Our most vulnerable communities often bear the brunt of environmental justice, climate, and public health issues. These communities have been identified as disadvantaged and underserved and require a large amount of capital to implement environmental justice projects to reduce residents’ exposure to the impacts of the above issues. They are also frequently discouraged from applying to federal funding opportunities due to a lack of capacity, support, and the matching funds required for other federal programs.
To remove these barriers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has selected regional grantmakers to issue $40 million per region in subgrants to eligible organizations. This program was specifically designed to strengthen the capacity of underserved communities to address the environmental and public health challenges they have historically faced.
Resources and Grant Information
If your community wants to learn more about this program, we have included a list of resources and a summary of the program below. We also have links to our upcoming office hours, during which we will answer general questions about eligibility, grant tiers, and projects.
Join us for office hours for Illinois communities and nonprofits on Tuesday, January 21 and/or Thursday, January 23, from 2-3 pm CST to learn more!
- Tuesday Zoom link: https://illinois.zoom.us/j/88273182602?pwd=FazpsWDEe9rLbQoAJzCVbIxI5KTTbw.1
- Thursday Zoom link: https://illinois.zoom.us/j/82522967764?pwd=mA955jnfXLdLWjF15euLBXU3KYK2QX.1
Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program Resources
- Great Lakes Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program Website
- Great Lakes Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program Webinar 01-14-2025
- TCGM Overview Slides
- TCGM Factsheet
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Use these instructions to use the map and find out if your community is eligible
Program overview and eligible activities
The Great Lakes Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program is managed in partnership with the Midwest Environmental Justice Network, NDN Collective, RE-AMP Network, and the Minneapolis Foundation. Through November 2026, the program will be accepting applications on a rolling basis, with the first deadline being January 31st, 2025.
The Great Lakes Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program (TCGP) offers three tiers of grants to fund projects related to environmental health, air, soil, water quality, healthy homes, access to healthy food, stormwater management, green infrastructure, emergency preparedness, and disaster resilience.
- Tier I offers one-year grants of up to $150,000 to fund assessment and engagement activities such as monitoring, research, and community mapping.
- Severely capacity-constrained groups will also be considered for a noncompetitive grant of up to $75,000 under tier I.
- Tier II offers one—to two-year grants of up to $250,000 to fund community education and planning projects such as developing communications and outreach plans, conducting workshops and training, or other community planning and visioning efforts.
- Tier III offers one—to two-year grants of up to $350,000 to fund the development and implementation of projects, such as strengthening cumulative impacts, public health, or environmental justice protections and developing community gardens or resilience hubs.
Find out if your community is eligible to apply!
TCGP grants must support environmental justice efforts in disadvantaged communities, as the EPA defines. The EJ Screen online map can be used to determine if your community is disadvantaged. Use this document for instructions on how to use this map to see if your community is eligible.
Eligible applicants include tribal governments, intertribal consortia, Indigenous organizations, nonprofits, local governments, and higher education institutions. The grant best suits organizations seeking to build experience and capacity to apply for other federal and state funding. Communities that need funding to support existing work to complement other funded projects or to use as matching funds for other programs. Tier III grants are best for shovel-ready new projects with plans already developed. The program will prioritize federally recognized tribes, nonprofits with budgets under $5 million (under $1 million for tier I grants), nonprofits with fewer than 10 full-time staff, communities with disaster declarations in the past five years, and communities with populations under 10,000.
