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Thriving Communities

GHHI’s Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program

Applications for 2-year grants due Nov. 30!

APPLY HERE TODAY!

We are excited to announce that the application portal is now open for all three tiers of GHHI’s EPA Environmental Justice Thriving Communities grants!

See below for links to the Request for Applications (RFA), the application portal, and other applicant resources.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: You will need to obtain a Unique Entity ID for your organization, if you do not already have one, in order to submit a grant application. Go to SAM.gov to register your organization. There is a helpful video at the bottom of the SAM.gov homepage that will explain the process for registration. 

GHHI’s Thriving Communities Grantmaking program, in collaboration with the EPA, will award $40 million in grants, flowing from the Inflation Reduction Act, to fund 171 eligible projects in historically disinvested communities throughout EPA’s Region 3 (includes Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and 7 federally recognized tribes).

For more information, email us at ThrivingCommunities@ghhi.org or call us at 443-687-7343.

Application Resources

Office Hours with the Program Officers

The GHHI Thriving Communities Program Officers (POs) will hold regular office hours to provide applicants guidance on the application process and clarify eligibility and submission requirements. To ensure your questions are addressed efficiently, we kindly ask that you review our FAQ document linked above before registering to confirm whether your question has already been addressed. Please note that we are unable to address project ideation questions.

Participants must register in advance and submit one application-related question during the registration process. Space is limited, so if registration is full, please email inquiries to thrivingcommunities@ghhi.org. We respectfully request that each organization registers for only one office hour session to ensure fair access for all. Office hour dates and times will be updated monthly and posted on our website.

Dates and Times: Office Hours are every Monday and Thursday from 2pm-3pm (ET), except for Thursday, Nov. 28 (Thanksgiving) and Thursday, Dec. 26.

Click the link below to choose a date and register for one of the upcoming sessions.

Additional Resources

Grantmaking Focus

Grants will support projects that focus on, but are not limited to:

  • Community-led air and other pollution monitoring, prevention, and remediation, and investments in low- and zero emission and resilient technologies and related infrastructure
  • Monitoring of effluent discharges from industrial facilities
  • Water quality & sampling
  • Small cleanup projects
  • Improving food access to reduce vehicle miles traveled
  • Stormwater issues and green infrastructure
  • Lead and asbestos contamination
  • Pesticides and other toxic substances
  • Healthy homes that are energy/water use efficient and reduce indoor toxics and indoor air pollution
  • Illegal dumping activities, such as education, outreach, and small-scale clean-ups
  • Mitigating climate and health risks from urban heat islands, extreme heat, wood heater emissions, and wildfire events
  • Workforce development that helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants
  • Environmental justice training for youth
  • Climate resiliency and adaptation
  • Facilitating engagement of disadvantaged communities in state and federal advisory groups, workshops, rulemaking, and other public processes

Projected Award Levels

Tier I: Assessment

1 year: $150,000

Example project activities include:

  • Sampling
  • Testing
  • Monitoring
  • Investigation
  • Surveys and studies
  • Public education
  • Project design research

Tier II: Planning

1 – 2 years: $250,000

Example project activities include:

  • Planning
  • Community engagement
  • Partnership building
  • Public outreach and education
  • Trainings
  • Small land purchase and acquisition (less than 50% of award)

Tier III: Development

2 years: $350,000

Example project activities include:

  • Implementation of project plans
  • Development
  • Blueprints, Plans, Technical development
  • Obtaining permits for EJ project
  • Small land purchase and acquisition (less than 50% of award)

Non-Competitive Grants, 1 year, $75,000

  • Expected to be 10 noncompetitive awards for severely capacity constrained entities
  • Criteria and selection process will be developed by GHHI and the Advisory Board
  • Not managed through this RFA process
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