Funding: Total: $3,000,000. Maximum awards: $200,000.
Dates: Application Submission Deadline: September 22, 2020
Summary:
This notice announces the availability of funds and solicits proposals from eligible entities, including nonprofit organizations, to deliver Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training (EWDJT) programs that recruit, train, and place local, unemployed and under-employed residents with the skills needed to secure full-time employment in the environmental field. While Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Grants require training in brownfield assessment and/or cleanup activities, these grants also require that Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) training be provided to all individuals being trained. EPA encourages applicants to develop their curricula based on local labor market assessments and employers hiring needs, while also delivering comprehensive training that results in graduates securing multiple certifications.
Project Topic Areas:
In addition to brownfields assessment and cleanup training, as well as training in the areas of sustainability and equitable development, applicants may choose to deliver a variety of other environmental training activities as listed below. Applicants may tailor curricula to the labor market needs of their targeted community. Applicants have the option to deliver any of the training listed below, in addition to the brownfields assessment and cleanup training at awareness, intermediate, or advanced levels. The funding levels for these subject areas vary. While advanced courses can be funded, please keep in mind that if those advanced courses fall within a category with limited funds, EPA may not be able to fund the course in its entirety, depending upon the amount of funding EPA has for particular types of training activities.
- Solid waste management or cleanup training
- Superfund site cleanup and innovative and alternative treatment technologies training, “green remediation” technologies
- Wastewater treatment training
- Emergency planning, preparedness, and response training
- Enhanced environmental health and safety training
- Energy efficiency, and alternative energy technologies
Funding:
The total funding available under this competitive opportunity is approximately $3,000,000, subject to availability of funds, quality of applications received, and other applicable considerations for FY 21. EPA anticipates awarding approximately 15 Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training grants at amounts up to $200,000 per award. Please note, applicants cannot submit multiple applications under this solicitation. Cost sharing and matching funds are not required under this competition. Voluntary cost share is a form of leveraging.
Project Requirements:
Only those applications that specifically address and pass each of the nine threshold criteria will be evaluated against the ranking criteria that ensure applicants are eligible to receive EWDJT Grants. Threshold criteria are evaluated on a pass or fail basis.
- Applicant Eligibility
- Demonstration that Proposed Project Does Not Duplicate Other Federally Funded Environmental Job Training Programs
- Required HAZWOPER Training
- Federal Funds Requested/Funding Amount
- Substantial Conformity with Instructions and Format Requirements
- Training Curriculum Chart Indicating the Cost of Each Course
- Plans for Delivering Training
- Target Area
- Previous Funding Requirement
Grant funds must be used for direct programmatic costs associated with implementing an EWDJT program. EPA requires that all grant applicants and recipients adequately address measurable environmental outputs and outcomes, such as the number of individuals recruited, trained, certified, and placed directly in environmental careers, as well as average hourly starting wage. Applicants must discuss in their applications how funding will achieve environmental outputs and outcomes. Outputs specific to each project will be identified as deliverables in the workplan negotiated if the application is selected for award. Recipients will be expected to report progress toward the attainment of project outputs during the project performance period.
Please note that applicants are required to provide cost estimates for each training course identified in their proposed training curriculum. Applicants must also indicate what percentage of their total grant funds are being designated to support each training course. Based on the course funding amounts, EPA may only be able to fund a limited amount of advanced level courses in subject areas beyond brownfields hazardous substance assessment and cleanup training. Depending on the quality of applications received and what level of training is proposed, EPA may be able to fund multiple applications that seek to deliver awareness and/or intermediate level training in the categories listed above. Based on the limited amounts of funding to support certain types of training, EPA may not be able to fund all training courses proposed by an applicant. Applicants should take this into consideration when they decide what types of training they propose to offer and at what level it will be delivered. Applicants will not have the ability to materially revise their application, and will not be permitted to substitute, or alter their training curricula if the application is selected for funding and certain types of training are unable to be funded.
Eligible Applicants:
Groups or governments along with cities, counties, tribes, states, and nonprofits are eligible to apply.