Federal grant programs / Environmental Protection Agency

Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program (66.306)

Also known as EJCPS

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$58.2 million
• Grant awards149
• Typical award$500,000
• Awarded in FY 2025$8.0 million
• Size rank986 of 1824
• Type of assistanceCooperative agreements

Key findings

• Annual funding rose from $360,000 in fiscal 2021 to $8.0 million in fiscal 2025.
• It is the 986th largest of 1,824 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 20 largest recipients received 19% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 44 states and territories.

What the program funds

This program has been terminated. The Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving (EJCPS) Cooperative Agreement Program provides funding to support community-based organizations in their efforts to collaborate and partner with local stakeholder groups (e.g., local businesses and industry, local government, medical service providers, and academia) as they develop and implement solutions that address environmental and/or public health issues for underserved communities. For purposes of this listing, the term “underserved community” refers to a community with environmental justice concerns and/or vulnerable populations, including people of color, low income, rural, tribal, indigenous, and homeless populations. Eligible projects must demonstrate use of the Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Model to support their collaborative efforts during the project period. Applying organizations should have a direct connection to the underserved community impacted by the environmental harms and risks detailed in the workplan. The long-term goals of the EJCPS Program are to help build the capacity of communities with environmental justice concerns and to create self-sustaining, community-based partnerships that will continue to improve local environments in the future. Funding Priorities - EPA may give special consideration to high-ranking applications that focus on the following program priorities: 1) Rural Areas – EPA may give special consideration to high-ranking proposals to be performed in rural areas as defined by the program. Rural areas, for the purposes of this competition, are defined as local areas with populations of 50,000 or less that have limited access to public or private resources commonly found in metropolitan areas. Applicants claiming rural status must provide sufficient detail (census data, population figures, descriptions of local resources, etc.) for EPA to validate the rural status of the underserved community. The goal of this special consideration is to encourage and increase project performance in rural areas in the EPA EJ Grants program. 2) Health Impact Assessments (HIA) – HIA is a tool designed to investigate how a proposed program, project, policy, or plan may impact health and well-being and inform decision-makers of these potential outcomes before the decision is made. EPA may give special consideration to HIA projects that seek to determine the potential effects of a proposed decision on the health of underserved and vulnerable communities and the distribution of those effects within the communities. 3) Projects addressing Climate, Disaster Resiliency, and/or Emergency Preparedness – The effects of climate change and extreme weather events tend to adversely impact the most vulnerable communities and populations disproportionately. Therefore, EPA may give special consideration to projects that address the needs of underserved and vulnerable communities that have been adversely impacted or are likely to be adversely impacted by natural disasters, including, but not limited to, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, floods, earthquakes, and future pandemics.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

An eligible applicant must be one of the following: • incorporated non-profit organizations —including, but not limited to, community-based organizations, grassroots organizations, environmental justice networks, faith based organizations and those affiliated with religious institutions;* U.S. Territories • Freely Associated States (FAS) – including local governmental entities and local non-profit organizations in the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Palau. Applicant organizations claiming non-profit status must include documentation that shows the organization is either a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization as designated by the Internal Revenue Service; OR a non-profit organization recognized by the state, territory, or commonwealth in which it is located. For the latter, documentation must be on official state government letterhead.

Continue reading on SAM.gov

What the money can and cannot pay for

Projects can include activities related to the environment and issues impacting underserved communities. Types of projects eligible for funding include but are not limited to the following: Air Quality and Asthma Water Quality, Sampling, and Stormwater Issues Lead, Pesticide, and Toxic Substances Agriculture and Fishing Green Infrastructure Environmental Job Training Youth Development. Assistance agreement awards under this program may involve or relate to geospatial information. Further information regarding geospatial information may be obtained by viewing the following website: Geospatial Resources at EPA (https://www.epa.gov/geospatial). The recipient cannot use these funds for the following activities under this program: litigation against the Federal government or any other government entity; lobbying; matching funds for other Federal grants; and travel for Federal employees.;

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. Matching requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Deadlines

For competitive awards, deadline information will be specified in the competitive announcement.

Award range and average, in the agency's words

For Fiscal Year 2024 and FY25, the total funding to be awarded nationwide from the 2023 EJCPS selectees is estimated to be approximately $50,710,000, for projects ranging from $150,000 to $500,000. EPA anticipates awarding approximately 117 cooperative agreements nationwide, for a three-year performance period and are expected to be fully funded at time of award.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

Nonprofits received 98% of the money, tribes 1.9%.

By state

23 states have a page for this program: those that received at least $1 million or 10 awards.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.