U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving

The Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving (EJCPS) Cooperative seeks to support community-based nonprofit organizations (CBOs) in to collaborate and partner with other stakeholders (e.g., local businesses and industry, local government, medical service providers, academia, etc.) to develop solutions that will significantly address environmental and/or public health issue(s) in communities disproportionately burdened by environmental harms and risks.

The objective is to support projects that use the Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Model. Collaborative problem-solving is defined as an effort to bring together groups and resources by three or more stakeholders to solve a set of problems that any single entity cannot solve individually. To provide a systematic approach towards collaborative problem-solving, OEJECR has developed a Collaborative Problem-Solving Model (Model). Such a Model is intended to assist vulnerable and underserved communities in developing proactive, strategic, and visionary approaches to address their environmental justice issues and achieve community health and sustainability.

Collaborative problem-solving also involves developing a strategic plan with a built-in evaluation component to measure and achieve results on local environmental and/or public health issues and to sustain the partnerships. OEJECR’s CPS Model and its seven elements can be viewed as a “toolbox” filled with different tools that can be used as needed. The seven elements are as follows: 1. Issue Identification, Visioning, and Strategic Goal-Setting; 2. Community Capacity-Building and Leadership Development; 3. Development of Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships and Leveraging of Resources; 4. Consensus Building and Dispute Resolution; 5. Constructive Engagement with Other Stakeholders; 6. Sound Management and Implementation; and 7. Evaluation

Eligible project categories: Applications must address one of the following five broad categories: • Community-led air and other pollution monitoring, prevention, and remediation, and investments in low-and zero-emission and resilient technologies and related infrastructure and workforce development that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants; • Mitigating climate and health risks from urban heat islands, extreme heat, wood heater emissions, and wildfire events; • Climate resiliency and adaptation; • Reducing indoor toxics and indoor air pollution; or • Facilitating engagement of disadvantaged communities in Local, State and Federal public processes, such as advisory groups, workshops, and rulemakings

Amount:
• $25,000,000 for CBOs proposing projects for up to $500,000 each. Approximately 50 awards for up $500,000 each are anticipated under this track. • $5,000,000 for qualifying small CBOs with 5 or fewer full-time employees proposing projects for up to $150,000 each. See more details under Section II.C. (Small Community-based Nonprofit Set Aside Track). Approximately 33 awards for up to $150,000 each are anticipated under this track.

Eligibility: Community-based nonprofit organizations. A “community-based nonprofit organization” (CBO) as a public or private nonprofit organization that supports and/or represents a community and/or certain populations within a community through engagement, education, and other related services provided to individual community residents and community stakeholders.

Link: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=345310

This post was filed under: