The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Mid-Atlantic Region has announced the availability of $40 million for subgrants to communities through the Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking program. This initiative is part of the Biden-Harris Administration's Investing in America Agenda and was established under the Inflation Reduction Act’s Environmental and Climate Justice Program.
In December, the EPA named 11 Grantmakers, including the Green and Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI), as Regional Grantmaker for EPA’s Mid-Atlantic Region, which covers Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Applicants from these areas can apply for subgrants ranging from $150,000 to $350,000 for environmental projects lasting one or two years. Applications for two-year grants are due by November 30, 2024. One-year grant applications will be accepted through Spring 2025. Additionally, GHHI will provide up to 10 non-competitive awards of up to $75,000 each for one-year grants.
Eligible projects include local cleanups, emergency preparedness programs, environmental workforce development initiatives, greenhouse gas reduction efforts, fenceline monitoring and asthma-related projects, healthy homes programs, addressing illegal dumping issues and other community-specific environmental justice concerns.
“These grants will empower communities to address their most pressing environmental problems,” stated Adam Ortiz, EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator. “These subawards...will ensure that all Americans...have an equal opportunity to breathe clean air [and] drink clean water.”
Ruth Ann Norton of GHHI emphasized the significance of this funding: “GHHI’s Thriving Communities Grantmaking program provides an unprecedented opportunity to leverage the investments made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act...We are grateful to the Environmental Protection Agency...for their commitment to investing in strategies and programs that will help reverse the effects of historic disinvestment in disadvantaged communities across the country.”
