Details

Purpose:

The purpose of Community Air Grants (CAG) is to provide community-based organizations with logistical and technical assistance to support their efforts in improving local air quality. Projects are intended to further the purposes of AB 617 and AB 32 by designing and executing projects that build capacity in communities through supporting community-based organizations’ and community members’ participation in the Community Air Protection Program.

Description:

CAG priorities include projects that: foster workforce development, prioritize equitable public participation and demonstrate local partnership building and coordination, leveraging, in-kind support, or other forms of collaboration and advance environmental justice within the context of California’s air quality policies.

Educational: $100,000, Elements: Community engagement and education supporting CARB’s Blueprint document; Developing partnerships and coalition building for the purposes of AB 617; Facilitating community interaction and cultivating working relationships with government agencies; Education and support on specific Community Emission Reduction Programs; Education on: other AB 617 statewide strategies, Best Available Control Technologies (BACT), Best Available Retrofit Control Technologies (BARCT), and implementation, air quality enforcement concepts, data reporting and communication; and elements of AB 617 and elements of AB 617 Blueprint.

Technical: $300,000, Elements: Community technology assessments; Community technical training (monitoring and technical education including data collection and analysis), air protection efforts, and air monitoring support.

Targeted: $300,000, Elements: Emissions Reduction Strategy Expansion: Strategies that may be transferable.  This project documents statewide or community-specific needs to help develop and identify successful strategies that could be applied across communities with similar sources of air pollution or adopted as a statewide effort. Local Community Emissions Reduction Plan -  Localized strategies reflect participation from a range of partners in the community, particularly affected residents, and including but not limited to the local air district, local governments, and affected sources who will work to develop a Local Community Emissions Reduction Plan based on assessment of air quality information, sources and existing monitoring data.

Projects must be wholly located in and benefit disadvantaged and/or low-income communities, as identified pursuant to CA Health and Safety Code sections 39711 and 39713 (SB 535 and AB 1550), or on Tribal lands or Tribal communities.

Matching funds or in-kind support are not required but are encouraged where applicable.  Any leveraged funds, in-kind support may take various forms and must be identified but will not count toward the max funding amounts you may request. Partnership-building and collaboration, workforce development, is encouraged. Community Air Grants should be used to complement an organization’s partnership-building and collaboration for project implementation

Eligibility Requirements

Eligible Applicants:

  • Nonprofit
  • Tribal Government

California (CA) community-based organizations holding a tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code

CA organization, not affiliated with a government entity, & holding a tax-exempt status as the Grantee, in partnership with a CA community-based organization without tax-exempt status as a sub-grantee

A CA Native American Tribe including Federally Recognized Tribes, & Native American Tribes (Governor’s EO B-10-11)

Eligible Geographies:

Projects must be wholly located in and benefit disadvantaged and/or low-income communities, as identified pursuant to California Health and Safety Code sections 39711 and 39713 (added and amended by Senate Bill 535 and AB 1550), or on Tribal lands.  Specific project census tract location(s) must be included in application narrative.  CARB’s priority population investments mapping tool may be utilized for location identification purposes.

Important Dates

The date (and time, where applicable) by which all applications must be submitted to the grantmaker. Time listed as “00:00” equates to midnight.
The date on which the grantor expects to announce the recipient(s) of the grant.
May 2023
The length of time during which the grant money must be utilized.
March 30, 2026

Funding Details

The total projected dollar amount of the grant.
$10,000,000
A single grant opportunity may represent one or many awards. Some grantors may know in advance the exact number of awards to be given. Others may indicate a range. Some may wish to and wait until the application period closes before determining how many awards to offer; in this case, a value of “Dependent” will display.
Dependent
Grant opportunities representing multiple awards may offer awards in the same amount or in varied amounts. Some may wish to wait until the application period closes before determining per-award amounts; in this case, a value of “Dependent” will display.
Dependent
Certain grants require that the recipient(s) provide a letter of intent.
No
Certain grants require that the recipient(s) be able to fully or partially match the grant award amount with another funding source.
No
The funding source allocated to fund the grant. It may be either State or Federal (or a combination of both), and be tied to a specific piece of legislation, a proposition, or a bond number.
  • State

Funding Source Notes:

In response to Assembly Bill (AB) 617 (C. Garcia, Chapter 136, Statutes of 2017), CARB established the Community Air Protection Program. Included in AB 617 is a provision for technical assistance grants to community-based organizations to support community participation in the Program.  CARB administers these grants, and the funds are allocated from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, the State’s portion of Cap-and-Trade auction proceeds.

The manner in which the grant funding will be delivered to the awardee. Funding methods include reimbursements (where the recipient spends out-of-pocket and is reimbursed by the grantor) and advances (where the recipient spends received grant funds directly).
  • Advances & Reimbursement(s)

Funding Method Notes:

Total amount of funding available for this fourth year of the Community Air Grants is $10 million.  Grants will be awarded on a competitive basis and projects will be funded up to a maximum of $300,000.

How to Apply

State agencies/departments recommend you read the full grant guidelines before applying.

Resources

For questions about this grant, contact:
Ryan Atencio, 1-916-282-6250, Airgrants@arb.ca.gov