Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights NATIONAL PROGRAM GUIDANCE: ADDENDUM FY 2024 May 30, 2023 Publication Number: 231B23001 ------- I. INTRODUCTION The FY 2023-2024 Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights Compliance Office National Program Guidance1 (OEJ/ECRCO NPG) was published in August of 2022. The OEJ/ECRCO NPG describes how EPA is centering its mission on the integration of equity, justice, and civil rights to achieve measurable environmental, public health and quality of life improvements in the most overburdened, vulnerable, and underserved communities. Critical to achieving this work is for EPA to proactively engage with Tribes, states, and local governments to discuss and address disproportionate impacts through implementation of EPA authorities and to engage in meaningful joint planning with communities to advance community visions and priorities. The OEJ/ECRCO NPG also describes strategies for implementing and making progress on performance goals as established in Goal 2 of the FY 2022-2026 EPA Strategic Plan2. On September 24, 2022, EPA announced the creation of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (OEJECR). This new office was the result of merging three existing programs at the agency: the Office of Environmental Justice, the External Civil Rights Compliance Office, and the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Center. Since the launch, OEJECR has been working on hiring staff in EPA headquarters and across all 10 regions, with a target of hiring over 200 permanent staff over the next year. Additionally, OEJECR has been supporting implementation of programs funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and is overseeing a historic level of funding with the additional $3 billion provided by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Organizing as a program office, developing new and creative grant programs, focusing on conflict resolution, and strengthening external civil rights have been key priorities for OEJECR since its launch. As a result, the strategies and activities that were planned for OEJ and ECRCO (now together with the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Center, as OEJECR) in FY 2023 have been challenging to carry forth as quickly as planned. Overall, the agency is making great strides in integrating environmental justice and external civil rights considerations into its work. In FY 2023, for the first time at EPA, headquarters and regional offices developed Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (EJECR) Implementation Plans. These plans will continue to be developed on an annual basis, building on progress from the prior year. The FY 2024 OEJECR NPG Addendum focuses on changes to performance measures that have come from cross-agency work completed in FY 2023, and highlights changes to expectations for programs and/or regions. As OEJECR develops as an organization, the additional resources will allow for continued progress on our goals as we lay the foundation for achieving measurable environmental and public health improvements in overburdened and underserved communities. II. EXCEPTION-BASED CHANGES FOR FY 2024 As mentioned, in FY 2023 OEJECR prioritized organizing as a new program office, hiring staff, supporting implementation of programs funded by BIL, and developing and implementing new grant programs funded by IRA. The need to focus on these new opportunities, including the new 1 FY 2023-2024 Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights Compliance Office National Program Guidance is available at: https://www.epa.gov/sYStem/files/documents/2022-08/fV-2023-2024-oei-ecrco-npg.pdf 2 FY 2022 - FY 2026 EPA Strategic Plan is available at: https://www.epa.gov/svstem/files/documents/2022-03/fV- 2022-2026-epa-strategic-plan.pdf 2 ------- grant programs funded by IRA has delayed development of capacity-building resources and tools needed to support cross-agency implementation of some of the long-term performance goals and measures. In almost all cases, the expected activities for programs and/or regions can still be implemented in FY 2024. However, we do have one activity that is impacted by the delay, which is highlighted in the table below. Associated Page # in FY 2023- 2024 NPG Issue or Program Area Key Change and Activities Page 9 Partnerships with states and tribes EPA partnering with states and tribes to address disproportionate impacts in grant workplans: OEJECRhas been delayed in being able to develop and provide the recommended language and capacity-building resources for EPA to partner with states and tribes on addressing disproportionate impacts in grant workplans. Because of this delay, and due to the timing of annual grant workplan negotiations with states and Tribes, programs and regions will not be expected to monitor and evaluate progress toward states and tribes addressing disproportionate impacts in grant workplans in FY 2024. III. FY 2024 NATIONAL PROGRAM GUIDANCE MEASURES: Over the past year, cross-agency workgroups have been conducting preliminary work on most of the annual performance measures. Through this work, language revisions were made to three measures. In addition, two measures will be discontinued in FY 2024. Explanations for these changes are in tables A and B below. A. New/Revised Measures for FY 2024 BFS Code Measure Text Nature of Revision (New/Revised) EJCR02 REVISED: Percentage of EPA programs utilizing extramural vehicles to fund organizations and individuals providing environmental justice expertise and support to advance EPA priorities and activities. Language revised from "Percentage of EPA programs utilizing extramural vehicles to compensate organizations and individuals representing communities with EJ concerns when engaged as service providers for the Agency". This language change allowed for additional types of extramural vehicles that could be utilized for implementing this performance measure. EJCR06 REVISED: Percentage of required civil rights procedural safeguard elements implemented by state permitting agencies that are recipients of EPA financial assistance. Language revised for clarity and to update to current terminology (e.g., "foundational" to "procedural safeguards elements") and to change "state agencies" to "state permitting agencies" to better reflect the 3 ------- original intent to track required civil rights procedural safeguards elements implemented by state permitting agencies that are recipients of EPA financial assistance. EJCR11 REVISED: Number of established environmental justice collaborative partnerships utilizing key principles for community work (community- driven, coordinated, and collaborative). Language revised from "Key Principles for Community Work" to "key principles for community work" to highlight that key principles of community work are a general practice, and not a new EPA initiative. B. Discontinued Measures (from FY 2023) BFS Code Measure Text Rationale EJCR12 Percentage of EPA programs and regions that have identified and implemented opportunities to integrate environmental justice considerations and strengthen civil rights compliance in their planning, guidance, policy directives, monitoring, and review activities. The opportunities to integrate and implement environmental justice considerations and strengthen civil rights compliance have been incorporated into the annual EJECR Implementation Plans. EJCR07 Percentage of EPA national program and regional offices that extend paid internships, fellowships, or clerkships to college students from diverse backgrounds. From the data that the agency tracks, it was determined that all applicable program and regional offices included in the universe of this measure (21) are extending paid internships, fellowships, or clerkships to college students from diverse backgrounds. The original multi- year target of reaching 100% by FY 2026 was met in FY 2023. IV. KEY PROGRAM CONTACTS Contact Name Subject/Program Area Phone Email Matthew Tejada Rebecca Huff Environmental Justice (202) 564-8047 (202) 564-2527 teiada.matthew@epa.gov huff.rebecca@epa.gov Lilian Sotolongo Dorka Kurt Temple External Civil Rights Compliance (202) 564-9649 (202) 564-7299 dorka.lilian@epa.gov temple.kurt@epa.gov Surabhi Shah Sheila Lewis Community Work (202) 564-3833 (202) 564-0152 shah.surabhi@epa.gov lewis.sheila@epa.gov 4 ------- |