FY26 Guidelines for Brownfield Assessment Grants (Community-wide Assessment Grants)

The Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization is soliciting applications for Community-Wide Assessment Grants to support the assessment and revitalization of brownfield sites. These grants are designed to help eligible entities such as local governments, tribes, nonprofit organizations, and redevelopment agencies develop inventories of brownfield sites, prioritize them, conduct community involvement activities, perform site assessments, and create cleanup and reuse plans. Applicants must demonstrate community need, show community engagement, provide detailed project implementation plans, and exhibit programmatic capability. The EPA will evaluate applications based on a 155-point scoring system that assesses project area description, community need, task descriptions, and past performance, with a goal of selecting at least three quality applications per EPA region. The application deadline is January 28, 2026, with applications to be submitted through Grants.gov.

The total funding pool for this grant opportunity is approximately $35 million, with individual awards expected to reach up to $500,000 per recipient. Approximately 70 awards are anticipated to be made across the United States. The grants will support environmental assessments of sites potentially contaminated by hazardous substances or petroleum, with a focus on preparing these locations for future redevelopment. The performance period for these cooperative agreements typically spans four to five years, allowing recipients comprehensive time to conduct thorough site assessments, engage with communities, and develop strategic cleanup and reuse plans. These grants are part of the broader Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Cooperative Agreements program (CFDA Number 66.818).