Capacity building

Awards small grants in support of grassroots efforts and community-based environmental work in New England. The Grassroots Fund utilizes participatory grantmaking to move resources to New England grassroots groups working at the intersections of Environmental Justice. The program is geared toward groups who have some experience implementing a project in their community. Grants support groups to deepen their work by further developing a community vision, lowering barriers to participation, identifying new stakeholders, and working to bring more voices and lived experiences into core decision-making processes.

The NCRF is a national program with the goal of enhancing protection for coastal communities from the impacts of storms, floods, and other natural coastal hazards and to improve habitats for fish and wildlife. This year, NFWF will award approximately $140 million in grants for the planning, design, and implementation of natural and nature-based solutions.

The Flood Mitigation Assistance grant program is a competitive program that provides funding to states, federally recognized Tribal governments, U.S. territories, and local governments. Since the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994 was signed into law, funds are used for projects that reduce or eliminate the risk of repetitive flood damage to buildings insured by the National Flood Insurance Program.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program will support states, local communities, tribes and territories as they undertake hazard mitigation projects, reducing the risks they face from disasters and natural hazards. The BRIC program’s guiding principles are to support communities through capability and capacity building, encourage and enable innovation; promote partnerships, enable large projects, maintain flexibility, and provide consistency.

New York Sea Grant and Connecticut Sea Grant are providing grant preparation and writing capacity to New York and Connecticut communities that are pursuing funding for sustainability and resilience-focused projects. This technical assistance program helps municipalities and community organizations develop successful grant proposals and develop capacity for navigating the funding landscape. 

The Climate Resilience Grant Program (CRGP) offers grants for projects that contribute to a world where people and nature can thrive. The goal of the program is to support partners in protecting the lands and waters critical for adapting to climate change. As climate change drives ecosystem instability, plants and animals are shifting their ranges northward. TNC has resources to support the conservation of climate resilient lands.

EPA is accepting applications on a rolling basis for $2 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding available to support community-driven projects that build capacity for communities to tackle environmental and climate justice challenges, strengthen their climate resilience, and advance clean energy.

The Trust funding interests include: Community development (affordable housing, economic development), Community-based health care (primary care access and delivery), Education (early education, K-12 public schools), the Environment (land and water conservation, parks and gardens), and Social services (hunger, immigration, seniors, youth development).

$7.34 million is available for community-based organizations for projects that address exposure of communities to multiple environmental harms and risks. Eligible applicants are not-for-profit (NFP) community-based organizations having 501(c)(3) status or a community-based organization may partner with a NFP that will serve as their fiscal sponsor. Eligible projects must address a community’s exposure to multiple environmental harms and risks and include a new research component that will be used to expand the knowledge of the affected community.

WCF’s 2023 Environmental Grant Program is focused on addressing environmental issues and accelerating climate mitigation and adaptation efforts in Westchester County.

The goal of this funding program is to assist municipalities in starting or expanding municipal food scraps recycling programs. Approximately $2.75 million is available. To ensure equitable access and development of food scraps recycling opportunities for all New Yorkers, this year’s opportunity will prioritize the first half of available funds for eligible projects serving Environmental Justice and Disadvantaged communities.

For more than 30 years, our Long Island Unitarian Universalist Fund (LIUUF), a field-of-interest advised fund at The New York Community Trust, has worked to address education and racial equity, environmental justice, and immigrant rights. The fund also focuses on LGBTQ+ advocacy, women’s rights, leadership development, legal and legislative advocacy, and community organizing. The fund was established by the Veatch Program at Shelter Rock.

LIUUF grantmaking reflects Unitarian Universalist principles and the Fund’s overarching mission is to build and energize a community of progressive social change activists, and to support prophetic voices in vulnerable communities who speak out against injustices—often in unsafe environments and at personal risk and sacrifice.

Guided by an advisory committee that represents Unitarian Universalist congregations throughout Long Island, the LIUUF has awarded millions of dollars to nonprofits in Nassau and Suffolk counties to advance grassroots progressive social change.

The Healthy Communities Grant Program is EPA New England’s main competitive grant program to work directly with communities to reduce environmental risks to protect and improve human health and the quality of life. he Healthy Communities Grant Program will achieve this through identifying and funding projects that:
– Target resources to benefit communities at risk.
– Assess, understand, and reduce environmental and human health risks.
– Increase collaboration through partnerships and community-based projects.
– Build institutional and community capacity to understand and solve environmental and human health problems.
– Achieve measurable environmental and human health benefits.

Awards small grants in support of grassroots efforts and community-based environmental work in New England. The Grassroots Fund utilizes participatory grantmaking to move resources to New England grassroots groups working at the intersections of Environmental Justice. The program is geared toward groups who have some experience implementing a project in their community. Grants support groups to deepen their work by further developing a community vision, lowering barriers to participation, identifying new stakeholders, and working to bring more voices and lived experiences into core decision-making processes.

The Connecticut Society for Women Environmental Professionals Grant Program provides funding for local projects in Connecticut that benefit the environment. Grants of up to $2,000 will be awarded. Any application meeting the grant guidelines that is not successful in one cycle may reapply during any following cycle. The applications will be judged based on the environmental benefits of each project, in comparison to others. “Environmental benefits” can vary widely and successful applications have ranged from property clean-ups to environmental education.

Sustainable CT’s Community Match Fund is an innovative program that provides fast, flexible funding and support for engaging your community on wide-ranging sustainability projects. Eligible projects receive dollar-for-dollar matching funds from Sustainable CT.

The Long Island Sound Stewardship Fund (LISSF) is a competitive grant program seeking proposals to restore and protect the health and living resources of Long Island Sound. LISSF is interested in empowering communities of all kinds (including communities typically underrepresented in environmental programs and projects) to access, improve, and benefit from Long Island Sound, its waterways, and surrounding lands. Up to $400,000 is expected to be available for grants in 2025. The most competitive proposals will incorporate multiple values including sustainability, resilience, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Intended to streamline grant funding opportunities for new conservation and restoration projects around the U.S., the America the Beautiful Challenge consolidates funding from multiple federal agencies and the private sector to enable applicants to conceive and develop large-scale projects that address shared funder priorities and span public and private lands.

The Saltonstall-Kennedy Program is a yearly grant competition that aims to promote U.S. fisheries by assisting the fishing community to address marketing and research needs. Approximately 40 projects worth $10 million are funded annually.

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.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program will support states, local communities, tribes and territories as they undertake hazard mitigation projects, reducing the risks they face from disasters and natural hazards. The BRIC program’s guiding principles are to support communities through capability and capacity building, encourage and enable innovation; promote partnerships, enable large projects, maintain flexibility, and provide consistency.

The Flood Mitigation Assistance grant program is a competitive program that provides funding to states, federally recognized Tribal governments, U.S. territories, and local governments. Since the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994 was signed into law, funds are used for projects that reduce or eliminate the risk of repetitive flood damage to buildings insured by the National Flood Insurance Program.

$45 million in funding is available for projects that will advance the coastal habitat restoration and climate resilience priorities of tribes and underserved communities under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. Through this funding, NOAA will help support community-driven habitat restoration and build the capacity of tribes and underserved communities to more fully participate in restoration activities.

EPA Long Island Sound Study announced the second round of this Environmental Justice program focused on the Long Island Sound watershed area within New York and Connecticut. The purpose of the Long Island Sound Community Impact Fund (LISCIF) is to provide technical and financial assistance to communities with environmental justice concerns to address environmental issues and improve the quality and accessibility of the Long Island Sound. Technical assistance will be provided through LISCIF and is available to communities/organizations even if one does not submit a funding proposal.  

Sea Grant and the NOAA Climate Program Office, with support from the NOAA Office for Coastal Management, seek to establish programs aimed at placing people across the country into good jobs that advance climate resilience and assisting employers in developing a 21st century workforce that is climate literate, informed by climate resilience, and skilled at addressing consequent challenges. NOAA will assist communities in coastal and Great Lakes states and territories so they may form partnerships that train workers and place them into jobs that enhance climate resilience.

Nearly $85 million in funding is available for fish passage and tribal capacity building under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. This funding will support U.S. federally recognized tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, and tribal organizations in implementing fish passage work and building tribal organizational capacity.

With support from the Nature Conservancy and Sustainable CT, East Haddam organized a Community Resilience Building process and workshop, the results of which were compiled into this summary. The team engaged with community members to determine the present hazards and vulnerabilities and identify resilient solutions.

The Resilience Implementation and Strategic Enhancements (RISE) Local Assessment Tool helps you approach hazards and risks comprehensively; and assess and refine your laws and policies in a way that improves resilience and helps achieve desired community outcomes. The tool works by assessing two critical elements of building resilience:
the “how” – once identified, resilience-enhancing measures can be successfully integrated into existing land use laws, building codes, and planning policies; and
the “what” – gaps in policies and regulations that support resilience.

This toolkit describes “how” local government leads and partners can design more fundable projects by pulling specific policy levers, seeking key partnerships, using innovative accounting practices, inverting power structures, and rethinking and redesigning internal processes. It will help local government leads and partners operate within current finance and policy systems to better prepare themselves and their communities for climate resilience funding and finance.

Inclusive community engagement is essential for successful environmental decision-making. The New York State Climate Smart Communities Program seeks to guide local governments in their community engagement efforts, particularly for inclusion of Disadvantaged Communities (DAC). Only through the leadership of those most affected by the climate crisis and environmental pollution can environmental and climate justice be achieved.

The second annual Long Island Sound Bi-State Sustainable and Resilient Communities Workshop brought together nearly 200 people virtually on Dec. 7, 2023 to learn about a new Long Island Sound Resilience Resource Hub (launching in early 2024), hear from communities and groups around the Sound working on resilience planning, and consider pathways for updating codes and ordinances. Videos of the workshop’s six sessions are available on YouTube. They can be accessed below along with supporting documents.

The programs covered in this webinar were developed by the Sustainable and Resilient Communities Extension Professional team to assist with the development of sustainability and resilience focused projects that will impact a community or communities within or partially within the Long Island Sound coastal boundary. On Oct. 16, 2023 a new LIS Resilience Planning Support Program in addition to a second round of the Long Island Sound Resilience Grant Writing Assistance Program were made available for municipalities and community organizations. These separate programs (Track 1 and Track 2) are supported by funding from the U.S. EPA through the Long Island Sound Study and administered through New York Sea Grant and Connecticut Sea Grant.

The Long Island Sound Community Impact Fund (LISCIF) is a partnership between Restore America’s Estuaries, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Long Island Sound Study (LISS). The purpose of LISCIF is to build capacity for organizations located in communities affected by disproportionate environmental and human health risks. The purpose of the LISCIF is to provide technical and financial assistance to communities with environmental justice concerns and improve the quality and accessibility of the Long Island Sound. The Long Island Sound Community Impact Fund seeks to increase organizational capacity through training that supports day-to-day operations, project implementation, and future funding opportunities.

The first annual Long Island Sound Bi-State Sustainable and Resilient Communities Workshop brought together more than 260 people virtually on Dec. 1, 2022 to learn about opportunities to increase the resilience of the Sound’s communities to climate change and other environmental threats. Interactive sessions included opportunities to learn more about the SRC Extension Professionals’ needs assessment findings and recommendations, the newly released Long Island Sound Resilience Grant Writing Assistance Program, and tips for success with Long Island Sound funding opportunities. Concurrent breakout sessions highlighted the work of partners related to shoreline planning and implementation, using green infrastructure for stormwater management, sustainable climate planning for relocation, and new sustainability/resilience tools available in both New York and Connecticut. Videos of the workshop’s six sessions are available on YouTube. They can be accessed below along with supporting documents.