2021 HEALTHY COMMUNITIES GRANT PROGRAM

Background
The Healthy Communities Grant Program is EPA New England’s main competitive grant program to fund work directly with communities to support EPA’s mission to reduce environmental risks, protect and improve human health and improve the quality of life. The program aims to achieve this through identifying and funding projects that target resources to benefit communities at risk, assess, understand, and reduce environmental and human health risks, increase collaboration through partnerships and community-based projects, build institutional and community capacity to understand and solve environmental and human health problems, advance emergency preparedness and ecosystem resilience, and achieve measurable environmental and human health benefits.

Grant Details
The Healthy Communities Grant Program was launched in 2003 and supports EPA’s mission by integrating many EPA New England programs including Air Quality Outreach, Asthma and Indoor Air, Children’s Environmental Health, Clean, Green and Healthy Schools Initiative, Energy Efficiency Program, Pollution Prevention, Sustainable Materials Management, Toxics and Pesticides, Urban Environmental Program, and Water Infrastructure (Stormwater, Wastewater, and Drinking Water). The program aims to combine available resources to identify competitive projects that will achieve measurable environmental and public health results in communities across New England. Eligible applicants are invited to apply for funding consideration under this competitive grant program. The program anticipates awarding approximately 10 cooperative agreements from these project proposals in 2021.

Eligibility Requirements
To qualify as eligible projects under the Healthy Communities Grant Program, proposed projects must be located in or directly benefit one or more of the Target Investment Areas including areas needing to create community resilience, environmental justice areas of potential concern, or sensitive populations. Additionally, proposed projects must identify how they will achieve measurable environmental and/or public health results in one or more of the Target Program Areas such as Clean, Green and Healthy Schools; Energy Efficiency; Healthy Tribal Drinking Water Quality; Healthy Indoor Environments; Healthy Outdoor Environments; or Pollution Prevention.

Period of Performance
Project periods may be for one or two years starting no earlier than October 1st of the award year.

Grant Value
The Healthy Communities Grant Program anticipates awarding approximately 10 cooperative agreements in 2021 with proposals being submitted for amounts up to $30,000.

Place of Performance
The program seeks to fund projects that are in or directly benefit one or more of the Target Investment Areas of Areas Needing to Create Community Resilience, Environmental Justice Areas of Potential Concern, and/or Sensitive Populations in one or more of the EPA New England States of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont as well as tribal lands.