clarifying information and guidance on what constitutes geographically and non-geographically disadvantaged communities.
(1) The Tribal Lands category in EJScreen to use for this purpose includes Alaska Native Allotments (EPA Metadata Record), Alaska Native Villages (EPA Metadata Record), American Indian Reservations (EPA Metadata Record), American Indian Off-reservation Trust Lands (EPA Metadata Record), Oklahoma Tribal Statistical Areas (EPA Metadata Record).
The activities to be performed under the grants may generally fall under the following categories:
- Climate resiliency and adaptation
- Mitigating climate and health risks from urban heat islands, extreme heat, wood heater emissions, and wildfire events
- Community-led air and other (including water and waste) pollution monitoring, prevention, and remediation
- Investments in low- and zero-emission and resilient technologies and related infrastructure
- Workforce development that supports the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants
- Reducing indoor toxics and indoor air pollution
- Facilitating the engagement of disadvantaged communities in State and Federal advisory groups, workshops, rulemakings, and other public processes
EPA will further clarify eligible and ineligible projects, and other project specific requirements, in the NOFO.
For the purposes of eligibility for grants authorized by Section 138 of the CAA, EPA uses the definition of “Indian Tribe” in Section 302(r) of the CAA which provides that the term “...means any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, including any Alaska Native village, which is Federally recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians.” Note that this definition does not include Alaskan Native Corporations or State-recognized tribes.
Local government, as defined in the 2 CFR 200.1 grant regulations, means any unit of government within a state, including a:
- County;
- Borough;
- Municipality;
- City;
- Town;
- Township;
- Parish;
- Local public authority, including any public housing agency under the United States Housing Act of 1937;
- Special district;
- School district;
- Intrastate district;
- Council of governments, whether or not incorporated as a nonprofit corporation under State law; and
- Any other agency or instrumentality of a multi-, regional, or intra-State or local government
Congress did not specifically define CBO in Section 138 of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The Community Change Grants NOFO will contain further information on how EPA is defining the term CBO. At a minimum, a qualifying CBO must meet the definition of “nonprofit organization” stated below from grant regulation 2 CFR 200.1 and must also include documentation in their application demonstrating that they are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization as designated by the Internal Revenue Service or are recognized as a nonprofit organization by the state, territory, commonwealth, tribe, or other governmental entity within which they are located. This can be done, for example, by submitting a letter from the state where the organization is located that recognizes them as a nonprofit organization. In addition, intertribal consortia may be able to qualify as a CBO depending on whether these and other requirements in the Community Change Grants NOFO are met.
2 CFR 200.1 definition: Nonprofit organization means any corporation, trust, association, cooperative, or other organization, not including Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs), that: • Is operated primarily for scientific, educational, service, charitable, or similar purposes in the public interest; • Is not organized primarily for profit; and • Uses net proceeds to maintain, improve, or expand the operations of the organization