Healthy Communities Grant Program

The Healthy Communities Grant Program is a competitive grant program for EPA New England (Region 1) to fund work directly with communities to support EPA's mission to reduce environmental risks, protect and improve human health and improve the qualit

The Healthy Communities Grant Program funds projects that strive to: conduct wood smoke sensor/community action and/or training in areas with localized high levels of Particulate Matter (PM)/woodsmoke; conduct targeted education to mitigate exposure through community scale implementation of the EPA BurnWise Program which outlines best practices for reducing woodsmoke; engage students to increase learning and take actions around air pollution concerns at their schools, as well as other activities that can reduce exposures to air pollutants at schools, such as exploring filtration technology, increasing green space and/or analyses to inform actions that can improve student learning, health, and indoor air quality or the quality of life outcomes for seniors; convene roundtables for businesses to share best practices for energy efficiency and energy management; design and conduct an education and outreach campaign to identify housing at risk for lead and/or other toxins and provide in-home education to families to improve children's environmental health, such as a reduction of asthma triggers; and promoting, identifying, developing, researching, and documenting P2 best practices or new P2 tools for businesses and disseminating the practices and outcomes for others to replicate.

Assistance under this program is available to State, Local, public nonprofit institutions/organizations, private nonprofit institutions/organizations, quasi-public nonprofit institutions/organizations, Federally Recognized Indian Tribal Governments, K-12 schools or school districts; and non-profit organizations (e.g. grassroots and/or community-based organizations). Funding will be considered for a college or university to support a project with substantial community involvement. Private businesses, federal agencies, and individuals are not eligible to be grant recipients; however, they are encouraged to work in partnership with eligible applicants on projects. Applicants need not be located within the boundaries of the EPA regional office to be eligible to apply for funding but must propose projects that affect the States, Tribes, and Territories within Region 1. 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 Policy for Competition of Assistance Agreements.

Interstate, State, Local, Federally Recognized Indian Tribal Governments, public nonprofit institutions/organizations, private nonprofit institutions/organizations, quasi-public nonprofit institutions/organizations, anyone/general public.

Tribes may be asked to demonstrate that they are federally recognized. Interstate organizations may be asked to provide a citation to the statutory authority, which establishes their status. Intertribal consortia may be asked to provide documentation that they meet the requirements of 2 CFR 200 Subpart E. Non-profit applicants are not required to have a formal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) non-profit designation, such as 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4); however, they must present their letter of incorporation or other documentation demonstrating their non-profit or not-for-profit status. This requirement does not apply to public agencies or Federally Recognized Indian Tribes. Failure to enclose the letter of incorporation or other documentation demonstrating non-profit or not-for-profit status will render the full application submission incomplete and it will not be reviewed. Applicants who have an IRS 501(c)(4) designation are not eligible for grants if they engage in lobbying, no matter what the source of funding for the lobbying activities. For-profit enterprises are not eligible to receive sub-grants from eligible recipients, although they may receive contracts, subject to EPA's regulations on procurement under assistance agreements, 2 CFR 200 Subpart E.

The statutory authorities for this program restrict the use of assistance agreements to support the following activities: conducting or promoting the coordination and acceleration of research, investigations, experiments, training, demonstrations, surveys, and studies relating to the causes, effects (including health and welfare effects), extent, prevention, and elimination of water pollution. Demonstrations must involve new or experimental technologies, methods, or approaches, and it is encouraged that the results of these projects will be disseminated so that others can benefit from the knowledge gained. A project that is accomplished through the performance of routine, traditional, or established practices, or a project that is simply intended to carry out a task rather than transfer information or advance the state of knowledge, however worthwhile the project might be, is not considered a demonstration project. 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).

Assistance agreements are normally funded on a 12 (annual) or 24-month basis, at the discretion of the applicant. There is no restriction placed on the time permitted to spend the money awarded as long as the money is spent within the budget and project periods of the award specified in the workplan and the budget worksheet in the SF-424, Application for Federal Assistance.

For competitive awards, EPA will specify the nature of the pre-application assistance, if any, that will be available to applicants in the NOFO. For additional information, contact the individual(s) listed as the "Agency Contact(s)" in the NOFO. Interested applicants should review information found at Healthy Urban Communities in New England (https://www.epa.gov/newenglandhc).

Applicants, except in limited circumstances approved by the Agency, must submit all initial applications for funding through Grants.gov. The Healthy Communities Grant Program has a two-step process for evaluating competitive applications which is described in the NOFO.

The evaluation and selection criteria for competitive awards under this assistance listing will be described in the NOFO.

For competitive awards, EPA will review and evaluate applications in accordance with the terms, conditions, and criteria stated in the NOFO. Competitions will be conducted in accordance with EPA policies/regulations for competing assistance agreements.

For competitive awards, deadlines will be specified in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).

Applicants will generally be notified within 60 days of receipt of submission for funding.

All competitive grant awards should be prepared and submitted as new projects, which will be evaluated based on criteria specified in the annual NOFO. No-cost extensions of existing projects may be available.

Assistance agreement competition-related disputes will be resolved in accordance with the dispute resolution procedures published in 70 FR (Federal Register) 3629, 3630 (January 26, 2005).