Grants

Awards small grants in support of grassroots efforts and community-based environmental work in New England. The Grassroots Fund utilizes participatory grantmaking to move resources to New England grassroots groups working at the intersections of Environmental Justice. The program is geared toward groups who have some experience implementing a project in their community. Grants support groups to deepen their work by further developing a community vision, lowering barriers to participation, identifying new stakeholders, and working to bring more voices and lived experiences into core decision-making processes.

This resource outlines six different federal mitigation funding programs. It provides an overview of available options and links to learn more information and apply.

The Sustainable and Resilient Communities (SRC) team hosted a regional workshop on March 28, 2024, on Long Island, NY to provide information on funding opportunities to support sustainability and resilience projects. Attendees heard from program officers representing various local, state, and Long Island Sound funding organizations and were able to engage in discussions with funders to explore project ideas and ways to improve funding applications. Attendees also heard from a panel of successful awardees about their experiences and strategies.

The Sustainable and Resilient Communities (SRC) team held this Regional Funding Workshop for Western Connecticut at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, CT. Attendees learned about resilience planning steps and resources, heard from state and local funding organizations, learned about environmental justice considerations, discussed questions with a panel of recent awardees, and had the opportunity to participate in roundtables to strategize improving their applications. 

The Connecticut Society for Women Environmental Professionals Grant Program provides funding for local projects in Connecticut that benefit the environment. Grants of up to $2,000 will be awarded. Any application meeting the grant guidelines that is not successful in one cycle may reapply during any following cycle. The applications will be judged based on the environmental benefits of each project, in comparison to others. “Environmental benefits” can vary widely and successful applications have ranged from property clean-ups to environmental education.

Awards small grants in support of grassroots efforts and community-based environmental work in New England. The Grassroots Fund utilizes participatory grantmaking to move resources to New England grassroots groups working at the intersections of Environmental Justice. The program is geared toward groups who have some experience implementing a project in their community. Grants support groups to deepen their work by further developing a community vision, lowering barriers to participation, identifying new stakeholders, and working to bring more voices and lived experiences into core decision-making processes.

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.

This toolkit describes “how” local government leads and partners can design more fundable projects by pulling specific policy levers, seeking key partnerships, using innovative accounting practices, inverting power structures, and rethinking and redesigning internal processes. It will help local government leads and partners operate within current finance and policy systems to better prepare themselves and their communities for climate resilience funding and finance.

Resources and information on Suffolk County’s Reclaim Our Water Initiatives and Septic Improvement Program. Through the Septic Improvement Program homeowners can access grants from New York State and Suffolk County to replace their cesspool or septic system with a nitrogen removal septic system and leaching structure.

Sustainable CT provides a wide-ranging menu of resilience best practices, opportunities for grant funding, and a voluntary certification program that recognizes thriving and resilient CT communities. Municipalities choose Sustainable CT actions, implement them, and earn points toward certification.

An effort by Save the Sound and Earth Economics to identify opportunities for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other federal agencies and funders to improve the ability of benefit-cost analysis tools to account for ecosystem-based benefits.

The Climate Smart Communities (CSC) is a New York State program that helps local governments take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a changing climate. The program offers grants, rebates for electric vehicles, and free technical assistance. Registered communities have made a commitment to act by passing the CSC pledge. Certified communities are the foremost leaders in the state; they have gone beyond the CSC pledge by completing and documenting a suite of actions that mitigate and adapt to climate change at the local level. Find your local CSC Coordinator to start!

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) Clean Energy Communities (CEC) program helps local governments to implement clean energy actions, save energy costs, create jobs, and improve the environment. In addition to providing tools, resources, funding opportunities and technical assistance, the program recognizes and rewards leadership for the completion of clean energy projects and guides a path toward the Clean Energy Communities designation. Find your local CEC Coordinator to start!

This story map examines the coastal processes and hazards of Long Island and provides options for sustainable and resilient shoreline management. Information is useful for coastal managers, planners and coastal property owners.

Website includes guidebook, fact sheets and open funding opportunities available under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The goal is to help partners across the country know what to apply for, who to contact for help, and how to get ready to rebuild.

The second annual Long Island Sound Bi-State Sustainable and Resilient Communities Workshop brought together nearly 200 people virtually on Dec. 7, 2023 to learn about a new Long Island Sound Resilience Resource Hub (launching in early 2024), hear from communities and groups around the Sound working on resilience planning, and consider pathways for updating codes and ordinances. Videos of the workshop’s six sessions are available on YouTube. They can be accessed below along with supporting documents.

The programs covered in this webinar were developed by the Sustainable and Resilient Communities Extension Professional team to assist with the development of sustainability and resilience focused projects that will impact a community or communities within or partially within the Long Island Sound coastal boundary. On Oct. 16, 2023 a new LIS Resilience Planning Support Program in addition to a second round of the Long Island Sound Resilience Grant Writing Assistance Program were made available for municipalities and community organizations. These separate programs (Track 1 and Track 2) are supported by funding from the U.S. EPA through the Long Island Sound Study and administered through New York Sea Grant and Connecticut Sea Grant.

On Thursday, June 15, Save the Sound, Connecticut Sea Grant, New York Sea Grant, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and Earth Economics hosted an invite-only workshop, “Expanding the Benefit-Cost Analysis for Nature-Based Solutions,” which was attended by more than 50 professionals from federal and state agencies, municipalities, environmental NGOs, and engineering firms.
The workshop reviewed the results of an effort by Save the Sound and Earth Economics to identify opportunities for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other federal agencies and funders to improve the ability of benefit-cost analysis tools to account for ecosystem-based benefits. See here for the associated report, Expanding FEMA’s Benefit Cost Analysis: Chittenden Living Shoreline Case Study (published June 2023).

This online information session held Sept. 19, and repeated Sept. 21, provides an introduction to resilience planning in the Long Island Sound region. It includes discussions on local climate impacts and projections, resilience planning strategies, and climate certification programs for both New York and Connecticut municipalities. In addition to the main presentation, videos of the Connecticut and New York breakout sessions can be accessed below. The presentations and other resource materials are available here.

The Long Island Sound Community Impact Fund (LISCIF) is a partnership between Restore America’s Estuaries, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Long Island Sound Study (LISS). The purpose of LISCIF is to build capacity for organizations located in communities affected by disproportionate environmental and human health risks. The purpose of the LISCIF is to provide technical and financial assistance to communities with environmental justice concerns and improve the quality and accessibility of the Long Island Sound. The Long Island Sound Community Impact Fund seeks to increase organizational capacity through training that supports day-to-day operations, project implementation, and future funding opportunities.

The first annual Long Island Sound Bi-State Sustainable and Resilient Communities Workshop brought together more than 260 people virtually on Dec. 1, 2022 to learn about opportunities to increase the resilience of the Sound’s communities to climate change and other environmental threats. Interactive sessions included opportunities to learn more about the SRC Extension Professionals’ needs assessment findings and recommendations, the newly released Long Island Sound Resilience Grant Writing Assistance Program, and tips for success with Long Island Sound funding opportunities. Concurrent breakout sessions highlighted the work of partners related to shoreline planning and implementation, using green infrastructure for stormwater management, sustainable climate planning for relocation, and new sustainability/resilience tools available in both New York and Connecticut. Videos of the workshop’s six sessions are available on YouTube. They can be accessed below along with supporting documents.

In this webinar hosted by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, participants learned about successful strategies to access and manage NYS grant funding from their peers. Municipalities shared information such as; how they access grant funds, what barriers they’ve had to overcome, lessons learned, the skill sets needed, and who are the key players necessary to access grant funding. View the recording to see how you can access grant funding.