Great Lakes Environmental Justice Grant Program (GLEJGP) | EPA I R5 GL2023 GLEJGP

Opportunity Information: Apply for EPA I R5 GL2023 GLEJGP

The Great Lakes Environmental Justice Grant Program (GLEJGP) is a competitive funding opportunity from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), run through the Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO). It is designed to advance environmental justice in the Great Lakes region by creating grantmaking programs that can fund environmental restoration work in underserved communities. Rather than funding only a handful of individual cleanup or restoration projects directly, EPA is using this program to set up a small number of larger, regional or multi-community "hub" programs that will then issue and manage subawards for on-the-ground projects that improve environmental conditions and related community outcomes in overburdened Great Lakes areas.

This opportunity is issued as a Request for Applications (RFA) and will make awards as cooperative agreements, meaning recipients should expect a more active partnership with EPA than with a typical grant. The awards are made under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan III (GLRI AP III) and use funding provided by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). In practical terms, that ties the program to the Great Lakes restoration framework while also reflecting the federal push to invest infrastructure dollars in ways that deliver measurable benefits to communities that have historically received fewer environmental investments or have faced disproportionate pollution burdens.

EPA anticipates making up to six cooperative agreements, with approximately $30 million total available across those awards, depending on funding availability, the quality of applications, and agency priorities. The posted information also indicates an expected number of awards of around five. Individual awards can be substantial; the listing shows an award ceiling of up to $20,000,000, which signals that EPA is prepared to fund large program operators capable of running competitive subaward processes, providing oversight, ensuring compliance, and tracking outcomes across multiple projects and communities.

The core purpose is to establish Great Lakes Environmental Justice Grant Programs (GLEJGPs) that will function as pass-through entities for environmental restoration subawards. Awardees are expected to build and operate a subgrant program: designing fair and accessible application processes, selecting projects that align with Great Lakes restoration goals and community priorities, managing contracts and reporting, and ensuring subrecipients have the support needed to successfully deliver projects. The focus on underserved Great Lakes communities implies an emphasis on directing funds to places with documented environmental and public health burdens, limited access to resources, and/or historic underinvestment, while ensuring local residents and community-based stakeholders can meaningfully participate in project planning and implementation.

Eligibility in the public synopsis is listed broadly as "Others," with additional clarification normally provided in the full RFA under an "Additional Information on Eligibility" section. In similar EPA structures, this category often includes a mix of nonprofit organizations, universities, tribal entities, and other capable institutions that can demonstrate strong financial management systems, experience administering subawards, and the ability to comply with federal assistance requirements. Because the vehicle is a cooperative agreement and the goal is to create subaward programs, applicants generally need to show they can serve as responsible stewards of federal funds, maintain transparent decision-making, and build accountability mechanisms that protect both EPA and the communities being served.

Key administrative details from the notice include the funding opportunity number EPA-I-R5-GL2023-GLEJGP, the assistance listing/CFDA number 66.469, and an original closing date of August 11, 2023 (with a creation date of May 10, 2023). While the deadline is historical for the FY-23 competition, these details matter for tracking the opportunity, locating archived materials, or understanding the structure of future iterations. Overall, the GLEJGP is best understood as EPA's major Great Lakes competitive funding effort for that fiscal year, aimed at pairing Great Lakes restoration priorities with environmental justice delivery by empowering a small set of well-qualified administrators to fund and oversee many community-rooted restoration projects across the region.

• The Environmental Protection Agency in the environment, infrastructure investment and jobs act (iija) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Great Lakes Environmental Justice Grant Program (GLEJGP)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 66.469.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 10, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 11, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $20,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 5 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for EPA I R5 GL2023 GLEJGP

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