Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program

This program has been terminated. The Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving (EJCPS) Cooperative Agreement Program provides funding to support community-based organizations in their efforts to collaborate and partner with local stakehol

The Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving (EJCPS) Cooperative Agreement Program provides funding to support community-based organizations in their efforts to collaborate and partner with local stakeholder groups (e.g., local businesses and industry, local government, medical service providers, and academia) as they develop and implement solutions that address environmental and/or public health issues for underserved communities.

An eligible applicant must be one of the following: • incorporated non-profit organizations -including, but not limited to, community-based organizations, grassroots organizations, environmental justice networks, faith based organizations and those affiliated with religious institutions;* U.S. Territories • Freely Associated States (FAS) - including local governmental entities and local non-profit organizations in the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Palau. Applicant organizations claiming non-profit status must include documentation that shows the organization is either a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization as designated by the Internal Revenue Service; OR a non-profit organization recognized by the state, territory, or commonwealth in which it is located. For the latter, documentation must be on official state government letterhead. The following entities are INELIGIBLE to receive an award, but we encourage applicants to partner with these organizations, as appropriate: • Tribes and tribal governments • colleges and universities; • hospitals; • for-profit businesses; • state and local governments and their entities; • quasi-governmental entities (e.g., water districts, utilities)*; • national organizations and chapters of the aforementioned organizations**; •International organizations and chapters of the aforementioned organizations • Individuals • non-profit organizations supporting lobbying activities as defined in Section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995; and*** * Generally, a quasi-governmental entity is one that: (1) has a close association with the government agency, but is not considered a part of the government agency; (2) was created by the government agency, but is exempt from certain legal and administrative requirements imposed on government agencies; or (3) was not created by the government agency but performs a public purpose and is significantly supported financially by the government agency. ** National organizations are defined as comprising of one centralized headquarters or principal place of business that creates and controls the mission, structure and work carried out by its chapters or affiliates. *** 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 that lobby are not allowed. 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 Assistance Agreement Competition Policy.

Eligible beneficiaries are the Non-Profit Community Groups, US Territories, and Freely Associated States (FAS) as described under "Eligibility" and the residents of the communities they serve. List selected is not all inclusive.

Projects can include activities related to the environment and issues impacting underserved communities. Types of projects eligible for funding include but are not limited to the following: Air Quality and Asthma Water Quality, Sampling, and Stormwater Issues Lead, Pesticide, and Toxic Substances Agriculture and Fishing Green Infrastructure Environmental Job Training Youth Development. 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).

The recipient cannot use these funds for the following activities under this program: litigation against the Federal government or any other government entity; lobbying; matching funds for other Federal grants; and travel for Federal employees. This program makes Federal awards on a discretionary basis. A discretionary award means an award in which the Federal awarding agency, in keeping with specific statutory authority that enables the agency to exercise judgement ("discretion"), selects the recipient and/or the amount of Federal funding awarded through a competitive process or based on merit of proposals. A discretionary award may be selected on a non-competitive basis, as appropriate. For further information, please contact the Headquarters or regional office.

Cooperative agreements will be awarded for a 3 year project period.

Executive Order 12372, "Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs," applies to this assistance listing when a proposed financial assistance Federal financial assistance involves land use planning. EPA financial assistance programs and activities subject to intergovernmental review that have been selected for review under State single point of contact procedures are identified at https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-financial-assistance-programs-subject-executive-order-12372-and-section-204. Applicants for programs or activities subject to Intergovernmental Review that have not been selected for State single point of contact review must provide directly affected State, areawide, regional, and local entities at least 60 days to review their application following notification by EPA that the application has been selected for funding as provided by 40 CFR 29.8(a) and (c). Regarding pre-application assistance with respect to competitive funding opportunities under this assistance listing, EPA will generally specify the nature of the pre-application assistance, if any, that will be available to applicants in the competitive announcement. For additional information, contact the individual(s) listed as the "Agency Contact(s)" in the competitive announcement.

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 competitive announcement. Competitions will be conducted in accordance with EPA policies/regulations for competing assistance agreements.

For competitive awards, deadline information will be specified in the competitive announcement.

Approximately 150 days after the deadline for application submission.

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). Copies of these procedures may also be found at: https://www.epa.gov/grants/grant-competition-dispute-resolution-procedures.