Funding Opportunities

The Small Grants Program is for grassroots groups working on environmental health and justice issues related to the presence of “toxics” (toxic chemicals or hazardous substances) in their immediate communities. CHEJ prioritizes community-based organizations aiming to have local, state and regional impact through their own strategies and actions. This program is designed to reach people from low-wealth communities and communities of color who are impacted by environmental harms related to toxics.

This grant program supports:
Grassroots community groups fighting an environmental health harm in their community.
Grassroots community groups looking to build up their own leadership, increase capacity or provide training and education.
Projects that help grassroots groups move toward their goals by building leadership, increasing capacity or providing training and education.
Projects that align with CHEJ’s programs have a better chance to succeed in securing funding. Grassroots communities of color, low wealth, rural and urban groups are encouraged to apply. Should you be a part of a coalition, each group within the coalition may apply individually as well as the coalition itself. CHEJ supports a wide range of environmental health issues; however, we have a limited amount of funds that can only support a specific focus. If your organization’s work is outside of this focus, it does not mean it is less critical, it just means that it will not be considered for this grant.

Please carefully read the Guidelines and the Instructions for Applying per Tier before you apply.

Grant activities can include:
Board development
Door-to-door organizing training
Educational activities directly connected to strategic planning
Equipment and/or subscriptions for improving communications (such as Zoom)
Fundraising
General in-person events or activities
Local or statewide group/community-specific efforts or campaigns
Meetings/Events to develop organizing and/or strategic planning
Organizational membership and outreach

Projects or activities that we are not going to fund:
Community gardens or farming
Disaster relief and/or emergency response and planning
Environmental testing
Film, documentary or podcast production
Food insecurity interventions (such as food banks)
Groups with a budget of over $1,000,000 (one million dollars)
Individuals
Legal assistance
Legislative lobbying or policy work
Organizations outside of the United States and its Territories
Market campaigns
National organizations and/or campaigns
Natural environmental protection or conservation efforts

Grants by Tiers
The grant application is different depending on the size of the organization’s annual budget. Your grant application must be submitted as a Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 3 organization. Refer to the listings below to determine which Tier your organization falls under:
Tier 1: Small organizations and all-volunteer groups with budgets that do not exceed $50,000. Grants available in this tier range from $1,000 to $5,000.
Tier 2: Mid-sized to larger organizations with budgets over $50,000, but not exceeding $250,000. Grants available in this tier range from $5,000 to $10,000.
Tier 3: Large organizations with budgets over $250,000, but not exceeding $1,000,000 (one million dollars). Grants available in this tier range from $10,000 to $20,000.

Will You Need a Fiscal Sponsor?
If you are a grassroots group, but are not incorporated and do not have a bank account, you will need to find an organization that can accept the funds for your group. Consider asking a faith-based organization or another non-profit if they will serve as your “Fiscal Sponsor.”

In November 2023, a group of civic leaders joined with CFSA to launch the Local News Initiative of Southern Arizona to address concerns about the steady decline in local news coverage and local journalists reporting on Tucson, Pima County, and Southern Arizona. The initiative aims to strengthen local journalism in the Southern Arizona community and fill critical gaps in local news and information. 

Fast Pitch grants are for ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. Activities may include:
• conference or seminar attendance
• consultants or professional speakers
• specialized staff training/certification
• professional development: coaching, leadership training, board development
• focused education on organizational development such as: strategic planning, fund or program development, needs assessment and information management
• software support such as volunteer scheduling or grant management software, database management such as Excel or Access, or other software pertinent to the development of your organization
• technology support such as a new computer, printer, or copier, used to enhance the development of your organization

Program Strategic Goals:

1. Accomplish fuels management activities on federal and non-federal land.
2. Develop and implement fire education, training, and/or community action plans/programs.
3. Conduct Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs), community wildfire assessments, and planning activities.
4. Expand community capability to enhance local employment opportunities.
5. Develop and implement short and long-term monitoring and maintenance plans for hazardous fuels reduction, community fire education and training, and community action programs.

The Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration grant program seeks to develop community capacity to sustain local natural resources for future generations by providing modest financial assistance to diverse local partnerships focused on improving water quality, watersheds and the species and habitats they support.

Projects include a variety of ecological improvements along with targeted community outreach, education and stewardship. Ecological improvements may include one or more of the following: wetland, riparian, forest and coastal habitat restoration; wildlife conservation, community tree canopy enhancement, wildlife habitat, urban agriculture and community gardens, wildlife and water quality monitoring and green infrastructure best management practices for managing run-off.

Projects should increase access to the benefits of nature, reduce the impact of environmental hazards and engage local communities, particularly underserved communities, in project planning, outreach and implementation. This program expects that applicants will represent a mixture of urban and rural communities. NFWF may use a mix of public and private funding sources to support any grant made through this program and we expect that more than half of projects awarded will engage underserved communities.

With funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA’s Clean School Bus (CSB) Program provides $5 billion over five years (FY 2022-2026) to replace existing school buses with zero-emission and low-emission models. Under the Program's first funding opportunity, the 2022 CSB Rebates, EPA solicited applications for zero-emission and low-emission school buses and awarded up to $965 million to fund school bus replacements at nearly 400 schools.

In Spring 2023, EPA opened a competitive grant funding program; EPA anticipates awarding at least $400 million under the 2023 CSB Grants Program Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). EPA expects to announce the 2023 Grant Program selectees by early 2024. In Fall 2023, EPA opened the 2023 CSB Rebates program; EPA expects to award at least $500 million in funding under the 2023 rebate program.

To gain a better understanding of environmental and public health challenges facing rural communities, EPA and our partners are launching the “Small Communities, Big Challenges” Competition. The goal of this Competition is for local governments to identify innovative and effective ways to holistically engage rural communities around environmental health issues and to identify any associated barriers to better protecting human health. Through increased engagement, this Competition would ideally help local governments and communities better identify and understand rural community-based environmental public health issues, which may help in the protection of the community’s environmental public health. EPA and our partners will use the solutions from this Competition to learn of unique or innovative strategies for engaging with rural communities and of the environmental public health issues that rural communities are faced with. Local governments that participate in the Competition will demonstrate their innovative strategies for engaging rural communities and present collaboratively identified findings from these engagements through a brief engagement strategy report and a short video.

ACF's Patagonia Regional Community Fund offers funding to organizations that have projects and programs supporting residents of Patagonia, Sonoita, Elgin, and/or Canelo.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) and the Office of Minority Health (OMH) are seeking community-led strategies and tools to address health disparities in communities disproportionately impacted by environmental risks and hazards including those related to climate change, and the cumulative impacts of other stressors. The Challenge mechanism provides an opportunity for community voices to participate in developing novel innovative approaches to addressing the adverse health impacts of environmental conditions and increase community resilience within their local, disproportionately impacted communities.

In 2024, we are seeking proposals for projects that focus on the protection and/or management of our watersheds and groundwater supplies in the face of climate change. (Scroll down for application.)

Projects may focus on the protection, restoration, and/or management of our watersheds and/or groundwater basins in the face of climate change/natural disasters. Such projects could, for example, include management through reducing the impact of extreme weather events; innovative approaches to responsible land and water management; or remediation of impacted watersheds.

Our chief interest is in receiving strong applications for innovative projects that protect our water and environment and for which our grant funds will have the most impact