UNITE-EJ - Climate Justice Alliance

UNITE-EJ

United Network for Impact, Transformation, & Equity in Environmental Justice Communities

Seeding Success Webinar Series

We are excited to offer a Quality Assurance webinar that will provide Thriving Communities grant applicant with an overview of the ins & outs of the Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) process.).

Download this file for examples of QAPPs and much more information.

Additional QAPP Resources:

QA Webinar Slide Deck in English

QA Webinar Slide Deck in Spanish

FAQ Handout on QAPPS in Spanish

FAQs Handout on QAPPs in English

Project Screening Tool

This is part of our Seeding Success Series; a series of resources created to widen accessibility and ease to potential applicants to access these funds. 

Dates and times for future webinars will be released shortly.

 

 

Vision for Unite for Environmental Justice

The EPA’s Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program aims to provide funds to community-based organizations working to advance environmental justice in their communities. UNITE-EJ is the National Grantmaker – West partner in the Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program, supporting EPA regions 8, 9, and 10. The funds from the UNITE-EJ program will support frontline environmental or environmental justice communities through projects that identify, document, address, and respond to conditions related to environmental and/or climate injustice.

Purpose

The goals of UNITE-EJ are to address environmental and public health issues and to cultivate healthy, thriving communities by building capacity within EJ communities and organizations.

To accomplish this, we plan to :

1.) resource grassroots organizations to address past, current, and future environmental health and human health challenges;

2.) coordinate efficient, effective, and equitable grantmaking and reporting processes across EPA’s regions 8, 9, 10 and at the national level,reducing grassroots organizations’ barriers to accessing federal resources.

Over the next 3 years, UNITE-EJ will support environmental justice communities to become thriving communities.

 

 

 

UNITE-EJ Anticipated Launch Date: January 2025
Regional GrantMakers Launch Dates:
Region Organization Launch Date
8 JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. (JSI)  October 28th, 2024
9 Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE)  January 2025
10 Philanthropy Northwest (PNW)  October 10th, 2024 for tier 3 only

 

How We Fund

Project Award Types:

  • Tier I Assessment projects for up to $150,000 for a one-year project period (e.g. research, sampling, testing, monitoring, investigations, surveys and studies, public education) 
  • Tier II Planning projects for up to $250,000 for a 1-2 year project period (e.g. planning, partnership-building, public outreach and education, coordination with community stakeholders to address environmental issues, training activities for community organizations and community members, projects and activities to spur community involvement, smaller land purchases and acquisitions that require less than half of the total amount of subgrant funding) 
  • Tier III Project Development projects for up to $350,000 for a two-year project period (e.g. project development, blueprints for construction or cleanup projects, schematics, and technical development, work to get permits in place directly related to an environmental project, smaller land purchases and acquisitions that require less than half of the total amount of subgrant funding, implementation of project plans, public outreach and education) 

A limited number of noncompetitive Tier I subawards of up to $75,000, will be provided to severely capacity-constrained community based nonprofit organizations.

What We Fund

Grantmaking Focus

Project types that may be funded include, but are not limited to:

  • Projects that involve assessing environmental hazards in your community, such as a project to identify the “hot spots” of pollution and engage impacted people in the research of the problem, and the solutions to the problem. 

Hazards may include:

  • Indoor/Outdoor air quality & asthma impacts
  • Water quality & sampling
  • Lead and asbestos contamination
  • Pesticides and other toxic substances
  • Fenceline air quality monitoring
  • Monitoring of effluent discharges from industrial facilities
  • Stormwater issues + green infrastructure
  • Small cleanup or construction projects
  • Improved food access/fewer vehicle miles traveled
  • Environmental justice training for youth
  • Emergency preparedness and disaster resiliency
  • Illegal dumping activities, such as education, outreach, and small-scale clean-ups

Who We Fund

Communities that are eligible for funding (reference link): 

  • Institutions of higher education
  • Local governments (cities, towns, municipalities, and counties, public housing authorities and councils of government)
  • Nonprofit organizations, community-based, and grassroots nonprofit organizations . 
  • Tribal governments (both federally recognized and state-recognized) and intertribal consortia.
  • Native American Organizations.
  • U.S. Territories: American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam. 

Ineligible for funding: 

  • Individuals.
  • For profit businesses.
  • State governments

EPA Regions 

UNITE-EJ is providing grants to eligible communities in these three regions:

Region 8: Mountains and Plains

Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming and 28 Tribal Nations

Region 9: Pacific Southwest

Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and 148 tribal nations.

Region 10: Pacific Northwest

Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and 271 Tribal Nations

Note: Many of these projects may require a Quality Assurance Project Plan(QAPP).

Download this file for examples of QAPPs and much more information.

Additional QAPP Resources:

FAQs Handout on QAPPs

Project Screening tool

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