00A00937

Description:
The purpose of this agreement is to provide assistance to Restore America's Estuaries to implement its project to support the Long Island Sound Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan. The plan aims to protect and restore Long Island Sound by developing and administering the Long Island Sound Community Impact Fund. The fund is being created to involve communities experiencing or affected by adverse and disproportionate environmental and human health risks or harms, including affected underserved communities within the scope of the Long Island Sound Plan.

Activities:
Specifically, under this cooperative agreement, the recipient will carry out two primary tasks:

1) Develop and administer a competitive subaward program focused on activities that address challenges and opportunities facing communities experiencing or affected by adverse and disproportionate environmental and human health risks or harms, including affected underserved communities within the scope of the Long Island Sound Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan.

2) Develop and implement an outreach and support program focused on involving communities experiencing or affected by adverse and disproportionate environmental and human health risks or harms, including affected underserved communities, and providing them technical support as necessary.

Subrecipient:
Restore America's Estuaries will execute a subawards program by managing a competitive process to solicit, evaluate, and select subaward projects that address LISS goals and program objectives to support underserved communities, integrate environmental justice into project implementation, and implement the Long Island Sound Plan. This includes diversity of project types, distribution across the region, and representation of the needs of underserved communities. Restore America's Estuaries will perform subawardee monitoring, including programmatic and financial oversight, through semi-annual progress reports, invoice reviews, and site visits to ensure performance accountability. They will also ensure subawards are completed prior to the end of the cooperative agreement. There is $3,000,000 allocated to this subaward program.

Restore America's Estuaries is also providing a $54,603 subaward to Save the Sound. The purpose of this subaward is for Save the Sound to support outreach to Long Island Sound communities with environmental justice concerns.

Outcomes:
Under this cooperative agreement, the recipient will provide a variety of deliverables related to the two primary tasks described above. The subaward program deliverables include collaborative solicitation development, targeted outreach to relevant groups that can benefit most from the program, establishment of transparent, equitable, and inclusive evaluation criteria and review panels, and subaward oversight/management. Within the outreach and support program, Restore America's Estuaries will deliver identification of high potential organizations relevant to the fund, organization of grant-making workshops for potential sub-awardees, mentorship and connection throughout the application process, and detailed feedback to all applicants.

The first installment of this incremental award ($2,364,527) will cover deliverables for years 1 and 2 outlined in the project narrative and budget narrative provided by Restore America's Estuaries (attachments included in Section M). Funding for deliverables covered in years 3-5 will be made through additional incremental awards to the recipient.

The expected outcomes of these activities are improved environmental conditions in the Long Island Sound watershed and strengthened economic and cultural viability of Long Island Sound watershed communities. The Long Island Sound Community Impact Fund is intended to increase the number of involvement/representation projects as well as local, on-the-ground projects that best support implementation of the Long Island Sound study goals and priorities laid out in its comprehensive plan.

Restore America's Estuaries

66.437 - Long Island Sound Program

EPA Region 1: Boston [EPA - RO]

New Haven, Connecticut United States

County-Wide

None

Infrastructure $2,364,527 (47%) percent this Project Grant was funded by the 2021 Infrastructure Act.
Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 106% from $2,489,040 to $5,123,302.