SEJCA Covid final.pdf

AGENCY: U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA)

Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ)

TITLE: STATE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COOPERATIVE

AGREEMENT PROGRAM (SEJCA) / COVID-19 PROJECTS

ACTION: REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS (RFA)

FUNDING NO.: EPA-OP-OEJ-20-02

CATALOG OF FEDERAL DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE (CFDA) NO: 66.312

DATES: ANNOUNCEMENT DATE: April 30, 2020 CLOSING DATE: June 30, 2020

DEADLINE: Application packages must be submitted through Grants.gov and must be submitted on or before 11:59 p.m. ET on June 30, 2020. Applications received after the closing date and time will not be considered for funding.

SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working to improve the environment and public health conditions of low-income and minority communities. EPA also continues to make effective responses to COVID-19 issues a top priority. As part of these efforts, this notice announces EPA re-opening the State Environmental Justice Cooperative Agreement Program (SEJCA) and the availability of funds for US States, Territories, Tribal Governments, and local governments to propose projects focusing on COVID-19 and other areas as identified in Section I. The SEJCA program provides funding to eligible entities to work collaboratively with underserved communities to understand, promote and integrate approaches to provide meaningful and measurable improvements to public health and/or the environment in those communities. For purposes of this announcement, the term “underserved community” refers to a community with environmental justice concerns and/or vulnerable populations, including minority, low income, rural, tribal, indigenous, and homeless populations.

Applicants will be expected to work with underserved communities and their representative organizations to achieve meaningful and measurable results during the funding period. The needs and perspectives of community residents in underserved communities should be a driving factor in the work performed by applicants. To support the nation-wide effort against the COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus) pandemic, EPA, as further described herein, will give special consideration to applications proposing actions to address the impacts of COVID-19 on communities with environmental justice concerns.

FUNDING/AWARDS: The total estimated funding expected for all awards under this solicitation is approximately $1,000,000. EPA anticipates the award of approximately five (5) cooperative agreements in the approximate amount of $200,000 per award. Funded assistance agreements will have a two-year project period. Applicants should plan for projects to start on October 1, 2020.

EPA reserves the right to increase or decrease the total number of grants awarded or reject all applications and make no awards under this announcement. Such changes may be necessary as a response to the quality of applications received by EPA or the amount of funds available.

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Note: Prior to naming a contractor or subrecipient in your application as a project partner or otherwise, please carefully review Section IV.G. of this solicitation. EPA recognizes that as provided at 2 CFR 200.317 states follow their own competitive procurement procedures.

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: For this competition, EPA will give special consideration to applications that focus on the following program priority:

• Public Education, Training, Emergency Planning, and/or Investigations on Impacts of COVID-19 on Underserved Communities and Vulnerable Populations – The purpose of this special consideration is to address the impacts that the current COVID-19 pandemic has on environmental justice urban and rural populations. Applicants may use funding to develop plans and/or programs that specifically work to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on environmental justice communities. Applicants are encouraged to develop innovative plans and processes to conduct effective outreach to underserved communities in the midst of social-distancing and local stay-at-home orders, especially in places where internet access may not be readily available to all residents. To qualify for this special consideration, applications must address the impacts of COVID-19 through eligible activities (see Section I.) Public education, planning, and training activities related to COVID-19 may include (but are not limited to) 1) sharing information related to EPA-approved disinfectants to combat COVID-19 (List N: Disinfectants for Use Against SARS- CoV-2), 2) addressing underserved residents’ increased exposure to in-home pollutants and healthy housing issues as an unintended consequence of local stay-at-home orders, and 3) training of community health workers as community educators for environmental justice communities. NOTE: SEJCA funds cannot be used for Human Health Studies, including taking blood or other medical information from humans.

The special consideration listed above will only be considered as an “other factor”, in addition to the scoring criteria in Section V, in making selection decisions. Additional other factors which may be considered during the selection process can be found in Section V.C of this funding announcement. The selection official may consider any (or all) of these “other factors” or none at all in making selection decisions.

PLEASE NOTE: All eligible organizations are encouraged to apply under this competition.

While EPA is specifically interested in projects related to COVID-19 as further explained in Section I, non-COVID 19 projects as identified in Section I are also allowed under this competition.

CONTENTS BY SECTION

I. Funding Opportunity Description II. Award Information III. Eligibility Information IV. Application and Submission Information V. Application Review Information VI. Award Administration Information

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VII. Agency Contacts VIII. Other Information and Appendices

A – Tips on Preparing an EJ Grant Application B – Blank Logic Model Template C – Logic Model Guide – What each Category Means D – Example Completed Logic Model E – Blank Itemized Budget Sheet Template F – Example Completed Itemized Budget Sheet G – Quality Assurance Project Plan Questionnaire

I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION (back to Contents by Section)

A. DEFINITION OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

EPA defines “environmental justice” as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Fair treatment means that no one group of people, including racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic groups, should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local, and tribal environmental programs and policies. Meaningful involvement means that: (1) potentially underserved community residents have an appropriate opportunity to participate in decisions about a proposed activity that will affect their environment and/or health; (2) the public’s contribution can influence the regulatory agency’s decision; (3) the concerns of all participants involved will be considered in the decision-making process; and (4) the decision-makers seek out and facilitate the involvement of those potentially underserved.

An “underserved community”, for the purposes of this competition, refers to a community with environmental justice concerns and/or vulnerable populations, including minority, low income, rural, tribal, indigenous and homeless populations that may be disproportionately impacted by environmental harms and risks and has a local environmental and/or public health issue that is identified in the applicant’s application.

B. BACKGROUND OF STATE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PROGRAM

The EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) first efforts to assist States in achieving environmental justice goals and objectives began with the States and Tribal Environmental Justice (STEJ) Grants Program pilot projects which were awarded and developed during fiscal years 1998-2001. These pilot projects were directed to assist States and tribal governments in the development of environmental justice considerations and approaches in their environmental programs. This new State Environmental Justice Cooperative Agreement (SEJCA) program which is being launched by the Office of Policy’s OEJ through this solicitation is a step beyond the pilot grants. A main objective is to further OEJ’s commitment to advance integration of environmental justice goals with our State government partners, as defined by EPA’s strategic plan for fiscal year 2018-2022.

Key Elements of the State Cooperative Agreement Initiative are to have:

State strategies, programs and activities in place for identifying, developing, planning and working on local environmental issues with communities, for educating and empowering

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Collaboration with other stakeholders (e.g., community-based organizations, environmental groups, businesses, industry, Federal, tribal, state and local governments, and academic institutions) to realize their goals and objectives.

Connections to EPA regional EJ programmatic activities and priorities.

C. PURPOSE OF THE STATE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PROGRAM

The purpose of the SEJCA program is to support and/or create model state activities that lead to measurable environmental or public health results in communities disproportionately burdened by environmental harms and risks. These models should leverage or utilize existing resources or assets of state agencies to develop key tools and processes that integrate environmental justice considerations into state governments and government programs.

The SEJCA program goals are to (1) achieve measurable and meaningful environmental and/or public health results in communities; (2) build broad and robust, results-oriented partnerships, particularly with community organizations within disproportionately impacted areas; (3) pilot activities in specific communities that create models, which can be expanded or replicated in other geographic areas; (4) reinforce connections to EPA regional EJ activities and priorities and, (5) strengthen the development and implementation of specific approaches to achieve environmental justice.

Projects should factor in: (1) state and local data; (2) state and local leadership; (3) state and local results; (4) relationships between delegated programs (i.e. federal environmental programs delegated to and carried out by States) and state environmental justice policies, and (5) state targeting of disproportionately burdened areas.

Information about all EPA Environmental Justice assistance programs, including the SEJCA program, can be found at the website below:

https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/environmental-justice-grants-and-resources

D. QUALIFIED ENVIRONMENTAL STATUTES

The SEJCA program is designed to address multi-statute environmental and/or public health issues. For this reason, applications may be for projects related to multiple environmental statutes as listed below. However, all project activities must relate to at least one of the qualified federal environmental statutes listed below. Failure to clearly demonstrate how project activities relate to at least one of the following federal statutes in your work plan may result in your application not being considered for award.

1. Clean Air Act, Section 103(b)(3): conduct research, investigations, experiments, demonstration projects, surveys, and studies (including monitoring) related to the causes, effects (including health and welfare effects), extent, prevention, and control of air pollution.

2. Clean Water Act, Section 104(b)(3): conduct and promote the coordination of research, investigations, training, demonstration projects, surveys, and studies (including monitoring)

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3. Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, Section 20(a): conduct research, development, monitoring, public education, training, demonstration projects, and studies on pesticides.

4. Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act, Section 203: conduct research, investigations, experiments, training, demonstration projects, surveys, and studies relating to the minimizing or ending of ocean dumping of hazardous materials and the development of alternatives to ocean dumping.

5. Safe Drinking Water Act, Section 1442(c)(3): develop and expand the capability to carry out a program (that may combine training, education, and employment) for occupations relating to the public health aspects of providing safe drinking water.

6. Solid Waste Disposal Act, Section 8001(a): conduct and promote the coordination of research, investigations, experiments, training, demonstration projects, surveys, public education programs, and studies relating to solid waste (e.g., health and welfare effects of exposure to materials present in solid waste and methods to eliminate such effects). Please note that applications supporting brownfields work or that include extensive clean-up activities beyond the need for a demonstration/experiment/training are not eligible for funding under this announcement.

7. Toxic Substances Control Act, Section 10(a): conduct research, development, monitoring, public education, training, demonstration projects, and studies on toxic substances.

E. ELIGIBLE PROJECT ACTIVITIES & PROJECT EXAMPLES

Eligible Project Activities - The following is a list of some examples of the types of activities which may be considered for funding under this solicitation. It is provided for illustrative purposes only and is not all inclusive. Applicants can propose other activities as long as they fall within at least one of the statutory authorities listed above. Under this solicitation, applicants may submit COVID-19 related projects or general non COVID-19 SEJCA projects as further discussed below.

Assessment and data collection. The project activities to be funded may include activities to assess, characterize or identify the community; activities for conducting assessments of States’ environmental justice related programs, or researching related environmental justice issues, areas of policy development, implementation of plans/strategies and evaluation of action plans.

Tool development. These activities may entail the use and development of software, hardware, methodologies, best practices and other resources in support of EJ efforts, such as:

the adoption or modification of EPA tools by states, or EJ Review Protocol for local applications, or the purchase of hardware enhancements, as GPS handheld devices for documentation and location of EJ community concerns.

Training. Activities that enhance a State’s staff or coordinators knowledge and skills on the use of particular EPA and other environmental justice related tools, techniques, -5-methodologies, cross-media knowledge, certification or continued education necessary for effective collaborative assistance in the EJ partnerships.

Measurement. Activities that support efforts for measuring and reporting results and outcomes of activities, projects and programs related to environmental justice and environmental justice benefits, (i.e., using resources to measure efforts effectiveness, or measuring ranking factors).

Outreach. Activities that educate, raise public knowledge and awareness toward achieving behavioral changes that improve human health and/or prevent environmental pollution for the specific project proposed (e.g. translation services, development of written material of technical or scientific nature in comprehensive but appropriate literacy levels for the impacted communities with environmental justice concerns).

Staffing support. Internal staffing shall not account for more than 25% of the budgeted expenses associated with the cooperative agreement. Funded staffing support should be directly related to the project and should be clearly stated in the narrative.

1. Examples of Potentially Eligible SEJCA Projects related to COVID-19

This is not an exhaustive list of project examples and is provided for illustrative purposes to help applicants as they develop their applications. Types of COVID-19 projects include but are not limited to the following:

a. Development of public education and community outreach programs for underserved communities and vulnerable populations focusing on EPA-approved disinfectants (List N: Disinfectants for Use Against SARS-CoV-2) for combating COVID-19 virus outbreaks. Outreach may include activities performed by and training for community health workers to share information about approved disinfecting chemicals and how to properly use them to mitigate viral outbreaks. Outreach may also include training materials to best protect vulnerable residents who work in the environmental services fields that clean hospitals and manage trash removal within communities (i.e., hospital cleaning staff and sanitation workers).

b. Public awareness programs addressing reducing childhood lead exposures and reducing exposure to asthma triggers in COVID-19 impacted communities with environmental justice concerns and/or vulnerable populations. Projects may include the use or examination of blood lead level data and/or research activities to identify effective ways to provide outreach and education to the public about causes and prevention of lead exposure and asthma; and community assessments and risk reduction projects to develop tools that could be used quickly to assess sources of lead exposure, as well as ambient and indoor air quality issues within a community; and assessments that examine the impacts that COVID-19 has had on lead exposures and asthma triggers.

c. Healthy Homes campaigns to promote and share information about in-home environmental and health hazards that may increase vulnerability due to extended periods indoors due to local stay-at-home orders because of COVID-19, especially for residents in multi-family housing, sub-standard housing, and/or trailer park settings.

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NOTE: For all of the above described activities, reasonable costs to encourage program participation (e.g. training and/or childcare stipends, rebates for disinfectants) may be allowable with prior EPA approval to the extent provided for in EPA’s Interim Guidance on Participant Support Costs.

2. Examples of General SEJCA Projects

SEJCA projects can address a range of different environmental and public health issues unrelated to COVID-19. See the list below for general examples of SEJCA projects. This is not an exhaustive list:

a. Planning and development of environmental justice mapping tools or methodologies to determine potential impacts to underserved communities from multiple disproportionate environmental and/or public health issues;

b. Development of emergency preparedness and disaster resiliency plans and programs for underserved communities and vulnerable populations to minimize the exposure to pollutants in the event of a natural disaster. Disasters disproportionately impact minority, low-income, rural, elderly, and youth populations. States are encouraged to develop plans or programs that specifically work to mitigate the disproportionate impacts of these disasters on their vulnerable populations. Disasters include but are not limited to hurricanes, tornadoes, coastal flooding, oil spills, wildfires, and earthquakes.

Projects should address and/or prepare communities for the increases in pollution that can result from these and other disasters.

c. Research, assessment, and/or study of air quality issues related to living close to transportation networks (e.g., railroads, railyards, ports, heavily trafficked roadways) in the local area, especially in areas where data may be limited.

d. Assessment of nonpoint or point source releases of waterborne pollutants in underserved communities and the creative approaches used for mitigation;

e. Establishment of collaborative and coordinated efforts, processes or procedures, and communication strategies between state agencies and local governments regarding ongoing projects at local levels to maximize use of local resources and reduce duplication of efforts.

NOTE: All applications for SEJCA activities under this solicitation must relate to gathering or transferring information or advancing awareness. Applications should emphasize this “learning” concept, rather than trying to “fix” an environmental problem using a well-established method.

All the eligible activities and project examples listed above promote learning and understanding and are acceptable activities. Examples of unacceptable grant applications involve using SEJCA funds to perform: large-scale clean-ups, treatments, routine recycling services, and major disposal and/or energy recovery projects.

For projects that will support demonstration activities, the project must involve new or experimental technologies, methods, or approaches; where the results of the project will be shared so that others can benefit from the knowledge gained. A project that is accomplished through the performance of routine, traditional, or well-established practices, or a project that is simply

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F. EPA STRATEGIC PLAN LINKAGE & ANTICIPATED OUTPUTS, OUTCOMES &

PERFORMANCE MEASURES

Pursuant to Section 6a of EPA Order 5700.7, “Environmental Results under EPA Assistance Agreements,” (see https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-order-57007a1-epas-policy-environmental-results-under-epa-assistance-agreements). EPA must link proposed assistance agreements to the Agency’s Strategic Plan.

EPA’s Strategic Plan 2018 - 2022 is available at https://www.epa.gov/planandbudget/strategicplan The activities to be funded under this announcement are intended to further EPA’s current priorities for:

• EPA’s Strategic Plan 2018 - 2022 Goal 2 (More Effective Partnerships); Objective 2.2 (Increase Transparency and Public Participation) which states that EPA will: “Listen to and collaborate with impacted stakeholders and provide effective platforms for public participation and meaningful engagement…EPA will meet community needs through public participation and will build community capacity through grants, technical assistance, partnering, and meaningful engagement.”

Applicants should explain in their application how their project will further Goal 2; Objective 2.2.

(Increase Transparency and Public Participation).

EPA Order 5700.7 also requires that grant applicants adequately describe environmental outputs and outcomes to be achieved under assistance agreements. Applicants must include specific statements describing the environmental results of the proposed project in terms of well-defined outputs and, to the maximum extent practicable, well-defined outcomes that will demonstrate how the project will contribute to the goals and objectives described above.

1. Output Measures

The term “output” means an environmental activity, effort, and/or associated work product related to an environmental/public health goal and objective that will be produced or provided over a period of time or by a specified date. Outputs may be quantitative or qualitative but must be measurable during the assistance agreement funding period.

Application narratives should address the specific output measures related to the proposed project.

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Examples of possible output measures for awards under this competition include, but are not limited, to:

The number of residents reached through a public outreach campaign for underserved communities sharing the most up-to-date information on EPA-approved disinfectants effective against COVID-19

The number of health workers trained by an environmental/public health program to reduce resident exposure to environmental/public health hazards that may lead to worse outcomes in humans infected with COVID-19 (e.g., number of residents tested for lead poisoning or asthma)

Creation of an environmental/public health program to achieve and sustain environmental/public health improvements (e.g., a community-wide asthma coalition)

Number of community assessments performed, and tools developed to measure air quality issues

The number of partnerships formed by the applicant at the local level.

The number of samples collected and related to waterborne pollution from nonpoint or point sources and their significance.

The number of homes/residents/communities reached or impacted by an environmental/public health program (e.g., number of homes that undergo a lead abatement program).

2. Outcome Measures

The term “outcome” means the result, effect, or consequence that will occur from carrying out an environmental/public health program or activity that is related to an environmental/public health programmatic goal or objective. Outcomes may be environmental, behavioral, health-related, or programmatic in nature, but must be quantitative. They may not necessarily be achievable within the assistance agreement funding period. Narratives should link the proposed output measures to potential long-term outcomes.

Examples of outcome measures expected to result from awards under this competition include but are not limited to:

The percentage increase of households in a local underserved area who have increased knowledge and understanding of EPA-approved disinfectants effective against COVID-19, how to use them, and where to get them

The reduction of waterborne pollutants in local waterbodies and/or increase in fish populations.

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The ongoing communication to the underserved communities resulting in measurable risk reduction in a specific media and communities’ participation directly in that risk reduction.

The resultant changes in State regulation directly related to risk assessments performed in the communities which results in State/regional risk reductions.

II. AWARD INFORMATION (back to Contents by Section)

A. FUNDING AVAILABILITY AND PROJECT PERIOD

The total estimated amount of funding available under this competitive opportunity is approximately $1,000,000. Cooperative agreements resulting from this announcement will be funded for a two-year period and are expected to be fully funded at the time of award.

B. NUMBER OF ANTICIPATED AWARDS

EPA anticipates making five (5) awards under this announcement, and each award is not expected to exceed $200,000 per award.

The awards for selected projects will be in the form of cooperative agreements because the SEJCA program requires substantial involvement and interaction between the applicant and EPA. EPA will negotiate the precise terms and conditions of “substantial involvement” as part of the award process. Federal involvement may include: close monitoring of the recipient’s performance to verify the results proposed by the applicant; collaboration during the performance of the scope of work; in accordance with 2 CFR 2 CFR 200.317 and 2 CFR 200.318, as appropriate, review of proposed procurements; reviewing qualifications of key personnel; and/or review and comment on the content of printed or electronic publications prepared. EPA does not have the authority to select employees or contractors employed by the recipient. All subawards must be consistent with EPA’s Subaward Policy. The final decision on the content of reports rests with the recipient.

All awards are subject to availability of funds, statutory eligibility issues, the quality of applications received, and other applicable considerations. EPA reserves the right to make additional awards under this announcement, consistent with Agency policy, if additional funding becomes available after the original selections. Any additional selections for awards will be made no later than six months from the date of the original selections. In addition, EPA reserves the right to adjust the total number of cooperative agreements awarded or reject all applications and make no awards under this announcement. Such changes may be necessary as a response to the quality of applications received by EPA or the amount of funds available. In appropriate circumstances, EPA reserves the right to partially fund applications by funding discrete portions or phases of proposed projects. If EPA decides to partially fund an application, it will do so in a manner that does not prejudice any applicants or affect the basis upon which the applicant or portion thereof, was evaluated and selected for award, and therefore maintains the integrity of the competition and selection process.

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C. PROJECT PERIOD

The estimated project period for awards resulting from this solicitation is two years, from October 2020 to October 2022.

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION (back to Contents by Section)

A. ELIGIBLE ENTITIES BASED ON THE CFDA - In accordance with CFDA 66.312 (as it will be updated to be consistent with this announcement), an eligible applicant must be one of the following entities:

(1) a state, U.S. territory, or commonwealth;

(2) an instrumentality of the state (i.e. government-created organization which performs governmental functions but does not have full power of the state government).

(3) federally recognized tribal governments – including Alaska Native Villages

(4) local governments (as defined by 2 CFR 200.64) - includes cities, towns, municipalities, and counties

The following entities are INELIGIBLE to receive a SEJCA award as the lead applicant.

However, we strongly encourage eligible entities to PARTNER with these organizations (and others) as appropriate to successfully perform a SEJCA project (see Contracts and Subawards solicitation clause) for information regarding requirements for funding partner organizations:

Public and Private Institutions of Higher Education, including State Colleges and Universities

Hospitals and medical facilities Incorporated non-profit organizations Businesses and Industry Faith-based organizations and local churches Civic and Philanthropic organizations

NOTE: Funds awarded under this announcement may not be used to support lobbying activities or any activities related to lobbying or the appearance thereof. Subawards made to nonprofit organizations exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that lobby are not allowed.

B. THRESHOLD ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

These are requirements that, if not met by the time of application submission, will result in elimination of the application from consideration for funding. Only applications from eligible entities (Section III) that meet all of these criteria will be evaluated against the ranking factors in Section V. Applicants deemed ineligible for funding consideration because of the threshold eligibility review will be notified within 15 calendar days of the ineligibility determination.

1. Applications must substantially comply with the application submission instructions and requirements set forth in Section IV of this announcement or else they will be rejected.

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However, where a page limit is expressed in Section IV with respect to the application workplan, pages in excess of the page limitation will not be reviewed.

In addition, initial applications must be submitted through Grants.gov as stated in Section IV of this announcement (except in the limited circumstances where another mode of submission is specifically allowed for, as explained in Section IV) on or before the application submission deadline published in Section IV of this announcement.

Applicants are responsible for following the submission instructions in Section IV of this announcement to ensure that their application is timely submitted.

2. Applications submitted after the submission deadline will be considered late and deemed ineligible without further consideration unless the applicant can clearly demonstrate that it was late due to EPA mishandling or because of technical problems associated with Grants.gov or relevant SAM.gov system issues. An applicant’s failure to submit their application through Grants.gov because they did not timely or properly register in SAM.gov or Grants.gov will not be considered an acceptable reason to consider a late submission.

Applicants should confirm receipt of their application with Jacob Burney, burney.jacob@epa.gov, as soon as possible after submission—failure to do so may result in your application not being reviewed.

3. Qualified Environmental Statutes: Applications must be for projects related to at least one of the Qualified Environmental Statutes listed under Section I.D. Applicants must clearly explain how the project relates to at least one of the federal statutes or it may result in your application not being considered for award.

4. Ineligible activities: EPA cooperative agreement funds can only be used for the purposes consistent with the statutory authorities for the SEJCA program. The recipient cannot use these funds for the following activities:

Litigation against the Federal government or any other government entity;

Construction;

Lobbying;

Matching funds for other Federal grants;

Travel for Federal employees;

Surveys;

Human health studies (taking blood or other medical information from humans)

Activities covered by other appropriation accounts within the EPA Appropriation Act such as:

- Brownfields Activities: For the principal purpose of providing training, research, and technical assistance to individuals and organizations to facilitate the inventory of Brownfield sites, site assessments, remediation

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- Superfund Activities: Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), as amended, response actions and other associated activities (including Technical Assistance Grants).

If an application includes tasks or activities determined to be ineligible, then that portion of the application will be ineligible for funding and may, depending on the extent to which it affects the application, render the entire application ineligible for funding.

5. Please note that applications must be written in English only. Applications written in languages other than English will not be considered for award.

C. COST-SHARING OR MATCHING FUNDS

There is no cost share or match requirement under this funding announcement.

While cost sharing or match is not required, voluntary leveraging or voluntary cost-sharing is allowable. Leveraged funding or other resources need not be for eligible and allowable project costs under the EPA assistance agreement unless the Applicant proposes to provide a voluntary cost share as its form of leveraging (see below). Leveraging other than voluntary cost share is not included in the project budget on the grant forms but should be included in the grant workplan in the form of a statement to the effect that the applicant is expected to produce the proposed leveraging consistent with the terms of the announcement and their application.

If EPA accepts an offer for a voluntary cost share, applicants must meet their sharing commitment as a condition of receiving EPA funding. The recipient is legally obligated to meet any proposed voluntary cost share that is included in the approved project budget because the grant agreement includes the voluntary cost share. Applicants may use their own funds or other resources for a voluntary cost share if the standards at 2 CFR 200.306 are met. Only eligible and allowable costs may be used for voluntary cost shares. Other Federal grants may not be used as voluntary cost shares without specific statutory authority (e.g. HUD's Community Development Block Grants)

IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION (back to Contents by Section)

A. CONTENT AND FORM OF APPLICATION SUBMISSION

All applications must be submitted electronically through www.grants.gov. Applications transmitted via postal mail, fax, and/or email will not be considered. Applications are due by June 30, 2020 at 11:59 PM (ET).

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1. REQUIRED FORMS & DOCUMENTS: The following forms and documents are required.

Forms 1 – 5 are standard application forms in Grants.gov. These forms require standard information about your organization and/or signatures. Forms 6 and 7 are what you use to attach other documents that your application will be evaluated on. These documents include your workplan, itemized budget, and other supporting documentation. Failure to include all documents listed below may result in your application being rendered ineligible:

1) SF-424 Application for Federal Assistance

2) SF-424A Budget Information for Non-Construction Programs

3) EPA Form 4700-4 – Preaward Compliance Review Report for All Applicants and Recipients Requesting EPA Financial Assistance

4) EPA Key Contacts Form – Applicants are encouraged to ensure that all information presented on the Key Contacts form is accurate. Information contained on the Key Contacts form may be used in the event an applicant is contacted for additional information.

5) Project Narrative Attachment Form in Grants.gov application package – Use this to submit your Application Work plan (subject to page limit described below and see optional template in Section IV.A.2)

6) Other Attachment Form – Use this to submit the following documents:

i. Itemized Budget Sheet (see Appendices E and F)

ii. Environmental Results / Logic Model (see Appendices B, C, & D)

iii. Letters of Commitment from Partners

iv. Resumes of the Project Manager (PM) and other key personnel)

2. APPLICATIONWORK PLAN: The work plan is one of the most important parts of the application package. The work plan describes the project. Work plans that are focused and succinct are stronger than ones that try to address too many issues. Under this announcement, applicants must submit a project focused on activities related to at least one of the Qualified Environmental Statutes listed in Section I, and the application must meet the threshold eligibility criteria in Section III. Applicants should identify the chosen Qualified Environmental Statute(s) in the Project Summary Page. Applications will be evaluated on the extent and quality of how well the project addresses program objectives and allowable activities under the criteria in Section V.

The work plan, as described below, must not exceed fourteen (14) single-spaced typewritten pages (including the Project Summary Page) and be on letter size pages (8 1/2 X 11 inches). Any pages beyond 14 pages will not be reviewed by the Review Panel. It is recommended that applicants use a standard font (e.g. Times New Roman, Calibri, and Arial) and a 12-point font size with 1-inch margins. Supporting materials, such as resumes and partnership letters, can be submitted as

-14-attachments and are not included in the 14-page limit. Project applications must be written in English.

The 14-page work plan must contain the following components (items 1.0-6.0 below) and should be identified by the headings in the order listed below. Also ensure that the workplan addresses all the evaluation criteria in Section V and any necessary threshold eligibility criteria in Section III:

1.0 PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

a. Project Summary Page – Recommended one-page summary document (this page does count as part of 14-page workplan limit). Summary includes:

• Applicant Information (Org Name, Main Point of Contact, address, contact info)

• Environmental Statute(s) from Section I.D that the project relates to (at least one)

• Project Type(s) -- such as research, tool development, training, monitoring

(related to statute identified above)

• Underserved Communities and Vulnerable Populations addressed by project

(include geographic and location info, such as zip code, city or county)

• List of Project Partners -- include partner name and stakeholder group. For example, Tribal Governments (tribe); State University (academic); Community Grassroots Org (local non-profit); Local church (faith-based), Internet Technology contractor (business/industry), etc.).

• Project Abstract -- Brief description (250 words or less) of the main objective, activities, and outputs/outcomes of the project, including the specific geographic areas of focus.

• Will you need to develop a QAPP for your project? (see Appendix G)

b. Disproportionate Environmental and Public Health Issues Impacting Underserved Communities - The applicant will be evaluated on the ability to clearly describe the local environmental justice issue(s), underserved communities, and vulnerable populations the project proposes to address and the communities that are impacted. Accordingly, please describe the following:

• Describe and characterize the underserved communities and vulnerable populations directly impacted by disproportionate environmental and/or public health issues and describe how those communities and populations are impacted by those issues

• What are the local environmental/public health issue(s) that the project seeks to address? Describe other recent efforts in the State, if any, that have sought to address those issues as well

• What are the local environmental/public health results the project seeks to achieve and how will the underserved communities and vulnerable populations benefit from those results?

The application must include relevant information such as demographics, geographic location, and community history. We encourage the use of EPA’s EJSCREEN tool and/or local screening and mapping tools to further help characterize and describe your target communities.

-15-https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen

Instructions and resources on how to use EJSCREEN are included at the hyperlink above. For any questions you have about EJSCREEN, please contact Tai Lung at Lung.Tai@epa.gov or 202-566-1296.

c. Organization’s Recent Efforts to Directly Support Underserved Communities - The applicant will be evaluated on the strength of its efforts over the last five years to provide direct support and build relationships with underserved communities and vulnerable populations involved with the proposed project. Please describe the following:

• Recent Efforts (within five years) your organization has made to provide direct support and build relationships with the underserved communities and vulnerable populations identified in your application, including the duration of involvement and circumstances that led to your organization’s involvement. Examples may include, development of new housing assistance programs, community workshops and public meetings, environmental justice programming, and neighborhood planning

• How your entity has worked directly with community residents and/or community-based organizations of underserved communities to address local environmental and public health issues within the last five years and what are some of the results of that work

• How the residents were part of the decision-making process of past efforts. How those efforts increased capacity and resources for local underserved communities to address public health and/or environmental issues. And, how the applicant maintained an ongoing relationship with those communities and populations

d. Project Linkages Please describe the following:

• Briefly describe how the project supports EPA Strategic Plan Goal 2, Objective

2.2 (Increasing Transparency and Public Participation).

https://www.epa.gov/planandbudget/strategicplan

• Describe how the project is related to one or more of the qualified environmental statutes identified in your Project Summary. Please note each project must include activities that are authorized by at least one of the federal environmental statutes listed in Section I.D.

e. Partner and Collaborate - Provide a clear and concise description of how the proposed project promotes collaborations with partners from multiple stakeholder groups, such as grassroots community groups, business, academia, government, etc., to develop and implement solutions that will address environmental and/or public health issues at the local level. We encourage applicants to seek diversity in partnerships in an effort to enhance the process of achieving the project’s goals. Applicants are strongly encouraged to have at least THREE signed letters of commitment from partners representing at least THREE different stakeholder groups.

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• Describe how the project will accomplish its goals through the use of appropriate and diverse partnerships from multiple stakeholder groups, such as grassroots community groups, business, academia, government, etc.

• Identify and describe all partners involved, including those partnerships that may be under development. Include the following details about each of your partners.

If you are not planning on collaborating with other stakeholders or having partners for project performance, you must describe how you can effectively perform the project without such collaboration or partnerships:

- Planned roles of each partner listed in your Project Summary. Include which stakeholder group the partner represents and the project activities each partner will be responsible for

- What resources each partner brings to the partnership

- How the partner has a vested interest in working with this partnership [other than just getting income from a sub-award or contract]

- How the applicant organization plans to maintain and sustain these relationships on into the future

Note About Commitment Letters: Applicants working with partners are strongly encouraged to submit at least THREE signed letters of commitment from partners.

Letters should be from partners representing different stakeholder groups. All applicants should involve in their project at least THREE PARTNERS from THREE different stakeholder groups as documented by at least THREE signed letters of commitment. The letters must be submitted by the applicant with the other application documents by the submission deadline. The letters of commitment should include information about the role and activities each partner or stakeholder organization will perform as well as any resources the partner or stakeholder will provide. The letters of commitment must be signed by the partnering organizations.

Do not include generic letters of support or recommendation. Regardless of the source, generic letters of support will not be considered in evaluating applications. If no letters of commitment are included, then it will be assumed the applicant has no partners. If fewer than three letters of commitment are submitted, the applicant must demonstrate how it can effectively perform the project with fewer than three partners.

Partnerships and collaboration with other interested stakeholders in performance of the project are integral to the success of this program. If an applicant does not demonstrate such partnerships or collaboration as described above, they must be able to convincingly demonstrate in their application how they can effectively perform the project without any partners or collaboration. Given the nature of this program, failure to demonstrate effective partnerships or collaboration with other stakeholders, or having less partners/collaboration than recommended above, could adversely impact the applicant’s scoring under the relevant evaluation criteria in Section V and render the application less competitive than others that include partnerships and collaboration. All letters of commitment must be submitted by the applicant with its application package by the submission deadline.