Great Lakes Restoration Initiative FY 2023 Request for Applications (RFA) to Create Great Lakes Environmental Justice Grant Programs (GLEJGPs)
On this page:
- Overview
- Funding Opportunity Details
- Eligible Applicants
- Contact Information
- Documents
- Frequently Asked Questions
Overview
This Request for Applications is expected to result in the award of cooperative agreements to support the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan III (pdf) . This RFA is the Great Lakes National Program Office’s (GLNPO’s) major competitive grant funding opportunity for FY-23 to help fulfill EPA’s commitment to Environmental Justice (EJ) by establishing Great Lakes Community Environmental Justice Grant Programs to be used for issuing and overseeing subawards for environmental restoration projects in historically underserved Great Lakes communities.
This RFA is targeted at a pass-through entity or entities ("principle recipients") with established relationships with underserved communities or with the ability to quickly build and sustain such relationships with those communities in order to develop and implement a subaward funding program to fund projects in those communities pursuant to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan III.
Funding Opportunity Details
Under this competition, approximately $30,000,000 may be awarded for one to six cooperative agreements over approximately six years.
This RFA expects to provide funding available for two types of applications: applications that aim to provide funding for projects in a particular region of the Great Lakes Basin, and applications that aim to provide funding for projects across the entire Great Lakes Basin.
For the basin-wide applications, EPA aims to provide funding for one application that will operate across the entire Great Lakes Basin. Basin-wide applicants may request between $10 million and $20 million. For the applications focused on a particular region, EPA aims to provide funding for approximately 5 applications. Regional applicants may request between $2 million and $10 million for their program.
For this RFA, it is EPA’s expectation that the award, including all subawards, will have a total period of performance of up to six years January 2024 – January 2030) with incremental funding provided on an annual basis. No commitment of funding will be made beyond the first year. All incrementally funded awards will be subject to the availability of funding, future appropriations, satisfactory performance of work, and other applicable considerations.
Our responses to questions about the RFA will be updated frequently and posted in the documents section of this page.
Eligible Applicants
Nonfederal governmental entities, including:
- state agencies,
- interstate agencies,
- federally recognized Indian tribes and tribal organizations,
- local governments,
- institutions of higher learning (i.e., colleges and universities), and
- non-profit organizations as defined in 2 C.F.R. § 200
The following are not eligible:
- Individuals,
- foreign organizations and governments,
- nonprofit organizations exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that engage in lobbying, and
- “for-profit” organizations
Contact Information
Our responses to questions will be updated weekly and posted to this website.
If you have general and technical questions that have not yet been addressed, please contact the following staff at the EPA Great Lakes National Program Office:
- General RFA Contact for administrative, eligibility, and other general RFA questions – Cara Walsh (glri-rfa@epa.gov)
- Sign up for the Great Lakes News email list to get information about funding opportunities to support Great Lakes environmental work and updates about Great Lakes environmental projects.
Documents
- Great Lakes Restoration Initiative 2023 Request for Applications to Create Great Lakes Environmental Justice Grant Programs (GLEJGPs) (pdf)
- Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan III (pdf)
- Helpful Recipient Training
- Interim General Budget Development Guidance for Applicants and Recipients of EPA Financial Assistance (pdf)
- EPA Grants Award Process Webinar