Northeast and Midwest Community Change Equitable Resilience Technical Assistance

The EPA’s Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants program (Community Change Grants) is awarding approximately $2 billion in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds in environmental and climate justice activities to benefit disadvantaged communities through projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to address environmental and climate justice challenges. These place-based investments will be focused on community-driven initiatives to be responsive to community and stakeholder input. They are designed to deliver on the transformative potential of the IRA for communities most adversely and disproportionately impacted by climate change, legacy pollution, and historical disinvestments.

CIS is part of a team led by Climate Resilience Consulting that was awarded a contract to provide Community Change Equitable Resilience Technical Assistance (CCER TA) in the Northeast and Midwest. This specialized assistance is targeted to communities that are disaster-prone and disadvantaged, meaning they are vulnerable to extreme heat and more intense heat islands, wildfire and smoke, floods, storms, or other climate impacts that pose a greater risk to disadvantaged communities. This technical assistance will be provided to up to 50 communities nationwide.

It is relevant to the Justice40 initiative, a national program to ensure that 40% of the benefits from federal programs reach environmental justice communities.