Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants Program (66.616)
Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants Program (Assistance Listing 66.616) is run by the Environmental Protection Agency. It awarded $1.5 billion in 102 grants from fiscal 2021 to 2025, about $14.8 million per award on average. No funding opportunity is open on Grants.gov right now.
The typical award was $19.8 million. Half of the 102 awards fell between $9.2 million and $20.0 million, and they ranged from $1.0 million to $21.7 million.
- Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$1.5 billion
- Grant awards102
- Typical award$19.8 million
- Awarded in FY 2025$1.5 billion
- Size rank206 of 1824
- Type of assistanceGrant
Key findings
- It is the 206th largest of 1,824 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
- The 20 largest recipients received 30% of the money.
- Awards went to recipients in 38 states and territories.
What the program funds
This program has been terminated. The objective of this program is to provide financial assistance to eligible entities to support environmental and climate justice efforts under Clean Air Act (CAA) Section 138 which was added to the CAA by the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. EPA’s new Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants program (Community Change Grants) announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) that remained open for 12 months, closing on November 21, 2024, to fund approximately $2 billion dollars in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds in environmental and climate justice activities to benefit disadvantaged communities through projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to address environmental and climate justice challenges. These place-based investments will be focused on community-driven initiatives to be responsive to community and stakeholder input. This program is designed to deliver on the transformative potential of the IRA for communities most adversely and disproportionately impacted by climate change, legacy pollution, and historical disinvestments.
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
Eligible applicants include a partnership between an Indian tribe, a local government or an institution of higher education and a community-based nonprofit organization; a community-based nonprofit organization; a partnership of community-based nonprofit organizations. 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.
What the money can and cannot pay for
Grants and cooperative agreements are available to support recipients' allowable direct costs incident to approved cooperative agreements plus allowable indirect costs, in accordance with established EPA policies and regulations. 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).EPA may only fund projects to carry out eligible activities under the Clean Air Act, Section 138(b)(2).This program makes Federal awards on a discretionary basis. A discretionary award means an award in which the Federal awarding agency, in keeping with specific statutory authority that enables the agency to exercise judgement (“discretion”), selects the recipient and/or the amount of Federal funding awarded through a competitive process or based on merit of proposals. A discretionary award may be selected on a non-competitive basis, as appropriate. EPA may only fund projects to carry out eligible activities under the Clean Air Act, Section 138(b)(2).;
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, deadlines will be specified in the NOFO.
Award range and average, in the agency's words
This is a new grant program. The total estimated funding expected to be available for awards in FY 25 is approximately $2,000,000,000. Track I awards are for up to approximately $20 million each. Track II awards are for up to approximately $3 million each. Award amounts and ranges will vary by project. The grants will have durations of up to 3 years. The NOFO opened on November 21, 2023, and will close a year later on November 21, 2024. Applications and selections will be made on a rolling basis throughout the NOFO open period.
Funding history and past recipients
From fiscal 2021 to 2025, Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants Program (66.616) awarded$1.5 billion across 102 grant awards, an average of $14.8 million per award.
Who usually wins
Nonprofits received 54% of the money, state and local governments 21% and tribes 17%.
| Recipient type | Awards | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nonprofits | 62 | $821 million | 54% |
| State and local governments | 17 | $311 million | 21% |
| Tribal governments and organizations | 14 | $253 million | 17% |
| Colleges and universities | 8 | $103 million | 6.9% |
| Other | 1 | $20.0 million | 1.3% |
By state
Each state below has its own page for this program, with its recipients and yearly totals.
| State | Awards | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| California | 19 | $264 million |
| Alaska | 8 | $131 million |
| Michigan | 5 | $82.3 million |
| Oregon | 4 | $75.9 million |
| Texas | 5 | $68.9 million |
| New York | 8 | $63.6 million |
| District of Columbia | 3 | $60.1 million |
| Louisiana | 3 | $59.9 million |
| Virginia | 3 | $59.9 million |
| Wisconsin | 3 | $45.2 million |
| Washington | 3 | $43.0 million |
| North Carolina | 3 | $41.6 million |
| Pennsylvania | 3 | $40.2 million |
| Georgia | 2 | $39.8 million |
| Florida | 3 | $37.3 million |
| Puerto Rico | 2 | $31.9 million |
| Minnesota | 2 | $30.0 million |
| Massachusetts | 2 | $23.0 million |
| New Mexico | 2 | $23.0 million |
| Colorado | 1 | $20.1 million |
| Connecticut | 1 | $20.0 million |
| Indiana | 1 | $20.0 million |
| Montana | 1 | $20.0 million |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | 1 | $20.0 million |
| Arizona | 1 | $20.0 million |
| Nevada | 1 | $20.0 million |
| South Dakota | 1 | $19.9 million |
| Mississippi | 1 | $19.9 million |
| New Jersey | 1 | $19.3 million |
| Rhode Island | 1 | $18.7 million |
| Ohio | 1 | $17.8 million |
| Idaho | 1 | $16.5 million |
| Hawaii | 1 | $13.9 million |
| South Carolina | 1 | $11.4 million |
| Guam | 1 | $3.0 million |
| Illinois | 1 | $2.8 million |
| Alabama | 1 | $2.6 million |
| Tennessee | 1 | $1.9 million |