Cooperative Agreement 84113601

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded a $7,000,000 Cooperative Agreement under the Surveys, Studies, Investigations, Training and Special Purpose Activities Relating to Environmental Justice (CFDA 66.309) program to the Research Triangle Institute (RTI International). Through this agreement, RTI will serve as the "intermediary sponsor" for the Clean Environment Corps (CEC) VISTA program, which will embed up to 260 AmeriCorps VISTA members with EPA regional and national grantmakers to provide technical assistance to communities applying for and receiving funding through the Thriving Communities Grantmaker Program. The CEC VISTA program is part of the larger American Climate Corps initiative funded by the Inflation Reduction Act. RTI will be responsible for recruiting, managing, and placing the CEC VISTA members, as well as meeting the programmatic, financial, and reporting requirements of the CEC program on behalf of the grantmakers. This non-competitive award to RTI is intended to centralize the administrative responsibilities and create economies of scale for the CEC VISTA program across the grantmaking efforts.