AZ Comeback Initiative (University of Arizona)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting applications under the authority of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) section 1459E to accelerate career pipelines in the water utilities sector and provide access to water utility workforce opportunities. This action advances the Administration’s priorities, including the goals of Make America Healthy Again, by focusing on building the nation’s water workforce which is critical to ensuring public health and environment protection. Consistent with the law, this action will help inform people about the role of water and wastewater utilities in their communities and increase the awareness of water utility career opportunities.The purpose of this funding opportunity is to support expanding career opportunities in the drinking water and wastewater utility sector and elevating public awareness about jobs in the water workforce. Eligible applicants under this funding opportunity are Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs), nonprofit organizations, and public works departments and agencies. Eligible activities include apprenticeship and internship programs, education programs designed for elementary, secondary, and higher education students, regional industry collaborations, and training programs designed to support decentralized workforce. Efforts should aim for measurable results and clearly show tangible benefits for water systems and communities. The proposed activities support the Agency’s Powering the Great American Comeback Initiative’s Pillar 1: Clean Air, Land, and Water for Every American. Examples include training individuals through an apprenticeship program and placing them into water sector jobs, training individuals for industry accreditation, and developing collaborations with community colleges, technical schools, utilities to address the water utility employment needs. Funding Opportunity Number: EPA-OW-OWM-26-03. Assistance Listing: 66.445. Funding Instrument: CA. Category: ED. Award Amount: Up to $7.8M per award.

Geographic Programs - Southeast New England Coastal Watershed Restoration Program is sponsored by ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY. To develop and support the Southeast New England Program (SNEP) for coastal watershed restoration. SNEP is a geographically-based program intended to serve as a collaborative framework for advancing ecosystem resiliency, protecting and restoring water quality, habitat and ecosystem function, promoting the development of sustainable communities, and developing and applying innovative policy, science, and technology to environmental management in southeast coastal New England (eligibility map is available at: https://www.epa.gov/snep/background-information-southeast-new-england-program). A critical aspect of this framework is the integration of physical processes, water quality, and critical habitat at a regional, watershed, and/or landscape scale. SNEP's Strategic Plan under this framework includes goals for achieving, 1. a resilient ecosystem of safe and healthy waters, 2. thriving watersheds and natural lands, and 3. sustainable communities. Additional background information on SNEP can be found at the following website: www.epa.gov/snep. EPA intends to fund projects, either directly or via a pass-through organization, that address SNEP priorities, EPA's "Powering the Great American Comeback Initiative" Pillar 1: Clean Air, Land, and Water for Every American and Pillar 3: Permitting Reform, Cooperative Federalism, and Cross-Agency Partnership, and spur investments in regionally significant and landscape scale restoration projects through projects, networks, and/or partnerships among governmental and community resource managers, technology, scientific, and policy organizations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), Tribes, and other groups. A major focus is to build regional capacity for environmental management, including developing and establishing robust institutional, monitoring, information, and technology frameworks that can offer more effective, transferable, and sustainable paths to restoring and protecting the southeast New England coastal watersheds. Through competitive funding announcements, EPA will outline specific program priorities and eligible activities in areas such as environmental, ecological, and/or habitat restoration planning and construction; ordinance adoption and implementation; technology and policy development, testing, and adoption; financing; monitoring, including methods, equipment, data analysis and interpretation; public understanding and engagement; technical training in new approaches; information sharing; implementation of nature-based solutions; and targeted/applied research. SNEP funding is provided to support technical assistance, and implementation grants through direct EPA awards, and subawards. Additional SNEP funding under the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) will support existing SNEP priorities and will begin to focus on achieving program goals. This listing is currently active. Program number: 66.129. Last updated on 2026-01-01.