Opportunities for Funding

Grant Overview
The Thriving Communities Grantmaker Program, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, signifies a crucial step towards advancing climate and environmental priorities. Our approach involves a strategic alliance of experienced community-based grant-makers with extensive networks in the region. By leveraging the collective expertise of our partners, including SEE’s proficiency in managing government grants and contracts, we seek to streamline the distribution process and maximize the impact of environmental justice initiatives.

Region 9 Eligible Areas
Arizona
California
Hawaii
Nevada
The Pacific Islands of Guam, American Samoa, and CNMI
148 Tribal Nations

Eligible Subrecipients
Nonprofit organizations, community-based and grassroots nonprofit organizations
Tribal governments (both federally recognized and state-recognized) and intertribal consortia
Local governments
Institutions of higher education
Native American Organizations

Ineligible Subrecipients
Individuals
For-profit businesses
State governments

Allowable Activities
Air quality and asthma
Fence line air quality monitoring
Monitoring of effluent discharges from industrial facilities
Water quality and sampling
Small cleanup projects
Improving food access to reduce vehicle miles traveled
Stormwater issues and green infrastructure
Lead and asbestos contamination
Pesticides and other toxic substances
Healthy homes that are energy/water use efficient and not subject to indoor air pollution
Illegal dumping activities, such as education, outreach, and small-scale clean-ups
Emergency preparedness and disaster resiliency
Environmental job training for occupations that reduce greenhouse gases and other air pollutants
Environmental justice training for youth
Please note this list is intended for example purposes.

Disadvantaged Communities
The Project must benefit people in disadvantaged communities as defined by the Inflation Reduction Act Disadvantaged Communities Mapping tool or other Environmental Justice Mapping resources below.
Disadvantaged Area
Areas identified as Disadvantaged and above the 90th percentile in the following categories:
Climate Change
Energy
Health
Housing, Legacy Pollution
Transportation
Water and Wastewater
Workforce Development

Environmentally Burdened
Areas at or above the 80th percentile in one or more Environmental Justice Index indicators in the following categories:
Particulate Matter 2.5
Ozone
Diesel particulate
Air Toxics Cancer Risk
Air Toxics Respiratory HI
Traffic Proximity
Lead Paint
Superfund Proximity
RMP Facility Proximity
Hazardous Waste Proximity
Underground Storage Tanks
Wastewater Discharge

Rural Community
Defined as:
Non-metropolitan counties
Outlying metropolitan counties with no population from an urban area of 50,000 or more people

Indigenous/Tribal Land
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provides the Tribal Directory Assessment Tool (TDAT) with the ability to:
Link tribes’ geographic areas of current and ancestral interest down to the county level
Perform a variety of queries related to tribes

Quality Assurance
The success of an environmental program or project depends on the quality of the environmental data collected and used in decision-making which will depend significantly on the adequacy of the quality assurance project plan and how it is carried out. EPA Region 9 requires that a systematic process be used wherever possible and appropriate to plan all environmental data generation activities.

Quality Assurance Project Planning (QAPP)
To facilitate the development of objectives, the EPA has developed guidelines to help state and Tribal governments develop Quality Assurance Project Plans (QAPPs) for documenting the type and quality of data needed for environmental decisions and the methods for collecting and assessing those data.

To find more information on the QAPP, please visit the EPA website.

Tier One will consist of grants for $150,000 for assessment, Tier Two will consist of grants for $250,000 for planning, and Tier Three will consist of grants for $350,000 (2 years) for project development. In addition, $75,000 will be available for capacity-constrained community-based organizations through a non-competitive process under Tier One. Each Grantmaker will design and implement a distribution program best suited for their region and communities.

Tier One Assessment Projects up to $150,000 (1 year)
Research (incidental to the project design)
Sampling
Testing
Monitoring
Investigations
Surveys and Studies
Public Education

Tier Two Planning Projects up to $250,000 (1-2 years)
Planning
Partnership-building
Public outreach and education
Coordination with community stakeholders to address environmental issues
Training activities for community organizations and community members
Projects and activities to spur community involvement (e.g., cleanups of vacant lots)
Smaller land purchases and acquisitions that require less than half of the total amount of subgrant funding

Tier Three Development of Projects up to $350,000 (2 years)
Project Development
Blueprints for construction or cleanup projects, schematics, and technical development
Work to get permits in place directly related to an environmental project
Smaller land purchases and acquisitions that require less than half of the total amount of subgrant funding
Implementation of project plans
Public outreach and education

A limited number of $75,000 non-competitive fixed-amount subawards will be available for severely capacity-constrained CBOs to access.

The purpose of the Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies (Rural MOMS) program is to support collaborative improvement and innovation networks to improve access to and delivery of maternity and obstetrics care in rural areas.

These grants support general operating cost or specific projects and applicants must be registered as (or fiscally sponsored by) a 501(c)3 organization. The Foundation reviews applications twice a year; the deadlines are March 1 and August 1. Grant announcements occur approximately four months after the deadline. Typical grants range from $5,000 - $50,000 and last for one year.

Priorities
Regenerative and Organic Farming: Accelerate the adoption of regenerative farming practices, including organic, climate-resilient, equitable, and agroecological approaches.
Food Production Workers’ Health and Safety: Amplify efforts to secure healthy, safe, just, and empowering working and living conditions for food production workers.
Climate Justice: Expand community-centered solutions to climate change that build resilience and empower those who have been historically marginalized.
Healthy Food Access: Advance food systems’ changes that make healthy and sustainably produced food accessible, affordable, and culturally appropriate.
Inclusive Outdoor Access: Catalyze solutions that expand access to safe places to enable healthy physical activity and improve mental health.
Indoors and Outdoors Safe from Pollution: Promote preventative health approaches by identifying and eliminating toxics from our air, water, soil, and human-made materials.

Guidelines
Priority is given to applicants that:
Advance our strategic priorities and align with our values
Focus their work primarily in the United States and its organized incorporated territories
Demonstrate strong community ties
Have operating budgets under $3MM
Operate at the grassroots level to implement change at the local, state or national stage

Areas not funded
Capital construction
(construction, demolition, renovation, or renewal of a public building)
Deficit funding
Endowments
Faith-based or religious organizations
Fundraising events (e.g., fun run, challenges, annual gala)
Individuals
Local and state public sector or government agencies
Media projects (such as films, books, radio)
Medical Centers
Product donations
Sponsorships

The Recycling Partnership has grant funding available to support the development and expansion of residential drop-off recycling programs, especially for projects investing in infrastructure and/or equipment that are expected to result in substantial increases in the amount of recycling tonnage collected and/or to the number of households with access to recycling. This Request For Proposals (RFP) offers applicants the opportunity to apply for grant funding to support investments that grow drop-off recycling in areas that are geographically located within the territories of the United States of America. When assessing projects seeking grant assistance, the highest priorities for funding will be given to projects that establish new access to recycling services, connect with regional material recovery facilities, institute hub-and-spoke model collection systems, and/or that invest in recycling drop-off systems as a precursor to the implementation of curbside recycling services. Priority will also be given to projects that implement best management practices such as the use of drop-off sites with controlled or supervised access including the use of site attendants, sites that adopt collection practices proven to increase participation such as material consolidation (commingling), and projects that employ the most effective and efficient collection strategies available within an applicant’s region. Projects seeking funding should also demonstrate how the project connects with or builds upon the existing recycling markets in the region.

Examples of fundable Residential Drop-off Recycling Grant projects are as follows:
- Construction of a new, staffed drop-off center that provides access to recycling services for a geographic region or community that is either without access to recycling or that is otherwise underserved,
- The adoption of compacting roll-off systems for the collection of recyclables to enhance
transportation efficiency and increase tonnage recovered,
- Improvements at a transfer station and/or related equipment that enables hub-and-spoke
recycling collection and transportation.

This grant program summary is provided to help potential applicants gain a quick understanding of this grant program and its broad requirements. Specific program parameters and requirements are explained again in greater detail throughout the body of the RFP document, and applicants should carefully read this entire document prior to submitting a proposal.

Eligibility: Grant funding is available to support publicly sponsored curbside recycling programs. The applicant must be a local government, solid waste authority, or federally recognized tribe. Funding is only available to communities seeking to implement cart-based curbside recycling programs. Grant funding is not available to replace existing carts, to support the purchase of carts for waste or organics collection, or to support the collection of recyclables from businesses, schools, or institutions. The grant program offers funding to support the purchase of recycling carts and to implement recycling education and outreach efforts. Grants are not available for education and outreach alone.

Cart and Collection Frequency Requirements: In order to qualify for grant funding, a community must be seeking to purchase carts that are at least 60+ gallons in volume and must collect curbside recyclables on a weekly or every-other-week basis. If planning to collect every-other-week, then a community must be seeking to purchase carts that are at least 90+ gallons in volume. Carts purchased with Recycling Partnership grant funding must contain a minimum of five percent (5%) residential post-consumer plastic content and should be embedded with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag.

Education and Outreach Assistance: The Recycling Partnership has developed a tested and proven approach to supporting education and outreach in communities that are implementing cart-based recycling. Grantees must agree to use select elements of The Partnership’s campaign materials and must also partner with The Partnership to deploy an outreach campaign during the months prior to the rollout of carts. Required education and outreach activities include a direct-to-resident information card informing citizens about the availability/impending distribution of recycling carts, a kit of information delivered with the cart, and the use of oops tags or other anti-contamination strategies to reinforce correct recycling behavior after carts have been delivered. Grant funding at the level of $1 per household is provided to support the implementation of these items.

As a mission-driven non-profit organization, The Recycling Partnership mobilizes people, data, and solutions across the value chain to reduce waste and our impact on the environment while also unlocking economic benefits. We work on the ground with thousands of communities to transform underperforming recycling programs; we partner with companies to achieve packaging circularity, increase access to recycled materials, and meet sustainability commitments; and we work with government to develop policy solutions
to address the systemic needs of the U.S. residential recycling system and advance a circular economy.

For more information our organization, visit: www.recyclingpartnership.org.

Introduction
The purpose of the Multifamily Recycling Grant Program is to implement or expand access to recycling services at multifamily properties across the United States through the provision of financial, educational, and technical assistance. This Request for Proposals (RFP) offers local governments, recycling haulers, and multifamily property owners/managers the opportunity to apply for grant funding to support the acquisition of recycling equipment, infrastructure, or outreach at apartment complexes. The Partnership
seeks to expand equitable access to recycling service, increase recycling tonnage, and improve the quality of recycled commodities at multifamily properties.

Purpose
The BIA Branch of Tribal Community Resilience and the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals are seeking videographer(s), animator(s), and/or graphic designer(s) to produce a series of 3-5 minute videos, infographics, and 2-3 minute animations to accompany a report, The Estimated Unmet Need of Coastal Tribes in the Lower 48 States Facing Relocation Due to Climate Impacts. The purpose of these outreach materials is to enhance the awareness and understanding by Congress and broader audiences about the challenges faced by coastal Tribes in the lower 48 states as they address climate-related relocation and protection-in-place issues. We encourage potential contractors to apply to complete either part or all of the project deliverables.

Project background
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Branch of Tribal Community Resilience (TCR) received a directive from Congress to produce a report, The Estimated Unmet Need of Coastal Tribes in the Lower 48 States Facing Relocation Due to Climate Impacts. The report was produced in collaboration with the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) and completed in December 2023. The report is undergoing a variety of review processes prior to its submission to Congress. Given that the directive was provided to BIA, the report only considers federally recognized Tribes. The draft report will be provided to hired contractors upon their signing of a confidentiality agreement.

General Information

Posted Date: December 10, 2024

Closing Date: Proposal reviews will start immediately. RFP will remain open until filled.

Deliverables due date: Fully edited videos, infographics, and animations will be due on or before March 14, 2025.

Storytelling Videos

TCR and ITEP anticipate a series containing up to 5 videos with each video being approximately 3-5 minutes in length and would like the videos to emphasize storytelling with individuals sharing their experiences, challenges, and successes related to relocation and to protection-in-place. Video topics may be adjusted in consultation with the Tribes themselves, TCR, and ITEP.

TCR and ITEP will assist with introducing videographer(s) to individuals who have indicated that they are interested in participating in this effort and all individuals will be asked to sign informed consent forms detailing how videos will be used, stored, and owned.

New footage: If desired by the individual, videographer(s) may travel to Tribal sites to film on location. However, if filming on Tribal lands, approval of either the Tribe's film office or Tribal Council will be needed.

B-roll footage: B-roll footage taken on Tribal lands may be used with the permission of the the entity who has copyright of the footage and the Tribe’s film office or following their policies

Photos: Photos on Tribal lands taken by individuals, for which they have the copyright and provide permission to use, are able to be included without Tribal Council approval.

*Note: Videographer(s) are responsible for providing all equipment to be used for filming purposes.

The videos produced will ultimately be housed on the TCR website and may become part of a storymap developed to accompany the report. The videos will be owned by the Tribal participants involved in the particular video and by TCR, and the Tribes and TCR will be able to use the videos on their websites, for meetings, presentations, conferences, and more with proper attribution to the videographer. While videographers will be able to link their websites to the TCR website, they do not have permission to share the videos in any other fashion without the express permission of the Tribes in the video and TCR.

Infographics

TCR and ITEP anticipate a series of up to 5 infographics displaying relevant information, data and/or key points from the draft Unmet Need report. Examples of infographics may include: types of risks associated with relocation and protection-in-place; key points from the Executive summary; number of coastal tribes per region; etc. The decision about which infographics to produce will be made in collaboration with TCR and ITEP.

Animations

TCR and ITEP anticipate a series of up to 5 animations with each animation being approximately 2-3 minutes in length describing how coastal Tribes are faced with relocation and protection-in-place due to climate change impacts. Specific topics will be decided in collaboration with TCR and ITEP.

A few things to consider

Executive summary topics

The executive summary includes key points made about:

Continued stewardship of and access to places no longer inhabited as a key component of Tribal self determination

Staffing and funding challenges faced by Tribes trying to relocate and protect-in-place

Integrity of evacuation routes and shoreline protection infrastructure in the face of increasing climate extremes

Need to establish a lead entity to support Tribal relocation and protection-in-place efforts

Challenges around terminology

Complicated history and trauma around the term “relocation” including its usage in relation to climate impacts.

Solicitation Requirements

Applicant proposal must include the following:

1. Cover letter with contact information and signature

2. Resume

3. References (3 total)

4. Examples of videos, infographics, animations you have completed (include links as needed)

5. Cost Proposal. Please note: ITEP will arrange and pay for travel to Tribal locations as needed. You do not need to include travel costs in your proposal.

Again, please note that contractors can apply to complete either part or all of the project deliverables.

Evaluation

All responsive proposals will be opened, reviewed and rated based upon the following evaluation factors:

Price

Compliance with solicitation requirements

Experience, quality and/or past performance

Experience working with Tribes

Points of Contact

Elisha Flores, Regional Tribal Community Resilience Coordinator, Branch of Tribal Community Resilience, Bureau of Indian Affairs, elisha.flores@bia.gov, 510-504-8998

Colleen Cooley, Consultant, Tribes and Climate Change Program, Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals, colleen.cooley@nau.edu, 928-523-1625

Submission of Proposals

Proposals must be submitted by email to Elisha Flores and Colleen Cooley. Please see email addresses provided above.

Purpose
The BIA Branch of Tribal Community Resilience and the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals are seeking a contractor to develop regional summaries of climate change projections for approximately 30 federally recognized Tribes currently located along the shores of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Puget Sound, Gulf of Mexico, and the shores of the Great Lakes. These regional summaries would accompany a report, The Estimated Unmet Need of Coastal Tribes in the Lower 48 States Facing Relocation Due to Climate Impacts. The purpose of the projections would be to support Tribal climate change adaptation planning efforts and provide supplemental information for the report describing anticipated climate change impacts for coastal Tribes and associated timeframes that the impacts might take place.

General Information

Posted Date: December 10, 2024

Closing Date: Proposal reviews will start immediately. RFP will remain open until filled.

Deliverables due date: March 20, 2025

Project background and summary
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Branch of Tribal Community Resilience (TCR) received a directive from Congress to produce a report, The Estimated Unmet Need of Coastal Tribes in the Lower 48 States Facing Relocation Due to Climate Impacts. The report was produced in collaboration with the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) and completed in December 2023. The report is undergoing a variety of review processes prior to its submission to Congress. Given that the directive was provided to BIA, the report only considers federally recognized Tribes. The draft report will be provided to hired contractors upon their signing of a confidentiality agreement.

Project scope
Key questions for Tribes include:

How might sea level rise, high tide flooding, storm surges, and coastal erosion affect Tribal infrastructure and lands, where, and by when?

What are the protect-in-place options and how much would they cost?

The contractor hired would make use of existing datasets to produce deliverables that could include regional summaries of:

Sea level rise, high tide flooding, storm surge, and coastal erosion scenarios of Tribal lands and the timing of the expected impacts.

Shoreline protection options and potential costs of developing protection options, such as berms and levees under different climate change scenarios.

In order to protect Tribal data sovereignty, Tribal-specific data would be summarized according to regions, and the summaries would then be provided to TCR and ITEP. Please note that it is not expected that proposals will seek to produce all of the deliverables specified within the time available, thus the review team looks forward to learning more about the feasibility and expected level of effort for the proposed deliverables.

Solicitation requirements

To submit a proposal, please describe or provide the following:

Project team, capabilities, and past related projects, and resumes for senior personnel.

Overview and relevant details of the proposed project, identifying the specific proposed assessments to be completed by the specified deadline using existing datasets for the Coastal Tribes. If certain datasets are not available for some of the geographic areas specified, please identify those limitations.

Experience working with Tribes, Tribal organizations, and tribally relevant data sovereignty issues, including how your team will address any Tribal data sovereignty concerns that arise.

Cost estimate and project timeline.

Evaluation

All responsive proposals will be opened, reviewed and rated based upon the following evaluation factors:

Price
Compliance with solicitation requirements
Experience, quality and/or past performance
Experience working with Tribes

Points of Contact

Elisha Flores, Regional Tribal Community Resilience Coordinator, Branch of Tribal Community Resilience, Bureau of Indian Affairs, elisha.flores@bia.gov, 510-504-8998

Chas Jones, Consultant, Tribes and Climate Change Program, Institute of Tribal Environmental Professionals, Chas@picea.group, 815-456-4173

Submission of Proposals

Proposals must be submitted by email to Elisha Flores and Chas Jones. Please see email addresses provided above.

The Hydrologic Sciences Program is a disciplinary program within the Division of Earth Sciences. Hydrologic science has a distinct focus on continental water processes at all scales, and the program supports research with a primary focus on these processes. The program supports fundamental research about water on and beneath the Earth's surface, as well as relationships of water with material and living components of the environment. A major focus is the study of hydrologic processes (e.g., rainfall and runoff; infiltration and subsurface flow; evaporation and transpiration), as well as fluxes of water (e.g. in soils, aquifers, and streams). Many projects involve the study of hydrologic transport (e.g., of dissolved solutes, sediment), coupling of hydrological processes with other systems (e.g., ecosystem processes, geochemical cycles, food and energy systems, socio-ecological systems), or hydrologic responses to change (e.g., changes in land use, climate, or watershed management). Observational, experimental, theoretical, and modeling approaches are supported.

The Hydrological Sciences Program focuses on linking the fluxes of water and the components carried by water across boundaries between interacting components of the terrestrial system, as well as the mechanisms by which these fluxes co-organize over a variety of temporal and spatial scales. The program supports the study of hydrologic processes (e.g., rainfall and runoff; infiltration and subsurface flow; evaporation and transpiration), as well as fluxes of water (e.g. in soils, aquifers, and streams). Many projects involve the study of hydrologic transport (e.g., of dissolved solutes, sediment), coupling of hydrological processes with other systems (e.g., ecosystem processes, geochemical cycles, food and energy systems, socio-ecological systems), or hydrologic responses to change (e.g., changes in land use, climate, or watershed management). The program is interested in how hydrological processes couple to and interact with the geosphere, the critical zone, the landscape, and ecosystems, as well as how the water cycle and its coupled processes are altered by land use and climate. Observational, experimental, theoretical, and modeling approaches are supported.

The Hydrologic Sciences Program is committed to supporting the most meritorious research in any relevant area, including but not limited to: current and future changes to the water cycle in response to global change; how hydrologic processes, water availability, and water quality are altered in human-impacted waterscapes; advancing our capabilities in integrated and realistic modeling of hydrologic systems from pore to continental scales using the full model continuum (from data-driven to process-based); applications of data fusion and assimilation to advance hydrologic sciences; and applications of new technologies to inform understanding of fundamental hydrological processes across scales (e.g. geophysical methods, remote sensing). The Hydrologic Sciences Program is also interested in developing collaborative research with federal agency partners and leveraging capabilities of NSF-supported facilities. Additional information on current research needs in Hydrologic Sciences can be found in the following reports:

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. A Vision for NSF Earth Sciences 2020-2030: Earth in Time. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25761.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Next Generation Earth Systems Science at the National Science Foundation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26042.
National Research Council. 2012. Challenges and Opportunities in the Hydrologic Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/13293.
Hydrologic science has a distinct focus on continental water processes at all scales, and the program supports research with a primary focus on these processes. Hydrologic science is also linked to ocean, atmospheric, and solid Earth sciences. Further, hydrological processes are crucial for society and ecosystems, and solutions to water issues are often at the interface of disciplines (e.g., environmental science, environmental engineering, or social science). Therefore, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary proposals submitted to the Hydrologic Sciences program may require joint review with related disciplinary or integrated programs and may be considered for joint support. Before submission of a proposal that may cross disciplinary boundaries, principal investigators are strongly encouraged to contact the cognizant Program Officers in all relevant programs.

A broad portfolio of Broader Impacts activities is supported by the Hydrologic Sciences program, as described below in Section VI.A. Successful projects will include creative, well-integrated, and effective broader impact activities developed within the context of the mission, goals, and resources of the organizations and people involved. The expertise of collaborators, the proposal budget, and budget justification should reflect this integration. Example activities might include but are not limited to those that create effective methods of engagement with local communities or the public at large; develop infrastructure in the lab or the field; translate research to benefit broader societal needs; involve early career researchers and students with diverse experiences and backgrounds; and/or foster new partnerships (e.g., with Minority Serving Institutions, two-year colleges, or internationally). Plans for undergraduate and graduate student mentoring should include evidence-based strategies for effective recruitment, retention and/or training to be provided. We welcome innovative efforts that advance belonging, accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion or identify and remove barriers that have historically excluded some groups from the geosciences.

Other types of NSF proposals, such as Research Coordination Networks (RCN), Rapid Response Research (RAPID), and conference proposals, must be discussed with a Program Officer prior to submission. Additional guidance on RAPID proposals can be found in the Proposal Preparation Instructions section below.

Projects currently and previously supported by the program can be found by using the NSF Award Search (Program Information) engine and entering Element Code 1579.

The North American DevelopmentBank (NADBank) may use a portion of its retained earnings or other available resources to provide technical assistance to project sponsors for the purpose of developing environmental infrastructure projects with potential for NADBank
certification and financing, as well as for strengthening their institutional and financial
capabilities. In addition, technical assistance may be used to fund activities that help advance the mandate of the Bank.

Many communities in the U.S.-Mexico border region lack the human and financial resources
necessary to develop, implement, operate and maintain needed infrastructure projects and,
more broadly, to manage their utilities in a sustainable manner. These limitations affect the
potential for the healthy development of such communities, as well as their ability to access
project funding from NADBank and other sources.

The Technical Assistance Program (TAP) was created to: (1) provide support for the
development of specific infrastructure projects or capital investment programs; (2) support
public and private entities to enhance their technical, financial, and institutional capabilities;
and (3) generate knowledge that advances the mandate of NADBank.

This document describes the scope, eligibility criteria and operating procedures for obtaining assistance through the TAP program.