Building on its Justice40 environmental justice initiative, the Biden administration announced the first $350 million of a total of $2 billion in funding for organizations, governments and tribes across the country to enact projects that address climate and environmental justice. It is the “single largest investment in environmental justice ever,” according to EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan on a July 24 press call.
Through a rolling application process that runs through November 21, 2024, the Community Change Grants Program, funded through the Inflation Reduction Act, will distribute awards for a variety of projects designed to address climate-related challenges in communities that suffer disproportionate climate impacts. change and pollution. The program “recognizes that we need a wide range of solutions to climate and environmental injustices and that we need to get those solutions from the grassroots at the community level,” said John Podesta, senior adviser to the president of International Climate Policy.
The first group of awardees, 21 in total, demonstrates the variety of location-specific and community-based projects supported by the program. Examples include a Texas A&M University/Black Belt Unincorporated Wastewater Program partnership to install wastewater treatment systems in rural Alabama homes, along with training and certification programs to develop waste water professionals in the area. In Bakersfield, California, the funds will go toward energy efficiency or retrofitting solar panels for homes, adding a microgrid to an existing community center, and training 150 residents in panel installation solar and electric vehicle repairs, along with electrician apprenticeships. A three-state program in Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota will work with 35 tribes to weatherize homes and provide energy efficiency upgrades while providing training to emerging leaders who will seek additional grants for additional resiliency work. Some of the projects have also received funding, including federal funds, from other sources and programs.
Grant recipients, which are partnerships between two community nonprofits or between a CBO and a federally recognized tribe, higher education institution, or local government, fall into two different tracks. Most of the funds will go to Track I awards, which range from $10 million to $20 million and are expected to be given to 150 recipients for project-based work. Track II grants are between $1 million and $3 million, which are expected to be awarded to 20 recipients for programmatic work on education and participatory processes related to climate and the environment.
The nature of the applications, which require a “very detailed plan,” Regan said, ensures not only that “there are built-in metrics to show the climate progress we’re making, but also built-in metrics to show the holistic benefits for to the community”.
The announcement follows a July 24 White House summit on “Environmental Justice in Action,” the administration’s first, which included progress reports from 24 agencies on their EJ initiatives , as well as the launch of the second phase of the Environmental Justice Assessment Framework.
The full list of recipients can be found here.
