Title
Apply for Environmental Protection Agency Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grant: Track II Application - Federal Inflation Reduction Act Funding (Ordinance S-51373) - District 7 and 8
Description
Request to authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to partner with and, if awarded, enter into a sub-award agreement and any memorandums of agreement necessary with Pinnacle Prevention (Pinnacle) for disbursement of Federal funding from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change (ECJCC) grant opportunity. If awarded, the funding will be used to support regional-scale vision planning for the Rio Reimagined corridor and to align diverse priorities in concert with disadvantaged communities along the corridor. Further request to authorize the City Treasurer to accept, and the City Controller to disburse, all funds related to this item. Funding for this grant opportunity is available through the Federal Inflation Reduction Act. The total grant funds applied for will not exceed $3 million, with the City’s sub-award not to exceed $150,000, and the City would have no local match.
Report
Summary
Background
The EPA allocated $2 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to support community-driven projects aimed at bolstering community resilience against environmental and climate challenges. The EPA ECJCC grant is open to applications under Track I and Track II. Track I applications focus on strategies to meaningfully improve the environmental, climate, and resilience conditions affecting disadvantaged communities and cannot exceed $20 million. Track II applications focus on facilitating the engagement of disadvantaged communities in governmental processes to advance environmental and climate justice and cannot exceed $3 million. ECJCC grants also require a partnership between municipal government, defined as a “Statutory Partner,” and a Community-Based Organization (CBO).
The City intends to partner with Pinnacle for this Track II application, in addition to the separate Track I application that was approved by Council on June 26, 2024. Pinnacle will serve as the Lead Applicant for this Track II application, and the Office of Environmental Programs (OEP) will serve as the Statutory Partner to the Lead Applicant.
Pinnacle is an Arizona-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to cultivate a just food system and opportunities for joyful movement. Pinnacle collaborates with partners to design, facilitate, evaluate, and carry out planning processes to uplift community voices in decision-making that impacts wellbeing. While food systems and health are Pinnacle’s focus, their intersectional approach fits well within the scope of this grant. Pinnacle is well respected within the Phoenix community and is known for their collaboration with residents and small business, expert facilitation skills, and for creating a safe space for people to participate.
OEP has worked together with Pinnacle on food systems for the past seven years and has also engaged them to assist with community outreach for the 2021 Climate Action Plan. In addition to OEP, the Planning and Development Department (PDD) will engage in this grant. This grant complements the RIO PHX effort to create a series of policy documents that will help promote a 20-mile Rio Salado corridor as a local and regional destination that attracts positive investment for the benefit of existing and future businesses, residents and tourists.
Project Scope
The “Voices of the Rio Corridor” Track II grant aims to serve as a foundation for a future regional-scale vision planning for the Rio corridor that will help to reimagine meaningful community engagement for equitable governance, create a regional sense of place and identity for the river corridor, and align diverse priorities in co-design with community. The primary goal of the project will be to build strong bridges between residents and government entities around environmental and climate justice planning and development. The grant will help to reimagine meaningful community engagement for equitable governance, create a regional sense of place and identity for the river corridor, and align diverse priorities in co-design with community. The EPA funding opportunity presents a timely and aligned opportunity to co-create early norms and systems that center authentic community engagement around the Rio corridor.
Pinnacle, as Lead Applicant, will be responsible for the overall management, performance, oversight, and reporting responsibilities under the grant, including making subawards. OEP, as Statutory Partner, will be responsible for supporting and participating in advisory and planning meetings, providing technical assistance and subject matter expertise, and working collaboratively with community members to co-develop equitable governance practices, as well as sharing decision making authority with Pinnacle. OEP would receive a sub-award from Pinnacle of $150,000 for the three-year term of the grant for personnel costs.
Additional Collaborating Entities
In addition to Pinnacle, OEP, and PDD, the following organizations will aid in implementing the grant by initially serving in an advisory role:
- City of Tempe
- Arizona State University City Exchange, Rio Reimagined Team
- Unlimited Potential
- Cihuapactli Collective
- Protectors of the Salt River
Grant applications are being received by EPA on a rolling basis through November 21, 2024. The grant application is intended to be submitted by early November.
Financial Impact
The estimated total cost for the project is $3 million. The maximum Federal participation rate is 100 percent, with no local match requirement. If awarded, the Federal match would not exceed $3 million (100 percent), with the City’s sub-award not to exceed $150,000, and no local match.
Potential grant funding received is available through the Federal Inflation Reduction Act, from the Environmental Protection Agency through the ECJCC grant opportunity.
Concurrence/Previous Council Action
The City Council approved Environmental Protection Agency Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grant: Track I Application (Ordinance S-51132) on June 26, 2024.
Location
The grant includes disadvantaged census tracts within a radius of up to two miles of the banks of the Rio Salado in Phoenix.
Council Districts: 7 and 8
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Managers Alan Stephenson and Mario Paniagua, the Office of Environmental Programs and the Planning and Development Department.