EPA Community Grants Available to Protect Public Health and the Environment in New England

Boston – The US Environmental Protection Agency is making grants available for New England communities to support EPA's "Back-to-Basics" agenda to reduce environmental risks, protect and improve human health and improve the quality of life. 

EPA New England's Healthy Communities Grant Program is accepting proposals for projects that will benefit one or more New England communities. EPA plans to award about 10 cooperative agreements.
"EPA is very much looking forward to receiving strong nominations for the Healthy Communities Grant Program," said Alexandra Dunn, regional administrator of EPA's New England office. "By focusing on Administrator Pruitt's "Back-to-Basics" agenda, we'll be able to make a lasting positive difference by partnering directly with local experts to advance clean air, clean water, and clean land – ultimately protecting public health and the environment in our communities."

The Healthy Communities Grant Program will identify and fund projects that can make positive differences by focusing on target "Back-to-Basics" investment areas. Eligible projects under this program must be located in or directly further one or more of the three "target investment areas" (areas needing to create community resilience; environmental justice areas of potential concern; or sensitive populations), and identify how the proposed project will achieve measurable environmental or public health results in one or more of the four "target program areas" (clean, green, and healthy schools; community and water infrastructure resilience; healthy indoor environments; or healthy outdoor environments).

Full descriptions of the target investment and target program areas can be found in the 2018 Healthy Communities Grant Program Request for Initial Proposals.

Eligible applicants include state and local governments, public nonprofit institutions or organizations, private nonprofit institutions or organizations, quasi-public nonprofit institutions or organizations, federally recognized Indian Tribal Governments, K-12 schools or school districts; and non-profit organizations, such as grassroots and community-based organizations. Funding will be considered for a college or university to support a project with substantial community or tribal involvement. 

A two-step process will be used to select proposals. An initial project summary must be submitted as a first step; then applicants with the highest quality proposals will be invited to submit full proposals. The deadline to submit an initial project summary is April 13.

To help answer questions from prospective applicants, the Healthy Communities Grant Program will host three conference calls before the initial project summary is due. The information sessions are being offered March 27, March 29, and April 3. These information sessions are optional, but RSVPs are required. A registration form can be found in the Request for Initial Proposals.

More information:

Featured

  • New City School

    Turning Crisis into Opportunity: Transforming New City School

    When New City School in St. Louis suffered catastrophic flood damage in July 2022, the event could have marked a serious setback for the 100-year-old institution. Instead, it became a forward-looking opportunity.

  • University of Kentucky Receives $150M Gift Toward New Arts District

    The University of Kentucky’s Board of Trustees recently received a $150-million gift from The Bill Gatton Foundation, according to a university news release, to build a new arts district on the campus in Lexington, Ky. The new district will feature a new College of Fine Arts building and a multi-hundred-seat theater, among other amenities.

  • Malibu High School Campus Completes $102M Phase 1 of Construction

    Malibu High School in Malibu, Calif., recently announced that it has completed phase 1 of construction for its new campus, a news release reports. The first phase consisted of developing and modernizing the site of a former elementary school into a new, 70,000-square-foot, two-story facility.

  • Illinois District Boosts Security at High-School Stadium

    Richmond-Burton Community High School in Richmond, Ill., recently announced that it has completed the redesigned entrance to its high school stadium with a new focus on school security and community engagement, according to a news release. The district partnered with Wold Architects and Engineers on the project as part of District #157’s year-long facilities master plan.

Digital Edition