Mid-Atlantic Environmental Justice Fund - Track III: Workforce Development in Community Forestry Grant

The Mid-Atlantic Environmental Justice Fund aims to promote environmental justice through community forestry initiatives. This grant supports workforce development in forestry, focusing on job training for historically marginalized communities. It encourages partnerships with educational institutions and local organizations to create equitable job opportunities in tree planting and maintenance. The fund is co-led by the Chesapeake Bay Trust and various community partners, emphasizing a collaborative approach to improve health and sustainability in the Mid-Atlantic region.

The Mid-Atlantic Environmental Justice Fund is a grant program that leverages forestry to address environmental justice (EJ) issues in the Mid-Atlantic. A just community forestry and tree stewardship effort that integrates environmental, climate, and energy justice is a powerful tool to improve the health of the Mid-Atlantic region. Increasing tree canopy improves local air and water quality, cools neighborhoods, fosters public health, stimulates local green jobs, encourages community cohesion, mitigates flooding and its adverse effects, and strengthens the region and its inhabitants.
The Chesapeake Bay Trust co-leads the Mid-Atlantic Environmental Justice Fund with Appalachian Voices, Centro de Apoyo Familiar, Center for Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health (CEEJH Inc), Empower DC, Howard University, Overbrook Environmental Education Center, Sentinels of the Eastern Shore Health, and South Baltimore Community Land Trust. Emphasizing a participatory and inclusive decision-making process, the Fund empowers different representatives of communities affected by environmental injustice to participate in the development of the Request for Proposal (RFP), scoring applications, selecting funded projects, and providing limited technical assistance to a select group of applicants.
Track II: Tree Canopy for Resiliency and Public Health
This track seeks to support projects that engage either young adult or adult community members in job training related to forestry, including tree planting and maintenance. Partnership with for-profit entities for trainee placement is allowed, but no funds can be directed to those entities for this partnership. We are aiming to fund projects that strive to create equitable job opportunities in the forestry industry for communities that have been historically excluded from it. These include, but are not limited to:
Pre-employment, job placement, and career advancement support in community forestry.Training in community forestry skills such as tree planting, maintenance, and green infrastructure.Partnerships with local educational institutions like community colleges to create programs that include classroom instruction and hands-on experience.Providing education, vocational training, experiential learning opportunities, and career pathways in the community forestry and arboriculture industry to returning citizens. Establish apprenticeship programs that provide on-the-job training. Programs that integrate the preservation, promotion, and revival of traditional forestry and arboriculture knowledge and practices with workforce development. Create summer job opportunities, internships, and other educational workshops that introduce young people to careers in community forestry and arboriculture.Engage local community members in training programs for recognized forestry certifications.Collaboration with local non-profits to place workers into entry-level arboriculture positions.Training of community members for careers in reclaiming/processing wood into green lumber, biochar, and compost.Request up to $200,000

Eligibility

Community-based organizations that are tax-exempt or fiscally sponsored throughout the Mid-Atlantic region (DC, DE, MD, PA, VA, WV), particularly those who have historically faced barriers in securing funding to address EJ issues.We welcome requests only from tax-exempt or fiscally sponsored organizations including, but not limited to:Community and neighborhood associations
Schools
Service, youth, and civic groupsThe project must be located in areas that are in areas identified as disadvantaged by EPA’s IRA Disadvantaged Communities Map, federally approved opportunity zones, or PennEnviroScreen mapping tool.

Ineligibility

Due to the federal nature of this grant funding, some types of projects, applicants, and expenses are restricted. These restrictions include, but are not limited to: Land acquisition. Work defined in 2 CFR 200 as Research and Development. Planting projects on private property without documented approval by the property owner. Projects required as mitigation for new or redevelopment, regulatory offset, or regulatory reasons. Projects located in areas not considered as disadvantaged by the map provided above. Applications by for-profit entities. Applications from organizations with outstanding final, progress, or status reports under other CBT grants. Purchase of equipment, defined as an article of nonexpendable, tangible personal property with a useful life of more than one year and an acquisition cost of $5,000 or more per unit.Certain telecommunications and video surveillance equipment or services as described in 2 CFR 200.216.Construction activities, including site preparation like sidewalk repairs or extensive concrete removal.Removal of trees that don’t meet eligibility criteria approved by the Forest Service and are not replaced within one year and in a 1:1 ratio (1 new tree for 1 tree removed).Planting of state-listed invasive species, including species listed as “restricted”, “pending further review”, “non-restricted”, or on a watch list.