Air quality

The second round of grantmaking for the Environmental Justice Data Fund (EJDF) will be supported by a $4 million fund. The EJDF aims to help frontline communities historically underserved and disproportionately impacted by climate change and environmental injustice in the United States use data to address environmental hazards, with special attention to matters regarding air and water quality. The EJDF will support eligible organizations to unlock resources, increase their access to federal infrastructure funding, and advocate for new policies that empower communities to address past environmental harm and pave the way to a more sustainable, climate-resilient future.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 provides EPA with $3 billion to fund zero-emission port equipment and infrastructure as well as climate and air quality planning at U.S. ports. This new funding program will build on EPA’s Ports Initiative that helps our nation’s ports, a critical part of our infrastructure and supply chain, address public health and environmental impacts on surrounding communities. EPA has announced two separate Notices of Funding Opportunities to disburse the allocated $3 billion – the Zero-Emission Technology Deployment Competition AND the Climate and Air Quality Planning Competition.

$7.34 million is available for community-based organizations for projects that address exposure of communities to multiple environmental harms and risks. Eligible applicants are not-for-profit (NFP) community-based organizations having 501(c)(3) status or a community-based organization may partner with a NFP that will serve as their fiscal sponsor. Eligible projects must address a community’s exposure to multiple environmental harms and risks and include a new research component that will be used to expand the knowledge of the affected community.

$2.1 million was made available through NYSDEC for community-based not-for-profit organizations working in disadvantaged communities to support community-driven projects to improve air quality and help advance the goals of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. The grants will advance local efforts to obtain air quality data tailored to issues identified by community residents.

The EPOC Grant Program provides non-profit and not-for-profit environmental advocacy groups, community based groups and environmental education organizations funding for local projects that benefit the environment.

Sustainable CT’s Community Match Fund is an innovative program that provides fast, flexible funding and support for engaging your community on wide-ranging sustainability projects. Eligible projects receive dollar-for-dollar matching funds from Sustainable CT.

EPA’s Small Business Innovation Research Program funds small businesses to develop and commercialize innovative environmental technologies in broad focus areas which include clean and safe water, air quality and climate, land revitalization, homeland security, sustainable materials management/circular economy, safer chemicals, and risk assessment. Proposals should be responsive to the annual topics under these broad areas.

The grant provides P2 technical assistance to business to improve human health and the environment in disadvantaged communities by increasing the supply, demand and/or use of safer and more sustainable products, such as those that are certified by EPA’s Safer Choice label, or those that conform to EPA’s Recommendations for Specifications, Standards and Ecolabels for Federal Purchasing.

The grant provide technical assistance to businesses (e.g., information, training, expert advice) on source reduction, also known as pollution prevention (P2). Grantees must demonstrate that the project will improve human health and the environment in disadvantaged communities by implementing P2 approaches. P2 approaches can help businesses reduce the use and release of hazardous substances that can harm human health and the environment while also saving money by reducing their resource use, expenditures, waste and liability costs.

The Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) program will provide grants to states, local governments, tribes, and territories to develop and implement plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful air pollution. Section 60114 of the Inflation Reduction Act provides an investment of $5 billion to support efforts by states, municipalities, air pollution control agencies, tribes, and groups thereof to develop and implement strong, local greenhouse gas reduction strategies. This two-staged grant program (Phase 1: Plan & Phase 2: Implement) provides funding of $250 million for noncompetitive planning grants, and $4.6 billion for competitive implementation grants.

With support from the Nature Conservancy and Sustainable CT, East Haddam organized a Community Resilience Building process and workshop, the results of which were compiled into this summary. The team engaged with community members to determine the present hazards and vulnerabilities and identify resilient solutions.