Sustainable Communities and Green Infrastructure Guidance

A new report, Enhancing Sustainable Communities With Green Infrastructure: A guide to help communities better manage stormwater while achieving other environmental, public health, social, and economic benefits, aims to help local governments, water utilities, nonprofit organizations, neighborhood groups, and other stakeholders integrate green infrastructure strategies into plans that can transform their communities. Many communities that want to use green infrastructure approaches face technical, regulatory, financial, and institutional obstacles that limit widespread implementation. This report serves as a guide to develop a plan that can overcome these obstacles for neighborhoods, towns, cities, and regions of all sizes. It also can help stakeholders create a vision for how green infrastructure can enhance their communities beyond reducing stormwater runoff, and directs readers to other resources that provide more detailed information that can be tailored to communities’ particular climate, goals, and circumstances.

The report is paired with a blog post by Joel Beauvais, Associate Administrator for EPA’s Office of Policy, on how green infrastructure is helping to transform neighborhoods, and a graphic to help communities quickly envision the 10 steps to developing a sustainable community and green infrastructure plan. You can also find photographs of green infrastructure approaches in communities on the Flickr page shown below.

• Read the report: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/green-infrastructure.html
• Read the blog post: http://blog.epa.gov/epaconnect/2014/10/green-infrastructure-helping-to-transform-neighborhoods-in-cleveland-and-across-the-nation/
• View the graphic: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/green-infrastructure-10steps-scip.html
• View the photos in Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/usepagov/sets/72157648579274857/

EPA Brownfield Grant Webinar - 11/05 @ 2PM

· The EPA will provide a guideline outreach webinar on November 5^th at 2:00 pm (EST). The purpose of this training webinar is to assist applicants with understanding the Assessment and Cleanup Grant Guidelines and in applying for the grants. Join the webinar at https://epa.connectsolutions.com/fy15brownfields/ and/or via conference call (dial-in number: 1-866-299-3188/ access code: 202-566-1817).

KSU Brownfield Webinar - 11/04 @ 3PM EST

· The Kansas State University’s TAB Program is hosting a webinar on November 4^th at 3:00 pm (EST) to provide tips on good grant proposal writing strategies. They will discuss the TAB EZ tool that is intended to streamline and simplify the grant writing process. TAB EZ is very user friendly, offers helpful hints for addressing proposal requirements, and links to additional resources. Join the webinar at https://epa.connectsolutions.com/fy15tabez/ and/or via conference call (dial-in number: 1-866-299-3188/ access code: 202-566-1817). 

More Than $1 Billion in Funding and Technical Assistance Available for State, Local, and Tribal Governments

More than $1 billion in funding and technical assistance is available for state, local, and tribal governments from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that can be used to support climate and energy initiatives, including economic development, sustainable communities, green infrastructure, and water efficiency. For full eligibility and application details, please visit the links provided below.

In addition, please visit the calendar of 2014 EPA grant opportunities that may be of particular interest to communities.

DOE Climate Action Champions Program – Funding Amount TBD

• Applications Due: October 27, 2014

• Eligible Entities: county, city, township, and tribal governments

DOE is seeking to highlight between 10 and 15 local governments and tribal governments—or regional collaborations or consortia thereof—that demonstrate a strong and ongoing commitment to implementing strategies that both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance climate resilience, with a particular emphasis on strategies that further both goals. The program is also intended to provide recognized entities with additional opportunities for financial and technical assistance, as well as facilitated peer-to-peer networking opportunities and mentorship, to support and advance their greenhouse gas emissions reduction and climate resilience objectives.

For more information, visit the request for applications.

EDA FY14 Regional Innovation Grants – $15 million

• Applications Due: November 3, 2014

• Eligible Entities: county, city, township, tribal, and state governments; public/private institutions of higher education; nonprofits; special district governments

EDA is seeking applications for three programs that develop regional innovation strategies: the i6 Challenge ($8 million available), Science and Research Park Development Grants ($5 million available), and Cluster Grants for Seed Capital Funds ($2 million available). The i6 Challenge aims to commercialize innovations, ideas, intellectual property and research into viable companies; the Science and Research Park Development Grants seek to provide research hubs and increase regional competitiveness; and the Cluster Grants for Seed Capital Funds are intended to create sustainable financing institutions for innovation-based startups. Science and Research Park Development Grant applications in the field of energy efficient building technologies, renewable energy, and cogeneration can receive extra consideration.

For more information, visit the funding opportunity description.

USDA FY14 Rural Community Development Initiative – $6 million

• Applications Due: November 12, 2014

• Eligible Entities: private, non-profit (including faith-based and community organizations and philanthropic organizations), or public (including tribal) organizations that provide financial and technical assistance to multiple recipients

USDA is making available funds to develop the capacity and ability of qualified private, non-profit community-based housing and community development organizations, low-income rural communities, and federally recognized Native American tribes to undertake projects related to housing, community facilities, or community and economic development in rural areas. Applications that consider technical assistance for the development of renewable energy systems and energy efficiency improvements can receive additional consideration.

For more information, visit the funding opportunity description.

NOAA Ecological Effects of Sea Level Rise Program – $800,000

• Applications Due: November 18, 2014

• Eligible Entities: institutions of higher education; non-profits; state, local, and tribal governments; commercial organizations; U.S. territories; and federal agencies

NOAA is seeking applications to support management of regional and local ecosystem effects of sea level rise and coastal inundation through targeted research on key technologies, natural and nature-based infrastructure, physical and biological processes, and model evaluation. The funding is intended to integrate dynamic physical and biological processes with sea level rise and coastal inundation to improve the prediction of coastal ecosystem effects to enable enhanced coastal resiliency.

For more information, visit the funding opportunity description.

EPA Environmental Justice Small Grants Program – $1.2 million

• Applications Due: December 15, 2014

• Eligible Entities: tribal governments, non-profits

EPA is making available funding to support activities designed to empower and educate communities to understand environmental and public health issues and to identify ways to address these issues at the local level. The funding will focus on proposals supporting community-based preparedness and community climate resiliency efforts. Examples of community resilience projects that will receive consideration include improving water use efficiency and installing green infrastructure to increase resilience to heavy storms.

For more information, visit the funding opportunity description.

HUD National Disaster Resilience Competition – $1 billion

• Applications Due: March 16, 2015

• Eligible Entities: states with counties that experienced a Presidentially Declared Major Disaster in 2011, 2012 or 2013

HUD is seeking applications to help communities recover from prior disasters and improve their ability to withstand and recover more quickly from future disasters, hazards, and shocks. HUD will also provide technical assistance to every eligible state and local government to help applicants consider future risks and vulnerabilities in planning and decision-making, and assist them in applying for funding. The competition is structured in two phases: a framing phase, in which applicants consider their disaster recovery needs, vulnerabilities, stakeholder interests, resilience, community development objectives, and investment alternatives, and an implementation phase, in which a subset of applicants will refine their approaches developed in the first phase. HUD will award funding at the conclusion of Phase 2.

For more information, visit the competition fact sheet.

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State and local officials interested in additional information about developing and implementing cost-effective climate and energy strategies that help further environmental goals and achieve public health and economic benefits may visit EPA’s State and Local Climate and Energy Program site.

NALGEP Brownfield Grant Writing Assistance

· The NALGEP (National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals), the Center for Creative Land Recycling (CCLR), the Kansas State University’s Technical Assistance to Brownfields (TAB) Communities Program, and the New Jersey Institute of Technology are hosting a webinar on October 30^th from 2:00 to 3:15 pm (EST) to provide the latest advice on preparing a successful 2015 application. CCLR and KSU both have EPA grants to provide this type of assistance to potential applicants. Webinar speakers include experts who have been successful applicants, technical assistance providers, and recent reviewers of brownfields grant applications. Speakers will provide special tips for disadvantaged and small/rural communities and discuss common mistakes and special advantages for these applicants.
Registration is required: Register for the webinar today.

 

FY15 Brownfield Assessment and Cleanup Guidelines Outreach Webinar

EPA will provide one guideline outreach webinar on November 5, 2014 at 2pm (EST). The purpose of this training webinar is to assist applicants with understanding the Assessment and Cleanup Grant Guidelines and in applying for the grants. Join the webinar at https://epa.connectsolutions.com/fy15brownfields/ and/or via conference call (dial-in number: 1-866-299-3188/ access code: 202-566-1817).

Background: These brownfield grants may be used to address sites contaminated by petroleum and hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants (including hazardous substances co-mingled with petroleum). Opportunities for funding are as follows: Brownfield Assessment Grants (each funded up to $200,000 over three years; Assessment Coalitions are funded up to $600,000 over three years) and Brownfield Cleanup Grants (each funded up to $200,000 over three years). Please note that applicants who received an Assessment grant from EPA in Fiscal Year 2014 (FY14) are eligible to apply under this competition. If the applicant was a member of a coalition that was awarded a grant in FY14, that applicant is also eligible to apply under this assessment competition. The proposal submission deadline is December 19, 2014.

For more information on EPA's Brownfields Program, please visit our website.

EPA Brownfield# Grant Guidelines Posted!!! - Deadline - December 19, 2014

The Brownfield Assessment and Cleanup Guidelines are now publically available and should be posted on www.grants.gov very soon.  

The Guidelines are posted on the OSWER website (http://www.epa.gov/oswer/grants-funding.htm) and will also be posted, along with the supplemental guidance documents, on the OBLR website (www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/applicat.htm).

The direct link to the Guidelines are:
Assessment: http://www.epa.gov/oswer/docs/grants/epa-oswer-oblr-14-07.pdf
Cleanup: http://www.epa.gov/oswer/docs/grants/epa-oswer-oblr-14-08.pdf.

Proposals are due December 19, 2014.