Chesapeake Bay Program Office Fiscal Year 2023 Request for Applications for: Small Watershed Grants Program and Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Program Funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act | EPA I R3 CBP 23 13

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through its Chesapeake Bay Program Office, released a Fiscal Year 2023 Request for Applications (RFA) for major grantmaking in the Chesapeake Bay watershed under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). This is a discretionary funding opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number: EPA I R3 CBP 23 13) that will be awarded as cooperative agreements, meaning EPA expects to have substantial involvement during the period of performance rather than issuing a more hands-off grant.

EPA plans to make up to three awards total, with one cooperative agreement tied to each of three program activities described in the announcement. Across all three activities, the total estimated funding is $96,000,000. The funding profile is structured over multiple years, with an estimated $21,000,000 available in Year 1 and up to $25,000,000 available in each of Years 2 through 4. The award ceiling listed for the opportunity is $45,000,000, and the RFA notes that the maximum available funding for each activity is provided in a chart within the full announcement. The overall emphasis is on cost-effective proposals that can show strong outcomes for community and watershed health and measurable progress toward nutrient and sediment reduction goals.

The first activity is the Community Capacity Building - Small Watershed Grants (CCB SWG) Program. This track is designed to strengthen the capacity of frontline organizations, particularly those working closest to impacted communities, so they can collaborate effectively on shared community and watershed health goals. In practice, this program area typically centers on building the people-and-systems side of restoration work: strengthening local partnerships, improving organizational readiness, expanding technical know-how, supporting community engagement, and ensuring that groups that have historically been under-resourced can participate meaningfully in Chesapeake Bay restoration and local water quality decision-making. The core idea is that long-term watershed results depend on durable community capacity, not just one-off projects.

The second activity is the Planning, Assistance and Implementation - Small Watershed Grants (PAI SWG) Program. This track focuses on community-based efforts that move from planning into on-the-ground action to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. It supports the development and implementation of conservation strategies and is explicitly aligned with the goals and outcomes of the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, as well as any future watershed agreements. This alignment signals that proposed projects should be able to connect clearly to established Chesapeake Bay restoration priorities, such as water quality improvements, habitat restoration, climate resilience, environmental literacy, and broader stewardship outcomes, while still being rooted in local, community-driven approaches.

The third activity is the Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction (INSR) Grants Program. This program is aimed at speeding up nutrient and sediment reductions at the sub-watershed and/or regional scale by using innovative strategies. The emphasis is not simply on trying something novel for novelty's sake, but on applying approaches that have been demonstrated to be successful and can be scaled or replicated to produce faster, larger reductions than conventional methods alone. In effect, this track is geared toward accelerating implementation and measurable load reductions, likely prioritizing strategies that can show credible performance, feasible scaling, and strong potential to move the needle on nutrient and sediment pollution affecting the Bay and its tributaries.

Administratively, the opportunity sits under CFDA (now commonly referenced as Assistance Listing) 66.466. Eligible applicants are broadly described as "Others," with additional eligibility details provided in the full RFA text, so applicants would need to check that section to confirm organizational eligibility and any partnership or geographic requirements. The RFA was created July 31, 2023, and the original closing date listed is September 15, 2023, with the announcement instructing applicants to confirm the exact deadline and any submission details in Section IV of the full funding opportunity.

Taken together, this IIJA-funded package is structured to fund three complementary lanes of Chesapeake Bay restoration work: strengthening frontline and community organizational capacity, supporting community-based planning through implementation aligned with the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, and driving faster nutrient and sediment reductions through innovative, proven, scalable approaches. The size of the total funding and multi-year structure indicate EPA is looking for applicants that can manage large, complex programs and deliver measurable watershed outcomes over several years, while keeping proposals cost-effective and strongly tied to Chesapeake Bay restoration goals.

• The Environmental Protection Agency in the infrastructure investment and jobs act (iija) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Chesapeake Bay Program Office Fiscal Year 2023 Request for Applications for: Small Watershed Grants Program and Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Program Funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 66.466.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jul 31, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Sep 15, 2023 See Section IV of funding opportunity announcement for closing date information.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $45,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 3 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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