Bulletin
Contact: David Piantanida (piantanida.david@epa.gov)
(720) 661-7482
DENVER (May 23, 2023) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Region 8 Office is previewing an upcoming grant competition for a Region 8 focused Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center (EJ TCTAC) to help Region 8 communities and other environmental justice stakeholders access federal technical assistance and resources to address environmental and energy justice concerns. EPA Region 8 includes the states of Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming and 28 Tribal Nations. Region 8 hopes to issue the opportunity by July 13, 2023.
In April of this year, the agency announced $177 million in investments for the creation of 17 EJ TCTACs (national and regional EJ TCTACs) across the country to help underserved and overburdened communities access funds from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, including historic investments to advance environmental and energy justice. This new Region 8 grant opportunity will again partner with the U.S. Department of Energy to build upon and complement that effort by focusing on delivering technical assistance specifically within EPA Region 8.
“I am thrilled that we will be opening this grant opportunity to have a Region 8-specific technical assistance resource center serving communities across our region and empowering them to tackle environmental justice concerns,” said Regional Administrator KC Becker. “We recognize that many of our communities have solutions to the environmental challenges they face but have lacked the resources needed to deliver these solutions – this Region 8 technical assistance center will help them build capacity and access federal funding to advance environmental justice across our Region and will complement the 17 environmental justice thriving communities technical assistance centers previously announced by the EPA Administrator in April.”
As noted above, EPA Region 8 hopes to issue a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) by July 13, 2023, soliciting applications from eligible entities interested in serving as the Region 8 EJ TCTAC. After the NOFO is issued, EPA Region 8 will hold at least two webinars to share information about the grant opportunity and answer questions potential applicants may have about it. Further information about the webinars will be included in the NOFO and will also be posted at EPA Region 8 Mountains and Plains. Until a grant applicant is selected through this upcoming grant competition and begins providing technical assistance, communities and organizations within Region 8 will be able to access assistance through one of the designated national TCTACs.
Background
Once awarded, the EPA Region 8 EJ TCTAC will be part of the network of the other 17 EJ TCTACs providing technical assistance on a comprehensive nation-wide basis. With these critical investments, the EJ TCTACs will provide training and other technical assistance to community groups, nonprofits, local governments and others to build capacity for navigating federal, state and private grant application systems, writing strong grant proposals, and effectively managing grant funding.
In addition, these EJ TCTACs will provide guidance on engagement with governmental processes, community outreach, meeting facilitation, and translation and interpretation services for limited English-speaking participants, removing barriers and improving accessibility for communities with environmental justice concerns. Each of the technical assistance centers will also create and manage communication channels to ensure the communities they serve have direct access to resources and information.
Process
EPA Region 8 anticipates issuing the NOFO for the Region 8 EJ TCTAC by July 13, 2023, and making the award around the end of the calendar year. The award amount will be approximately $10 million.
Eligible applicants who can compete under the NOFO will generally include:
The formation of the EJ TCTACs is in direct response to feedback from communities and environmental justice leaders who have long called for technical assistance and capacity building support for communities and their partners as they work to access critical federal resources. For more information on the EJ TCTACs please click here: EJ Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers program.
The EJ TCTAC program is part of the Federal Interagency Thriving Communities Network and delivers on the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 Initiative to ensure that 40% of the benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities. The new EJ TCTACs will help ensure communities with environmental and energy justice concerns can access President Biden’s historic investments in America to address generational disinvestment, legacy pollution, infrastructure challenges, and build a clean energy economy that will lower energy costs, strengthen our energy security, and meet our climate goals.