CHICAGO – Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the selection of Alliance for the Great Lakes to receive $5,597,824 to fund projects advancing environmental justice in underserved and overburdened communities in the Chicago River region of Chicago, and Calumet regions of northwest Indiana. Through EPA’s newly created Great Lakes Environmental Justice Grant Program, made possible by President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda, Alliance for the Great Lakes will develop and oversee its own subgrant competition to fund environmental protection and restoration projects that safeguard our nation’s largest fresh surface water resources.
“These new grant programs will ease administrative barriers and help underserved communities in Illinois and Indiana more effectively access federal funding for local projects,” said EPA Region 5 Administrator Debra Shore. “Thanks to an all-of-government approach and the unprecedented federal funding from the Biden Administration’s Investing in America agenda, we are one step closer to creating a cleaner Lake Michigan for all.”
“An investment of this magnitude with a new focus on environmental justice is not just humbling — but empowering. Over $5.5 million in Great Lakes restoration funding will reduce pollution and restore lands and waters for historically disinvested communities in the Southern Lake Michigan basin. Community-based organizations and agencies will have more resources they need to expand their critical work. For that, the Alliance is grateful and excited to begin implementation with our partners,” said Joel Brammeier, President, and CEO of Alliance for the Great Lakes.
Using funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Alliance for the Great Lakes will work in a coalition with four regional advocacy organizations: the Calumet Collaborative, Friends of the Chicago River, Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission and Faith in Place. Together, Alliance for the Great Lakes and its coalition partners will establish an environmental justice grant program in the southern Lake Michigan watershed. The grant program will include outreach to environmental justice organizations to identify needs and will provide technical and managerial support to potential applicants throughout the granting process.
The Alliance for the Great Lakes joins the four applicants who previously received more than $35 million to fund projects advancing environmental justice in underserved and overburdened communities across the Great Lakes.
EPA anticipates finalizing all the awards once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied. Funding opportunities are expected to be made available to communities within the first year of selectees receiving the funds announced today.
Many communities in the Great Lakes Basin lack the resources needed to apply for, obtain, and oversee the implementation of federal grant projects. Cities, states, Tribes and nonprofit organizations representing underserved communities will be able to apply directly to the selected grant programs to fund a range of environmental protection and restoration projects in underserved communities that will further the goals of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. These programs will also provide technical assistance to organizations in underserved communities to increase their organizational capacity. This investment will also encourage even greater environmental, economic, health, and recreational benefits for underserved Great Lakes communities.
EPA’s Great Lakes Environmental Justice Grant Program was created under President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which invests $1 billion in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to accelerate Great Lakes restoration and protection. The program also delivers on the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 Initiative, which set the goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.
Additional Background
Since 2010, EPA’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has funded more than 8,000 restoration and protection projects totaling more than $4 billion.
Read more about the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
Sign up for the Great Lakes News email list to get information about funding opportunities to support Great Lakes environmental work and get updates about Great Lakes environmental projects.
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