Projects for communities, by communities — launching the air quality community grant program

A new grant program will open next week to fund locally led projects in overburdened communities to reduce sources of "criteria" air pollution. Funding new air quality projects for communities by communities is an innovative approach for us. It's part of our ongoing work to implement the air quality and environmental justice provisions of the Climate Commitment Act (CCA).

These grants will fund planning, community engagement, and development of projects to improve air quality and protect people's health in Washington communities that are historically overburdened with health, social, and environmental inequities and are highly impacted by air pollution.

Examples of projects that reduce sources of air pollution include those that:

• Support free yard waste collection or purchase of a community wood chipper
• Replace old residential wood stoves with certified wood stoves or heat pumps
• Reduce vehicle miles traveled

A total of $10 million funded through the CCA is available for organizations serving these communities, as well as Tribes participating in our initiative to improve air quality in overburdened communities highly impacted by air pollution.

We held virtual listening sessions with communities and opened an online comment period to gather their input on the design of the grant program. This ensured communities had a say in the program's creation and that the funding will benefit these communities.

We are deeply grateful to everyone who took the time to share their input. One resounding theme we heard was the value and importance of deeper community outreach to help inform the development of local air pollution reduction projects. With that in mind, we designed the program to support grantees' engagement activities with their communities, including the ability to compensate community members for their time.

At the heart of this grant program is a desire to decrease health inequities caused by criteria air pollution and environmental injustices. Scoring criteria will consider applicants' experiences working in communities and how their proposed projects address environmental justice and air quality issues.

More background

Another novel element of this grant program was how we incorporated community feedback into our Environmental Justice Assessment (EJA). This is a new requirement in the Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act. EJAs help Ecology make informed decisions on how best to reduce environmental harms and address environmental and health inequities. Read the EJA for this grant program.

We received more than 100 comments, reviewed every piece of feedback, and carefully considered how to incorporate it. If we couldn't, we explained why. To learn more about how community feedback shaped this grant program, read our summary of engagement and response to comments.

Applications for this grant program will be open from Aug. 29, 2024 to Oct. 24, 2024. See our guidelines for more information about eligible applicants and projects.

To stay connected to the grant program, sign up for email updates.

These grants are paid for by funds from the Climate Commitment Act. The Climate Commitment Act supports Washington's climate action efforts by putting cap-and-invest dollars to work reducing climate pollution, creating jobs, and improving public health.

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