Announcement

We regret to announce that we have received notice that the EPA Thriving Communities EJ Grants Program has been suspended indefinitely. We will provide additional information as soon as it becomes available to us.

We send our sincere regrets to all those who have invested the time in applying for this grant program and to all those that were interested in applying during the coming rounds. We will be working to identify additional funding sources for this work and will be sending out notifications soon for upcoming events/opportunities. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

With Respect and Solidarity,

The Team at Land Peace Foundation

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If you're interested in future funding opportunities, feel free to sign up—we'll be sure to keep you updated as new opportunities arise.

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EPA Terminates EJforNE Funding

The Environmental Justice for New England (EJforNE) Team is outraged at the unconstitutional and unlawful termination of our Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funding, totaling $60 Million, for the Region One Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program (TCGM). These funds for EJforNE were approved by Congress, after rigorous review by the EPA, as investments in rural, urban, and Tribal communities across New England to address environmental hazards, climate resiliency, and energy justice, with a vision for building livable and healthy communities for all. Additionally, these funds would have supported the growth of a sustainable, community-driven environmental justice movement to counter historical disinvestment in communities across New England.

At the time of our termination, we were poised to announce the first round of grant funding to communities. We received almost four hundred applications, with proposed projects for stormwater planning, flood resilience, sustainable farming, clean energy, tree planting, PFAS/water quality testing and education, transportation access, extreme heat mitigation, air quality monitoring, youth job training, and more.

It is not only the proposed projects that are in jeopardy. Even prior to the termination, EPA had cut off access to funding for EJforNE and similar programs across the country; this means there are dozens of organizations with months of work that have gone unpaid by the EPA. In New England, our six Anchor Organizations (listed at the bottom of this page) have received no payment. The termination of EJforNE funding destabilizes all the organizations engaged in this critical work and for some smaller partners it could be more dire.

For those who submitted applications in our Round 1 Grant Cycle: We recently concluded our Round 1 Grant Cycle review and will notify applicants of decisions in the coming weeks. Unfortunately, without EPA funding, we cannot make grant awards.

For those intending to submit future proposals: As previously shared, the EJforNE Team postponed Round 2 of the grant application cycle until further notice due to the instability of the funding environment. This decision was not made lightly. Unless we can regain sustained access to our funding, we are unable to open another grant round.

The far-reaching impact of the funding termination is deeply damaging to EJforNE and the broader environmental justice movement. These actions take away resources, legally-appropriated by Congress, from New England communities—resources that supported and could have created jobs, boosted energy independence, strengthened the economy, and reduced pollution exposure. EJforNE is actively engaged in conversations with other Thriving Community Grantmakers across the country, and regional and national environmental justice partners, to align actions to restore funding for this critical work.

Our mailing address is:
2 Boylston St Boston, MA 02116