Healthy Environmental Living Program (HELP)

 

Grants are awarded to support projects that meet two criteria: 1) They must be located in and directly benefit one or more Target Investment Areas and 2) They must achieve measurable environmental and public health results in one or more of the Target Program Areas. Target Investment Areas and Target Program Areas are identified in the annual competitive funding announcement. Funds for all projects should support activities to provide education, outreach, or training in the Target Program Areas. The Regional Office will only accept submissions for projects that affect the states, tribes, and territories within the five Region 6 states: Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas. Projects that are national in scope are not eligible for funding under this regional program. The statutory authorities for this program restrict the use of assistance agreements to support the following activities: conducting or promoting the coordination and acceleration of research, investigations, experiments, training, demonstrations, surveys, and studies relating to the causes, effects (including health and welfare effects), extent, prevention, and elimination of pollution. Demonstrations must involve new or experimental technologies, methods, or approaches, and it is encouraged that the results of these projects will be disseminated so that others can benefit from the knowledge gained. A project that is accomplished through the performance of routine, traditional, or established practices, or a project that is simply intended to carry out a task rather than transfer information or advance the state of knowledge, however worthwhile the project might be, is not considered a demonstration project. Funding Priority Fiscal Year 2023 Clean, Green, and Healthy Schools: Projects that focus on creating clean, green, and healthy school environments by promoting EPAs State School Environmental Health Guidelines; EPAs Voluntary Guidelines for Selecting Safer School Location and their design, construction, and renovation; EPAs 3Ts for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water in Schools, and/or implementing replicable programs across Region 6 serving childrens environmental health at K-12 schools. Community and Water Infrastructure Resilience: Projects that provide education, outreach, and training to manage facilities at which hazardous substances are located; advance the emergency preparedness and resilience of communities and water infrastructure through training related to safer handling and removal of hazardous waste. Healthy Indoor Environments: Projects that focus on reducing and/or preventing childhood lead poisoning through compliance assistance, outreach, and/or education on lead-based paint regulations, and/or small drinking water systems; reducing asthma triggers; promoting integrated pest management; promoting recycling, pollution prevention, food recovery, food waste minimization and/or diversion, and/or renewable energy; reducing childhood exposure to one or more toxins (lead, PCBs, dioxin, mercury, asbestos, pesticides, etc.); and promoting comprehensive healthy homes and/or other indoor environments for children or other sensitive populations. Healthy Outdoor Environments: Projects that focus on reducing and/or preventing exposure to toxics and pollutants in the air, soil, and/or water by addressing the causes, effects, extent, reduction, prevention, and/or elimination of pollution in rivers and/or other natural resources.

Active 66.963 Environmental Protection Agency B - Project Grants Fiscal Year 2023 FY 2022-FY 2023 awards are two-year projects. Accomplishments will be available in FY2024. Clean Air Act, Section 103(b)(3)
Clean Water Act, Section 104(b)(3)
Safe Drinking Water Act, Section 1442(a) and 1442(c)
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, Section 20(a), Public Law 106-74
Solid Waste Disposal Act, Section 8001(a)
Toxic Substances Control Act, Section 10(a), Public Law 106-74 State (includes District of Columbia, public institutions of higher education and hospitals), Local (includes State-designated lndian Tribes, excludes institutions of higher education and hospitals, Public nonprofit institution/organization (includes institutions of higher education and hospitals), Federally Recognized Indian Tribal Governments, Private nonprofit institution/organization (includes institutions of higher education and hospitals), Quasi-public nonprofit institution/organization, Interstate Assistance under this program is available to State, Local, public nonprofit institutions/organizations, private nonprofit institutions/organizations, quasi-public nonprofit institutions/organizations, Federally Recognized Indian Tribal Governments, K- 12 schools or school districts; and non-profit organizations (e.g. grassroots and/or community-based organizations). Funding will be considered for a college or university to support a project with substantial community involvement. Private businesses, federal agencies, and individuals are not eligible to be grant recipients; however, they are encouraged to work in partnership with eligible applicants on projects. Applicants need not be located within the boundaries of the EPA Region 6 to be eligible to apply for funding but must propose projects that affect the States, Tribes, and Territories within Region 6. For certain competitive funding opportunities under this assistance listing, the Agency may limit eligibility to compete to a number or subset of eligible applicants consistent with the Agency's Assistance Agreement Competition Policy. State, Local, Federally Recognized Indian Tribal Governments, public nonprofit institutions/organizations, private nonprofit institutions/organizations, quasi-public nonprofit institutions/organizations, anyone/general public. Tribes may be asked to demonstrate that they are federally recognized. Interstate organizations may be asked to provide a citation to the statutory authority, which establishes their status. Intertribal consortia may be asked to provide documentation that they meet the requirements of 40 CFR 35. 504. Non-profit applicants are not required to have a formal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) non-profit designation, such as 501(c)(3); however, they must present their letter of incorporation or other documentation demonstrating their non-profit or not-for-profit status. This requirement does not apply to public agencies or Federally Recognized Indian Tribes. Failure to enclose the letter of incorporation or other documentation demonstrating non-profit or not-for-profit status will render full proposal submissions incomplete and they will not be reviewed. Applicants who have an IRS 501(c)(4) designation are not eligible for grants if they engage in lobbying, no matter what the source of funding for the lobbying activities. For-profit enterprises are not eligible to receive subawards from eligible recipients under this grant program, although they may receive contracts, subject to EPA's regulations on procurement under assistance agreements in 2 CFR 200 and 2 CFR 1500. Preapplication coordination is required. Regarding pre-application assistance with respect to competitive funding opportunities under this assistance listing, EPA will generally specify the nature of the pre-application assistance, if any, that will be available to applicants in the competitive announcement. For additional information, contact the individual(s) listed as "Agency Contacts" in the competitive announcement. 2 CFR 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards applies to this program. Applicants, except in limited circumstances approved by the Agency, must submit all initial applications for funding through Grants.gov. EPA will review and evaluate applications in accordance with the terms, conditions, and criteria stated in the competitive announcement. Competitions will be conducted in accordance with EPA policies/regulations for competing assistance agreements. Deadlines for competitive awards will be specified in the annual competitive funding announcement. From 60 to 90 days. Applicants will generally be notified within 60 days of receipt of application submission. Assistance agreement competition-related disputes will be resolved in accordance with the dispute resolution procedures published in 70 FR (Federal Register) 3629, 3630 (January 26, 2005). These procedures can be found at: https://www.epa.gov/grants/grant-competition-dispute-resolution-procedures. Disputes relating to matters other than the competitive selection of recipients will be resolved under 2 CFR 1500 Subpart E, as applicable. Not applicable. The evaluation and selection criteria for competitive awards under this assistance listing will be described in the competitive announcement. The statutory authorities for this program restrict the use of assistance agreement to support the following activities: conducting or promoting the coordination and acceleration of research, investigations, experiments, training, demonstrations, surveys, and studies relating to the cause, effects (including health and welfare effects), extent, prevention, and elimination of water pollution. Demonstration must involve new or experimental technologies, methods, or approaches, and it is encouraged that the results of these projects will be disseminated so that others can benefit from the knowledge gained. A project that is accomplished through the performance of routine, traditional, or established practices, or a project that is simply intended to carry out a task rather than transfer information or advance the state of knowledge, however worthwhile the project might be, is not considered a demonstration project. Assistance agreement awards under this program may involve or relate to geospatial information. Geospatial information is information that identifies the geographic location and characteristics of natural or constructed features or boundaries on the earth, or applications, tools, and hardware associated with the generation, maintenance, or distribution of such information. This information may be derived from, among other things, GPS, remote sensing, mapping, charting, and surveying technologies, or statistical data. Further information regarding geospatial information may be obtained by viewing may be obtained by viewing the following website: Geospatial Resources at EPA (https://www.epa.gov/geospatial). Not applicable. Grants and cooperative agreements are subject to inspections and audits by the Comptroller General of the United States, the EPA Office of Inspector General, other EPA staff, or any authorized representative of the Federal government. Reviews by the EPA Project Officer and the Grants Specialist may occur each year. Recipients must keep financial records, including all documents supporting entries on accounting records and to substantiate changes in grants available to personnel authorized to examine EPA recipients grants and cooperative agreements records. Recipients must maintain all records until 3 years from the date of submission of final expenditure reports as required by 2 CFR 200.334. If questions, such as those raised because of audits remain following the 3-year period, recipients must retain records until the matter is completely resolved. Statutory formula is not applicable to this assistance listing.

Matching is mandatory. 5%. The grant program requires a match of 5% of the total budget as part of their application. Any exceptions will be identified in the annual competitive funding announcement. Award recipients can use contributions from entities other than themselves as a match. However, other Federal money cannot be used as the match for this grant program in the absence of specific statutory authority. Matching funds are considered grant funds. They must be used for the reasonable and necessary expenses of carrying out the assistance agreement work plan. Any restrictions on the use of grant funds (e.g., prohibition of land acquisition with grant funds) also apply to the matching funds.

MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. Assistance agreements are normally funded on a 12- or 24-month basis, at the discretion of EPA. Method of awarding/releasing assistance: Lump. Stephanie Cheaney, US EPA Region 6, 1201 Elm Street, Suite 500 (LCRD), Dallas, TX 75270-2002. Phone: 214-665-8057. E-Mail: cheaney.stephanie@epa.gov Stephanie Cheaney
US EPA Region 6, 1201 Elm Street, Suite 500 (LCRPT)
Dallas, TX 752702002 USA
Cheaney.Stephanie@epa.gov
Phone: 214-665-8057 https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/epa-region-6-south-central 68-0108-0-1-304 (Cooperative Agreements (Discretionary Grants)) FY 22$500,000.00; FY 23 est $500,000.00; FY 24 est $0.00; FY 21$500,000.00; FY 20$0.00; - Will not be making an awards in FY 24. During FY 2022- FY 2023 five (5) cooperative agreements were awarded totaling approximately $400,000, ranging from $50,000 to $100,000/ Average $75,000. Awards will not be competed FY 2024. Grants and cooperative agreements awarded under The Healthy Environmental Living Program (HELP) are subject to EPA and Federal General Grant Regulations (2 CFR Part 200 and 2 CFR Part 1500); 40 CFR Part 33 (Participation by Disadvantaged Business Enterprises in United States Environmental Protection Agency Programs). Fiscal Year 2023 Funds were used for projects that: 1) expanded collection infrastructure for the safe and sustainable management of home-generated medical sharps (e.g., disposable needles, syringes, and lancents) at sites that serve people with diabetes in Native Nations; 2) piloted a comprehensive sustainability assessment in 20 grocery stores in underserved or rural areas that help identify no- and low-cost measures and behavioral changes that employees can implement to prevent pollution, reduce waste, and improve climate resiliency; 3) updated the current Eco-Healthy Child Care checklist to include 35 best practices focusing on improving indoor air quality in childcare facilities, and educating early childhood professionals on practical and no-to-low-cost strategies for preventing children's exposures to toxins (e.g., lead, pesticide, household chemicals, unsafe plastics); and 4) provided outreach, education, and property assessments to multi-family affordable housing (MFAH) business owners to help them understand the benefits and funding available to implement health and safety (H&S) energy efficiency (EE), and water conservation (WC) measures at properties in Environment Justice (EJ) and disadvantaged communities.