r/EFA
United States Office of Enforcement and October 2009
Environmental Protection Agency Compliance Assurance
Office of Environmental Justice (2201 A)
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaliustice/grants/ei-smgrants.html
Environmental Justice
Small Grants Program
FACT SHEET
Background/ Objective
The EPA's Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ)
established the Environmental Justice Small Grants
Program (EJSG) in fiscal year (FY) 1994. The purpose
of this grant program is to support and empower
communities that are working on local solutions to local
environmental and/or public health issues.
The long-term goals of the EJSG Program are to help
build the capacity of the affected community and to
create self-sustaining, community-based partnerships
that will continue to improve local environments in the
future.
In FY 1994, the pilot program started with only
$500,000 and a limit of $10,000 per award. Each region
received $50,000 and funded a total of 61 projects.
Below is a summary of the number of grants and total
program funding for every year since 1995.
Year
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006-2007
2008-2009
2010*
Total Funding
$3,000,000
$2,800,000
$2,700,000
$2,500,000
$1,490,000
$899,000
$1,300,000
$1,113,000
$930,000
$423,545
$625,000
$1,000,000
$800,000
$1,000,000
Number of grants
170
152
139
134
95
61
88
74
55
17
25
20
40
40
The program has supported a diverse group of
community-based recipients from all over the nation,
working to create healthy, sustainable communities
through dozens of local projects. Past projects have
addressed a variety of issues, including:
• Identifying air pollutants from truck emissions and
other sources at Port Newark in New Brunswick;
New Jersey;
• Educating youth about the harmful effects of toxic
substances such as asbestos and lead paint in
Chicago, Illinois;
• Educating Albuquerque, New Mexico residents and
businesses on ways to properly dispose of
hazardous waste;
• Conducting residential energy efficiency workshops,
training in Kansas City, Missouri for Spanish
speaking communities; and
• Ensuring that local people in Barrow, Alaska have a
voice in the decision making on oil and gas
development projects in their village and the
adjacent offshore area.
FY 2010 Focus
This year's grants will continue to aid community
projects and will support EPA Administrator Lisa
Jackson's top five priorities:
• Improving air quality;
• Managing chemical risks;
• Cleaning up hazardous-waste disposal sites;
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and
• Protecting America's water.
We anticipate releasing a new announcement for the
FY 2010 EJSG Program in October 2009.*
There is a well-established scientific consensus that
climate change will cause disproportionate impacts upon
vulnerable populations.' Thus, the program is adding
emphasis this year on addressing the disproportionate
impacts of climate change in communities with
environmental justice concerns. The goal is to recognize
the critical role of grassroots efforts in helping shape
climate change strategies to avoid, lessen, or delay the
risks and impacts associated with climate change. An
overarching goal of this emphasis is to help increase the
number of underrepresented communities and ensure
equitable green economic development in ways that
build healthy sustainable communities.
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Eligible Applicants
An eligible applicant MUST BE :
(1) a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization as designated by
the Internal Revenue Service;
(2) a non-profit organization, recognized by the state,
territory, commonwealth, or tribe in which it is located;
(3) a city, township, county government; OR
(4) a Native American tribal government (Federally
recognized.
In addition, an eligible applicant must be able to
demonstrate that it has worked directly with, or
provided services to, the affected community. An
"affected community," for the purposes of this
assistance agreement program, is a community that is
disproportionately impacted by environmental harms
and risks and has a local environmental and/or public
health issue that is identified in the proposal.
The focus of this assistance agreement program is to
build the capacity of community-based organizations to
address environmental and/or public health issues at
the local level. Therefore, for this assistance
agreement program, the term "non-profit organization"
EXCLUDES:
• colleges and universities;
• hospitals;
• state governments and their entities;
• quasi-governmental entities (e.g., water districts,
utilities)0;
• national-, multi-state-, or state-wide- organizations
with chapters;
• non-profit organizations that engage in lobbying
activities as defined in Section 3 of the Lobbying
Disclosure Act of 1995; and
• those non-profit organizations which are excluded
from coverage under paragraph 5 of OMB Circular
A-122 (see OMB Circular A-122, paragraph 5 at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a122/a12
2 2004.html
EPA's Commitment to Environmental
Justice
" We must take special pains to connect with
those who have been historically
underrepresented in EPA decision-making,
including the disenfranchised in our cities
and rural areas, communities of color, native
Americans, people disproportionately
impacted by pollution, and small businesses,
cities, and towns working to meet their
environmental responsibilities. Like all
Americans, they deserve an EPA with an
open mind, a big heart and a willingness to
listen...As we meet these challenges, we
must be sensitive to the burdens pollution
has placed on vulnerable subpopulations,
including children, the elderly, the poor and
all others who are at particular risk to threats
to health and the environment. We must
seek their full partnership in the greater aim
of identifying and eliminating the sources of
pollution in their neighborhoods, schools and
homes."
EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson
For More Information
If you would like more information about the EJ Small
Grants Program and summaries of all the EJSG projects
funded in FY 2005 and prior years are available on the
OEJ website:
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaliustice/gra
nts/ej-smg rants.html
i As stated in the Technical Support Document for the Endangerment and Cause or
Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act
(April 2009), "Within settlements experiencing climate change, certain parts of the
population may be especially vulnerable; these include the poor, the elderly, those
already in poor health, the disabled, those living alone, those with limited rights and
power (such as recent immigrants with limited English skills), and/or indigenous
populations dependent on one or a few resources. Thus, the potential impacts of
climate change raise environmental justice issues."
ii 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.
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