f/EPA
OFFICE OF
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
United States Office of Enforcement and August 2007
Environmental Protection Agency Compliance Assurance
Office of Environmental Justice (2201 A)
http://www.epa.qov/compliance/environmentaliustice/qrants/ei-smqrants.html
Environmental Justice
Small Grants Program
FACT SHEET
Background
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. Summaries
of all the EJSG projects funded in FY 2005 and prior
years are available on the OEJ website
http://www.epa.qov/compliance/environmentaliustice/qr
ants/ei-smqrants.html. 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
Total Funding
Number of grants
1995
$3,000,000
170
1996
$2,800,000
152
1997
$2,700,000
139
1998
$2,500,000
134
1999
$1,490,000
95
2000
$899,000
61
2001
$1,300,000
88
2002
$1,113,000
74
2003
$930,000
55
2004
$423,545
17
2005
$625,000
25
2006-
2007
$1,000,000
20
Project Focus
We anticipate releasing a new announcement in FY
2008.
The EJSG Program is designed to assist recipients in
building collaborative partnerships that will help them
understand and address the environmental and/or public
health issues in their communities. Successful
collaborative partnerships with other stakeholders
involve well-designed strategic plans to build, maintain
and sustain the partnerships, and to work towards
addressing the local environmental and/or public health
issues.
Eligible Applicants
An eligible applicant MUST BE either:
(1) a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization as designated by
the Internal Revenue Service; OR
(2) a non-profit organization, recognized by the state,
territory, commonwealth, or tribe in which it is located.
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.
A "non-profit organization," means any corporation, trust,
association, cooperative, or other organization that:
(1) is operated primarily for scientific, educational,
service, charitable, or similar purposes in the public
interest;
(2) is not organized primarily for profit; and
(3) uses its net proceeds to maintain, improve, and/or
expand its operations.
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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 and local governments and federally-
recognized Indian tribal governments;
• quasi-governmental entities (e.g., water districts,
utilities)*;
• 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
* 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.
For More Information
If you would like more information about the EJ Small
Grants Program, please call the Office of
Environmental Justice's 24-hour hotline (1-800-962-
6215) or visit the website at:
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaliustice/qr
ants/ei-smq rants.html
EPA's Commitment to Environmental
Justice
On November 4, 2005, United States Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Stephen L.
Johnson issued a memorandum reaffirming EPA's
commitment to environmental justice for all people,
regardless of race, color, national origin, or income.
Environmental justice means not only protecting
human health and the environment for everyone, but
also ensuring that all people are treated fairly and are
given the opportunity to participate meaningfully in the
development, implementation, and enforcement of
environmental laws, regulations, and policies.
Because minority and/or low-income communities
frequently may be exposed disproportionately to
environmental harms and risks, EPA works to protect
these and other burdened communities from adverse
human health and environmental effects of its
programs, consistent with existing environmental and
civil rights laws and regulations, as well as through
the implementation of Executive Order 12898
("Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in
Minority Populations and/or Low-Income Populations,"
Feb. 11, 1994).
The memorandum identified eight national
environmental justice priorities and directed the
integration of environmental justice considerations
into EPA's planning and budgeting processes,
including into the Agency's Strategic Plan for Fiscal
Years 2006-2011. This cooperative agreement
program (Program) focuses on one of those eight
priorities, which is the use of collaborative problem-
solving to address local environmental and/or public
health issues. Each remaining priority involves a
specific issue, including: (1) reducing asthma attacks;
(2) reducing exposure to air toxics; (3) increasing
compliance with regulations; (4) reducing the
incidence of elevated blood lead levels; (5) ensuring
that fish and shellfish are safe to eat; (6) ensuring that
water is safe to drink; and (7) revitalizing
contaminated sites (please note that this Program
cannot be used to fund Brownfields projects).
EPA will continue to fully implement its programs,
policies, and activities to ensure that they do not
adversely affect populations with critical
environmental and/or public health issues, including
minority and/or low-income communities.
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