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National Brownfields Program (Part A): Assessment Grants (Community-Wide Assessment Grants) - FY 2025

Agency: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
CFDA: 66.818
Federal FON: EPA-OLEM-OBLR-24-08
Office: Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM) Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR)
Multipart Grant: Yes
Next Due: 11/14/2024 (Application)
Solicitation Date: 09/03/2024
   
Match Required: Recommended
Match Type: Cash/In-Kind
Actual Funds: Unspecified
Range: $46,000,000 (Max)
Award Range: $300,000 (Min) / $500,000 (Max)
Number of Awards: 92 (Estimated)
Summary:

The purpose of this program is to support the revitalization of brownfield sites by providing awards for site assessment and cleanup, as well as revolving loan funds. For the purposes of this program, a brownfield site is defined as real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants, controlled substances, or petroleum or petroleum products, or is mine-scarred land.

Funding will be provided for the following program components:

  • (Part A): Assessment Grants (Community-Wide Assessment Grants)
  • (Part B): Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grants
  • (Part C): Cleanup Grants
  • (Part E): Assessment Grants (Community-Wide Assessment Grants for States and Tribes)
  • (Part F): Assessment Grants (Assessment Coalition Grants)

The purpose of the Assessment Grants (Community-Wide Assessment Grants) component is to provide funding for developing inventories of brownfield sites, prioritizing sites, conducting community involvement activities, conducting planning, conducting site assessments, developing site-specific cleanup plans, and developing reuse plans related to brownfield sites. Funding available through this component is appropriate for communities that are beginning to address their brownfield challenges, as well as for communities that have ongoing efforts to bring sites into productive reuse.

A portion of the funding must be used to conduct site assessments. Funding may also be used for direct costs associated with programmatic management of the award, limited health monitoring and enforcement activities, and purchases of environmental insurance.

Where multiple sites are connected through location; infrastructure; or economic, social, or environmental conditions, the funding agency encourages communities to take an area-wide approach to planning for the assessment, cleanup, and reuse of these sites. This focus on multiple brownfield sites will result in more coordinated strategies for cleanup and area revitalization versus a site-by-site focus.

An optional webinar is scheduled, and optional technical assistance calls are available, for this component. Refer to the Application section for details.

Last Updated: October 21, 2024

Eligibility Notes:

Eligible applicants are:

  • General purpose units of local government
  • Land clearance authorities or other quasi-governmental entities operating under the supervision and control of, or as an agent of, a general purpose unit of local government
  • Government entities created by a state legislature
  • Regional councils established under governmental authority or groups of general purpose units of local government
  • Redevelopment agencies that are chartered or otherwise sanctioned by a state
  • States
  • Federally recognized Indian tribes, other than those in Alaska, and intertribal consortia comprised of eligible Indian tribes
  • Alaska Native regional corporations, Alaska Native village corporations, and the Metlakatla Indian community
  • 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations
  • Limited liability corporations in which all managing members are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations or limited liability corporations whose sole members are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations
  • Limited partnerships in which all general partners are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations or limited corporations whose sole members are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations
  • Qualified community development entities, as defined in Section 45D(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code

For the purposes of this program, states include the District of Columbia, as well as any U.S. territory, including American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Applicants that are current award recipients under this component or that were previously issued an award under this program's Multipurpose (MP) Grants component, known in eCivis Grants Network as US0079D, must demonstrate that payment has been received from the funding agency, and drawn down funds have been disbursed, for at least 70 percent of the funding for each award by October 1, 2024.

Applicants may not submit multiple applications under this component. The funding agency considers departments, agencies, or instrumentalities of the same state, tribal, or city governments to be the same applicant if they are directly supervised or controlled by the same elected/appointed executive.

Entities applying for an award through this component may not apply for, or be a non-lead coalition member of, an award through this program's Community-Wide Assessment Grants for States and Tribes, or Assessment Coalition Grants components, known in eCivis Grants Network as US0079E and US0079F, respectively.

Ineligible entities include:

  • For-profit organizations
  • 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations that are engaged in lobbying
  • Nonprofit organizations that do not have 501(c)(3) status
  • FY 2022, FY 2023, or FY 2024 award recipients of this program's Community-Wide Assessment Grants for States and Tribes, known in eCivis Grants Network as US0079E

Previous award recipients include:

  • Palm Beach County (FL)
  • Adrian (GA)
  • Clarion County Economic Development Corporation (PA)
  • LEAP Social Enterprise, Inc. (PR)
  • Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (VT)

Refer to the Award file for additional information regarding previous award recipients.

Eligible Applicants:
Local Government
Consortia
Native American Tribe
Non Profits
Schools/School Districts
State Government
Tribal Organizations/Institutions
Application Notes:

Applications must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on November 14, 2024.

Applications must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.

Applications must include:

  • SF 424
  • SF 424A
  • EPA Key Contacts Form 5700-54
  • EPA Form 4700-4
  • Narrative information sheet (3 pages max)
  • Letter from the state or tribal environmental authority (if applicable)
  • Narrative (10 pages max)
  • Threshold criteria responses
  • Grants.gov lobbying form (if applicable)
  • Negotiated/proposed indirect cost rate agreement (if applicable)

The narrative and narrative information sheet must be formatted on standard-sized, single-spaced pages, using a 12-point standard Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri font.

The following are required in order to submit an application:

  • Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number
  • SAM (System for Award Management) registration
  • SPOC (state Single Point of Contact) notification

Applicants may obtain a UEI number and verify or renew SAM registration status at www.ecivis.com/sam. Applicants in states participating in the SPOC program must contact the relevant SPOC listed in the SPOC file before applying.

Applicants may email optional draft applications for review to the appropriate address provided in the Contact section by November 1, 2024.

Optional technical assistance calls may be scheduled online at calendly.com.

An optional webinar is scheduled for this component as follows:

September 19, 2024
Noon ET
Call-in: (646) 828-7666
Meeting ID: 161 063 9674
URL: usepa.zoom.gov

Recordings of webinars held for this program can be found online at epa.gov/applicationresources and epa.gov/brownfields.

Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  • Project area description and plans for revitalization (40 points)
  • Community need and community engagement (40 points)
  • Task descriptions, cost estimates, and measuring progress (45 points)
  • Programmatic capability and past performance (35 points)

Refer to the NOFA and SampleApp files for additional application information.

Match Required: Recommended
Match Type: Cash/In-Kind
Actual Funds: Unspecified
Range: $46,000,000 (Max)
Award Range: $300,000 (Min) / $500,000 (Max)
Number of Awards: 92 (Estimated)
Match Notes:

Matching funds are not required for this component, and voluntary cost sharing will not be accepted; however, the applicant's strategy for leveraging resources, including in-kind resources, will be considered during the application evaluation process.

Funding Notes:

An unspecified amount of funding is available for this program overall, with an estimated $46 million available to support an estimated 92 cooperative agreements ranging from $300,000 to $500,000 through this component. Approximately 40 percent of funding through this component is expected to be awarded to new applicants.

A minimum of three applications per funding agency region are intended to be selected for award.

Award notifications are expected to be issued by late spring 2025. The time between award notification and issuance of the award may take up to 90 days or longer.

The project period is up to four years.

Local governments may use up to 10 percent of their award funds for health monitoring of populations exposed to hazardous substances from a brownfield site, as well as monitoring and enforcement of any institutional control used to prevent human exposure to any hazardous substance from a brownfield site.

The cost of assessment activities is limited to $200,000 per approved, eligible site.

Administrative costs, with the exception of financial and performance reporting costs, are limited to 5 percent of the total award amount.

Funding may not be used for:

  • Conducting cleanup activities
  • Direct costs for application preparation
  • Penalties or fines
  • Federal cost-share requirements
  • Response costs at a brownfield site for which the award recipient is potentially liable under Section 107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)
  • Costs of compliance with any federal law, excluding the cost of compliance with laws applicable to the cleanup
  • Unallowable costs, such as lobbying, under Title 2, Part 200, Subpart E of the CFR
  • Marketing brownfield properties for redevelopment
  • Area-wide zoning and/or design guideline development that is unrelated to advancing cleanup and reuse of brownfields in the project area
  • Area-wide master planning, community visioning, or comprehensive planning that are unrelated to advancing cleanup and reuse of brownfields in the project area

Refer to pages 47-48 of the FAQ file for information regarding additional ineligible costs.

For FY 2024, more than $300 million was distributed through this program overall. For FY 2023, a total of $215 million was distributed via 267 awards through this program overall. For FY 2022, a total of $147.5 million was distributed via 237 awards through this program overall. Refer to the Award file for details.

Contacts:

Elyse Salinas
brownfields@epa.gov

Agency Address
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20460

Contact Notes:

Questions should be directed to Elyse Salinas, or to the appropriate regional contact listed on page 50 of the NOFA file.

Applications must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.

Optional draft applications must be emailed to [email protected].

The agency address provided is for reference purposes only.

Files:
Award File: US0079A_Award_FY2025.pdf (3.7 Mb)
NOFA File: US0079A_NOFA_FY2025.pdf (622.5 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079A_SampleApp_FY2025.pdf (2.1 Mb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079A_Overview_FY2025.pdf (199.0 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079A_FAQ_FY2025.pdf (2.0 Mb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079A_ChangesSummary_FY2025.pdf (243.7 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079A_EligibilityChart_FY2025.pdf (177.4 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079A_WebinarTranscript_FY2025.pdf (133.0 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079A_WebinarTranscript2_FY2025.pdf (103.9 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079A_WebinarPresentation_FY2025.zip (7.4 Mb)
Federal Forms:
SPOC (67.7 Kb)
File Notes:

The NOFA file contains the full solicitation for this component. The SampleApp file contains a sample of federal forms for the application and should be used for reference purposes only. The Overview file contains general program information, including information regarding an optional webinar scheduled for this component. The FAQ file contains a list of answers to frequently asked questions regarding this program overall. The ChangesSummary file contains a summary of changes to guidelines for this program overall for FY 2025. The EligibilityChart file contains an eligibility chart for this program overall. The WebinarTranscript and WebinarTranscript2 files contain transcripts from the webinars held for this program. The WebinarPresentation folder contains presentation slides for the webinars held for this component and this program overall. The Award file contains information on previous award recipients. The SPOC file contains information on the state Single Point of Contact program. Additional program resources can be found online at www.epa.gov/brownfields.

October 21, 2024
Slides from a webinar held for this program overall have been released and attached as the OverviewWebinarPresentation file in the WebinarPresentation folder. The Application and Contact sections have been updated accordingly. A recording of a webinar held for this program has also been released, and a link to the presentation is available in the Application section.

October 4, 2024
Transcripts from the webinars held for this program have been released and attached as the WebinarTranscript and WebinarTranscript2 files.

September 25, 2024
A recording of the webinar for this component has been released, and a link to the presentation is available in the Application section. In addition, presentation slides for the webinar have been released and attached as the RankingCriteriaWebinarPresentation file in the WebinarPresentation folder.

Project: Ambridge Brownfield Redevelopment Project (1.4 Mb)
Applicant: Borough of Ambridge
Summary:

The purpose of this program is to support the revitalization of brownfield sites by providing awards for site assessment and cleanup, as well as revolving loan funds. The Borough of Ambridge requested $500,000 to redevelop aggregated, underutilized sites resulting in renewed neighborhoods and business districts, ultimately promoting social and economic benefits for the community. Funds will cover personnel, contractual, and travel costs related to the project.

 
Project: Belmont-Fallon Target Area Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area Plan (1.4 Mb)
Applicant: City of Roanoke
Summary:

The purpose of this program is to support the revitalization of brownfield sites by providing awards for site assessment and cleanup, as well as revolving loan funds. The City of Roanoke, Virginia, requested $400,000 for the revitalization of three sites in and around the Belmont-Fallon neighborhood, ultimately creating new jobs, improved housing options, new outdoor assets for community enjoyment, business growth, lower poverty rates, and decreased prevalence of substance abuse. Project activities will include attending national conferences, promotional materials for five events, environmental site assessments, quality assurance plans, and remediation/redevelopment plans. The city provided an in-kind match in the amount of $10,000 towards project costs.

 
Project: Ambridge Borough Building Complex (1.4 Mb)
Applicant: Borough of Ambridge
Summary:

The purpose of this program is to support the revitalization of brownfield sites by providing awards for site assessment and cleanup, as well as revolving loan funds. The Borough of Ambridge requested and received $500,000 to develop a comprehensive strategy for the remediation and redevelopment of areas burdened with numerous brownfields. Project activities include researching and evaluating brownfields remediation and reuse potential considering priorities and existing plans, local market, infrastructure, and other conditions, as well as resource availability.

 
Project: Brownfield Community-Wide Assessment Grant, City of Hawkinsville (Pulaski County) (1.6 Mb)
Applicant: City of Hawkinsville
Summary:

The purpose of this program is to support the revitalization of brownfield sites by providing awards for site assessment and cleanup, as well as revolving loan funds. The City of Hawkinsville requested and received $500,000 to conduct assessment activities and complete additional reuse planning to revitalize a 60-acre area defined by the National Register of Historic Places as the "Hawkinsville Commercial and Industrial Historic District" and adjacent properties. Funds will go toward travel and contractual costs.

 
Grant Keywords
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Grant Categories
Community Development
Economic Development
Hazardous Waste/Remediation/Brownfields
Environment/Natural Resources