The US EPA's Community Change Grants (CCG) program provides approximately $2 billion in funding for environmental and climate justice activities to benefit disadvantaged communities.
This program focuses on place-based and community-driven projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to address environmental and climate justice challenges.
Proposed projects should be designed to deliver on the transformative potential of the IRA for communities most adversely and disproportionately impacted by climate change, legacy pollution, and historical disinvestments.
The EPA will review and select CCG applications on a rolling basis until all funds are committed – EPA encourages communities to submit applications as early as possible.
To learn more, visit:
EPA’s Community Change Grants Program Notice
Community Change Grants Website
Deadline to apply to CCG: November 21, 2024
Technical Assistance for CCG
EnDyna
Official TA provider for the CCG program. EnDyna is no longer accepting requests for technical assistance as of August 16, 2024.
Environmental Protection Network (EPN)
EPN is offering a hands-on series of group webinars to help communities effectively manage their time and resources while completing and submitting their grant applications before the deadline of November 21, 2024. Learn more (under topic #4).
UW CEHE's Technical Assistance for CCG
The UW Center for Environmental Health Equity (UW CEHE) is an EPA and DOE-funded Environmental Justice Technical Assistance Center (TCTAC). UW CEHE is not the primary TA provider for CCG. However, CEHE may be able to provide assistance in some limited cases for CCG.
TIMING
UW CEHE is currently available to assist with questions related to CCG.
UW CEHE will stop providing CCG TA on September 30, 2024.
ELIGIBILITY FOR UW CEHE CCG TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
Groups that meet all the following conditions are welcomed to contact us for CCG TA:
- UW CEHE prioritizes TA for Tribes and grassroots community-based organizations
- Based in EPA Region 10 (AK, ID, OR, WA states)
The scope of CCG projects is broad, and we may not be able to provide assistance for some topics that fall outside of the technical assistance expertise of UW CEHE.
TYPES OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TURN-AROUND TIME
UW CEHE may be able to provide the following types of technical assistance:
- Questions about eligibility, specific sections of the NOFO, and requirements such as the Project Area map.
- Pre-review of draft proposals.
Depending on the volume of TA requests we receive and the complexity of the requests, it may take different amounts of time to get back to you with a response. In the case of simplier questions, we anticipate getting back to you within a few days.
In the case of more complex TA requests, such as providing a pre-review of a draft proposal, it generally takes at least a week for us to conduct a review. We encourage you to reach out to us well in advance to see if we still have availability to review your proposal. We use the CCG scoring criteria when we conduct our reviews. If we are not available to assist you with a pre-review, we encourage you to attempt to self-review your own proposal using the publicly available CCG scoring criteria (see the section on Scoring below).
Note: UW CEHE is not available to assist groups in writing their CCG proposals.
REQUESTING CCG TA FROM UW CEHE
To request CCG TA from UW CEHE, please complete our intake form, and mention your interest in CCG.
Key Dates
- August 16, 2024 - Last day to request CCG TA from Endyna
- August 16, 2024 - September 30, 2024 - UW CEHE available to provide CCG TA
- November 21, 2024 - Deadline for CCG application
Resources for CCG
COMMUNITY CHANGE GRANTS
Two application tracks available:
- Track I : Community-Driven Investments for Change ($10M-$20M)
Multi-faceted climate action and pollution reduction strategies to meaningfully improve the environmental, climate, and resilience conditions affecting disadvantaged communities
- Track II : Meaningful Engagement for Equitable Governance ($1M-$3M)
Facilitate the engagement of disadvantaged communities in governmental processes to advance environmental and climate justice.
ELIGIBILITY
Partnership between two Community Based Organization's (CBO) or a CBO and a Tribe, local government, or institution of higher education. The project must benefit disadvantaged communities and be completed within 3 years. Applicants must have active registration with SAM.gov and Grants.gov.
See Endyna's resource on: Is my project eligible?
MAPPING
To help determine if a project area qualifies as a disadvantaged community, use the EPA’s mapping tool:
EPA IRA Disadvantaged Communities Map.
See Endyna's FAQ for Project Area maps.
We have also created a step-by-step guide for preparing a Project Area Map for CCG proposals.
SCORING
See Section V. of the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for how applications are reviewed and scored. You can use these scoring critieria to self-review your own proposals.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
• Environmental Protection Network 6- Step Application Process: Track I and Track II
• EPA Approved Track I and Track II application workbooks
Credits: Silver Falls Oregon. Photo by Dylan Freedom on Unsplash