Wildfire Smoke Preparedness in Community Buildings Grant Program - FY 2023
| Agency: | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |
|---|---|
| CFDA: | 66.044 |
| Federal FON: | EPA-OAR-ORIA-23-04 |
| Office: | Environmental Protection Agency |
| Multipart Grant: | No |
| Next Due: | 05/09/2023 (Application) |
|---|---|
| Solicitation Date: | 03/22/2023 |
| Match Required: | Yes |
| Match Type: | Cash/In-Kind |
| Actual Funds: | $10,670,000 (Estimated) |
| Award Range: | $100,000 (Min) / $2,000,000 (Max) |
Summary:
The purpose of this program is to improve public health protection against smoke from wildfires by enhancing preparedness in community buildings. Awards will be provided to support enhancing community wildland fire smoke preparedness through the assessment, prevention, control, or abatement of wildfire smoke hazards in public community buildings and/or buildings that serve the public but are privately owned or operated, and related activities.
Awards are intended to support activities that will reduce indoor exposure to pollutants in wildfire smoke and, in turn, reduce the public health burden of wildfire smoke exposure. Support will be provided to conduct demonstrations, technical assistance, training, education, and/or outreach projects that seek to improve public health protection against smoke from wildfires by enhancing preparedness in community buildings.
Project activities will improve the capability and capacity of communities and buildings to effectively reduce indoor concentrations of air pollutants in wildfire smoke, especially particulate matter (PM). This may include improvements to building structures, and increasing the capacity of building owners, operators, service providers, occupants, and others to effectively manage buildings during wildfire smoke events. Specific activities may include:
- Smoke readiness planning to develop specific plans, procedures, and decision-making frameworks at the building or community level to be implemented before and during wildfire smoke events
- Outreach activities, such as translation and culturally appropriate adaptation of wildfire smoke preparedness materials, or targeted outreach to members of the public through community organizations and institutions
- Technical training on the effectiveness and implementation of ventilation and filtration strategies for wildfire smoke mitigation in different types of buildings with various heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems
- Deployment of portable air cleaners or do-it-yourself (DIY) air cleaners for use in community buildings
- Indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring to evaluate the effectiveness of wildfire smoke mitigation activities
- Identification and initial preparation of community cleaner air spaces or cleaner air shelters
- Significant improvements to buildings, such as upgrades and repairs to HVAC units or systems and weatherization
Projects must target public buildings or buildings that serve the public, and the degree to which projects demonstrate benefits to low-income and disadvantaged communities and vulnerable populations will be considered during the evaluation. In addition, applicants are encouraged to describe how the proposed project addresses multiple hazards that may be concurrent with wildfire smoke, such as extreme heat, power outages, and airborne infectious disease outbreaks, including COVID-19, and how the project improves overall capacity to comprehensively address indoor air quality issues.
Applicants are encouraged to integrate project activities under a comprehensive smoke management plan at the building or community level, where appropriate. Applicants are also encouraged to discuss how they will promote and continue or replicate efforts after the project has ended.
Project activities should support the funding agency's 2022-2026 strategic plan, attached as the StrategicPlan file. Additional anticipated project outputs, outcomes, and performance measures are detailed on pages 10-11 of the NOFA file.
An optional webinar is scheduled for this program. Refer to the Application section for details.
Program Office Notes:
The program officer provided the webinar information.
The program officer provided the intent to apply information.
Last Updated: February 05, 2024
Eligibility Notes:
Eligible applicants are:
- States, including the District of Columbia
- U.S. territories and possessions
- Federally recognized tribes
- Public preschools
- Local educational agencies
- Public and private nonprofit organizations
In addition, groups of two or more eligible applicants may choose to form a coalition and submit a single application; however, one entity must be responsible for the award.
Expanded definitions for the types of eligible applicants are provided on page 14 of the NOFA file.
Applications will be evaluated based on the extent to which the applicant demonstrates how the project will effectively address the disproportionate and adverse effects or impacts that have affected and/or currently affect disadvantaged communities. Additional information regarding environmental justice and disadvantaged communities is provided on pages 7-9 of the NOFA file.
Applicants may submit a single application.
For-profit organizations are ineligible.
FY 2023 award recipients include:
- Arizona Board of Regents-Arizona State University (AZ)
- Esperanza Community Housing Corporation (CA)
- Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CO)
- Nez Perce Tribe (ID)
- Bellingham School District No.501 (WA)
Refer to the Award file for additional information on FY 2023 award recipients.
Eligible Applicants:
Local GovernmentConsortia
Native American Tribe
Non Profits
Schools/School Districts
State Government
Application Notes:
Applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. ET on May 9, 2023.
Applications must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.
Applications must include:
- SF 424
- SF 424A
- EPA Form 4700-4
- EPA Form 5700-54
- Project narrative
- Project team biographies (optional)
- Negotiated indirect cost rate agreement (if applicable)
- Partnership letter(s) (optional)
- Maps, data, analyses, and results characterizing the population served by the proposed project (optional)
- Maps, data, analyses, and results describing wildfire smoke impacts in the proposed project area (optional)
- Data, analyses, and results from EJSCREEN or other geospatial mapping tools (optional)
- Climate and economic justice screening tool (CEJST) or EJSCREEN results (optional)
The project narrative must be single-spaced. There is no minimum font size and margin size for the application. File names may not include the characters indicated on page 20 of the NOFA file.
The following are required in order to submit an application:
- Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number
- SAM (System for Award Management) registration
Applicants may obtain a UEI number and verify or renew SAM registration status at www.ecivis.com/sam.
An optional webinar is scheduled for this program as follows:
April 10, 2023
3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. ET
Registration: register.gotowebinar.com
The program officer provided the webinar information.
Applicants may email an optional intent to apply to IEDGrantsAdminTeam@epa.gov by April 21, 2023. The intent to apply should contain brief information regarding the applicant's intent to apply, the applicant's organization, and the potential project and award amount.
The program officer provided the intent to apply information.
Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Project summary and approach (45 points)
- Environmental results - outputs, outcomes, and performance measures (15 points)
- Programmatic capability and past performance (15 points)
- Environmental justice and underserved communities (10 points)
- Project sustainability (5 points)
- Budget (10 points)
Refer to pages 33-35 of the NOFA file for additional information regarding the evaluation criteria.
Refer to the NOFA file for additional application information.
| Match Required: | Yes |
|---|---|
| Match Type: | Cash/In-Kind |
| Actual Funds: | $10,670,000 (Estimated) |
| Award Range: | $100,000 (Min) / $2,000,000 (Max) |
|---|
Match Notes:
Generally, applicants must provide a 10 percent cost share; however, cost sharing may be waived for facilities located in economically distressed communities, as detailed on pages 14-15 of the NOFA file.
Applicants that include in-kind staff time as cost share should include these services as personnel costs in the budget.
In rare cases, other federal funds may be used as a match, provided that the statute authorizing the other federal funding states that the federal funds may be used to meet a cost share requirement on another federal grant or cooperative agreement.
Funding Notes:
Approximately $10.67 million is available to support approximately 13 to 18 awards expected to range from $100,000 to $2 million through this program. Awards will be provided as grants or cooperative agreements, as appropriate. A maximum of $2,667,500 of the total funding available may be provided to award recipients in any one state. In addition, the estimated amount of funding available is anticipated to be divided as follows:
- 30 percent of the available funds will be provided for smaller awards ranging from $100,000 to $350,000
- 70 percent of the available funds will be provided for larger awards ranging from $350,000 to $2 million
Awards may be fully or incrementally funded, as appropriate, based on funding availability, satisfactory performance, and other applicable considerations.
Award notifications are anticipated to be provided on July 10, 2023.
Awards are anticipated to be provided on September 8, 2023.
The estimated project period will be for up to three years, with an estimated project start date no later than October 1, 2023.
Applications that do not demonstrate how much or how often the buildings or communities served by the project are impacted by wildfire smoke will not be considered.
Funds may not be used for:
- Projects that are exclusively designed to conduct scientific research
- Activities that make permanent improvements, such as the installation of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment, in private residences
- Activities that promote the use of air cleaning technologies of unknown or unclear performance against air pollutants in wildfire smoke, such as bipolar ionization, ozone generators, ionizing air cleaners, and oxidizing air cleaners
- Costs that are included as a cost of any other federally financed award
For FY 2023, approximately $10.67 million was distributed via nine awards through this program. Refer to the Award file for details.
Contacts:
Program Staff
IEDGrantsAdminTeam@epa.gov
Agency Address
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Attn: IED Grants Administration Team
OAR 6609T
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20460
Contact Notes:
Questions should be directed to the program staff by April 27, 2023. Questions and submitted answers will be posted online at www.epa.gov.
Applications must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.
The optional intent to apply must be emailed to the address provided.
The program officer provided the intent to apply information.
The agency address provided is for reference purposes only.
Files:
NOFA File: US18077_NOFA_FY2023.pdf (644.6 Kb)Other Pre-Award File: US18077_StrategicPlan_FY2023.pdf (7.1 Mb)
Other Pre-Award File: US18077_Q&A_FY2023.pdf (365.2 Kb)
Award File: US18077_Award_FY2023.pdf (189.5 Kb)
File Notes:
The NOFA file contains the full solicitation for this program. The StrategicPlan file contains the text of the funding agency's 2022-2026 strategic plan. The Q&A file contains a list of questions and answers regarding this program. The Award file contains information on FY 2023 award recipients.
February 5, 2024
Information regarding awards through this program has been released and attached as the Award file. A brief summary of the awards has been added to the Financial section, and a sample of award recipients has been added to the Eligibility section.
May 8, 2023
An updated list of questions and answers regarding this program has been released and attached as the Q&A file. The Financial section has been updated accordingly.
April 28, 2023
An updated list of questions and answers regarding this program has been released and attached as the Q&A file. The Application section has been updated accordingly.
April 11, 2023
A list of questions and answers regarding this program has been released and attached as the Q&A file.
March 27, 2023
The program officer provided information regarding the optional webinar and intent to apply. The Application and Contact sections have been updated accordingly.
Grant Keywords
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Community DevelopmentDisaster Preparedness
Energy
Health, Prevention/Treatment
Environment/Natural Resources
Human Services