This agreement provides funding under the inflation reduction act (IRA) to advocates for basic legal equity

The purpose of the grant is to build the miami valley community's capacity to tackle environmental justice issues by following EPA's collaborative problem-solving model. This project will provide micro-grant opportunities (a total of $200,000) to the community to fund environmental justice projects within the region. IT will build the community's capacity to apply for additional grant funding, by allowing community members to apply for grant specialist support on grant applications. Additionally, IT will promote community collaboration by funding three community meetings per year throughout the duration of the grant period. The community meetings function as a platform for community networking and environmental justice information sharing. Activities:the project includes three main objectives, summarized below: 1.) host community meetings: the recipient and their partnership will host three community meetings per year where the community will have the opportunity to discuss environmental justice issues they experience or have witnessed in their community. Any open-ended feedback that is received will be compiled to help guide decision-making on the prioritization of micro-grant awards. The community meetings will serve as networking opportunities for the community. Participants will have the opportunity to meet other active members of their community who have a shared goal of solving environmental justice concerns within the miami valley region. Additionally, information about microgrant opportunities and grant-writing assistance (described in further detail below) will also be shared at the events. 2.) improve the community's capacity for grant/ resource acquisition: two grant-funded positions will be created to help build the communities capacity to obtain grants for environmental justice concerns. The two positions are a grant specialist and an administrative assistant. The miami valley environmental justice partnership will make the grant specialist's expertise available to community-based organizations and other environmental justice-oriented entities to improve resource acquisition capacity and effectiveness. Community members and groups will be provided with various avenues to request and access grant-writing expertise. 3.) community microgrant distribution: in the form of microgrants, 40% of the project funding will be made directly available to community-based organizations and environmental justice-oriented cbos working to combat environmental injustice in 1) racial and ethnic minority groups, 2) low-income households and ZIP-codes, and 3) historically redlined neighborhoods and areas. Applicants will submit an initial application to be preliminarily scored by the review panel. The scoring rubric (included as attachment to narrative) will be based on the environmental justice collaborative problem-solving model and will be scored based on how well each application connects to the seven elements. Subrecipient:subawards will be granted to the dayton foundation in order to disperse micro-grant awards totaling $200,000 to the miami valley community. The dayton foundation will be responsible for the admirative aspects of distributing micro-grant awards to selectees and ensuring all applicable policies and procedures are followed. In year 1, $25,000 of micro-grants will be distributed. In year 2, $75,000 of microgrant awards will be distributed. In year 3, $100,000 of microgrant awards will be distributed.outcomes:the anticipated deliverables include: 1) three community events per year throughout the duration of the grant period (a total of 9 community events). 2) the distribution of $200,000 in micro-grants throughout the miami valley community for projects that address local environmental justice concerns. 3) the creation of a grant specialist and administrat