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Applications for EPA Healthy Community Grants Now Accepted

Release Date: 02/07/2007
Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

(Boston, Mass. – Feb. 7, 2007) – EPA’s Healthy Communities Grant Program is accepting initial proposals for grants of up to $35,000 to support projects benefiting one or more of the New England states.

The Healthy Communities Grant Program integrates nine EPA New England programs including Assistance & Pollution Prevention, Asthma, Children’s Environmental Health, Community Air Toxics, Pesticides, Smart Growth, Tools for Schools, Toxics, and the Urban Environmental Program. The goal of the program is to combine available resources and best identify competitive projects that will achieve measurable environmental and public health results in communities across New England. The grant program will achieve this through identifying and funding projects that target resources to benefit communities at risk (environmental justice areas of potential concern, places with high risk from toxic air pollution, urban areas) and sensitive populations (e.g. children, elderly, others at increased risk). Further, EPA will evaluate grant proposals to ensure that they:

• Assess, understand and reduce environmental and human health risks;
• Increase collaboration through community-based projects;
• Build institutional and community capacity to understand and solve environmental and human health problems; and,
• Achieve measurable environmental and human health benefits.

In order to qualify, projects must meet two criteria: (1) be located in and directly benefit one or more of the four target investment areas; and (2) achieve measurable environmental and public health results in one or more of the eight target program areas.

Target Investment Areas include Environmental Justice Areas of Potential Concern, Places with High Risks from Toxic Air Pollution, Sensitive Populations, and/or Urban Areas (populations of 35,000 or more). Target Program Areas include: Asthma, Capacity-Building on Environmental and Public Health Issues, Healthy Indoor/Outdoor Environments, Healthy Schools, Pollution Prevention & Recycling, Smart Growth, Urban Natural Resources and Open/Green Space, and Water Quality Monitoring or Analyses.

EPA expects to award between 20 - 25 grants, ranging from $5,000 to $35,000 for one or two year projects through this competitive program, based on availability of funding. Eligible applicants include non-profit organizations, local government, public and private universities and colleges, hospitals, state or regional agencies, K-12 schools or school districts and tribes.

There is a two-step process for evaluating proposals. The program requires the submission of an initial One-Page Project Summary as a first step; then applicants with the highest quality proposals will be invited to submit full proposals for consideration. The deadline for One-page Project Summaries is March 16, 2007.

To help answer questions from prospective applicants, the Healthy Communities Grant Program will sponsor six telephone conference calls before the one-page project summary is due on March 16, 2007. The informational sessions for the one-page summary outlines will be held on Feb. 14, 22, 27, 2007. These informational sessions are optional, but RSVPs are required by contacting Sandy Brownell ([email protected], 617-918-1797).

More information: Healthy Community Grant program (https://www.epa.gov/ne/eco/uep/hcgp.html)

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