Grants Available for Community-Based Brownfield Revitalization

EPA announced last week the availability of grant funds and direct assistance (through Agency contract support) and is soliciting proposals from eligible entities (local governments, nonprofits and other community-based organizations). These proposals should facilitate community involvement in area-wide planning approaches to brownfields assessment, cleanup and subsequent re-use. Area-wide planning grant funding and technical assistance will be directed to brownfields-impacted areas, such as a neighborhood, district, city block or corridor.

The pilot Program’s goal is to work with local communities to help create a shared vision for brownfields-impacted areas. This can be done when communities consider groups of brownfields rather than focusing on site assessment and cleanup needs in isolation. The grant funding and technical assistance will result in an area-wide plan which will inform the assessment, cleanup and reuse of brownfields properties and promote area-wide revitalization.

The total estimated EPA assistance available under this competitive opportunity is up to $3.5 million to fund 20 projects. The maximum amount of EPA assistance awarded per pilot project will be $175,000. Proposals are due by June 1, 2010.

The RFP for the Brownfields Area-wide Planning Pilot Program is now open and available on-line on the following EPA web pages:
http://www.epa.gov/oswer/docs/grants/epa-oswer-oblr-10-05.pdf
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/areawide_grants.htm

EPA will be hosting a webinar for applicants interested in submitting a proposal on Tuesday, April 13, 2010 from 3:00-4:00 PM EST. There is no pre-registration for this webinar. The audio portion will be accessible via telephone: Call In Number 1-866-299-3188; Access Code 202 566 0633#

For Applicants, the video portion will be accessible at:
http://hackeye.epa.gov/imtapp/app/prelogin.uix?siteID=0