Urban & Community Forestry Grants (IRA-funded)

Urban & Community Forestry Grants (IRA-funded) is sponsored by Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation, Urban & Community Forestry Program (USDA Forest Service pass-through). These grants, funded by the USDA Forest Service through the Inflation Reduction Act, support work in disadvantaged communities to increase and maintain a healthy urban tree canopy and access to nature.

## USDA Forest Service Urban & Community Forestry Inflation Reduction Act Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) Note The application period is currently closed. ## NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY **NOFO Number**: USDA-FS-2023-UCF-IRA-01**Title:** Inflation Reduction Act - Urban and Community Forestry **Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number:** 10.

727 **Title:** Inflation Reduction Act - Urban & Community Forestry We conducted a two-part "cafe-style" webinar series on the IRA UCF Funding Opportunity to discuss the application requirements and to walk-through and demonstrate the Online Application Grant Portal. The webinars included live Q&A sessions during the webinar. The Inflation Reduction Act provides up to $1.

5 billion for Urban and Community Forestry investments that foster: 1. increased and equitable access to urban tree canopy and associated human health, environmental, and economic benefits in disadvantaged communities, 2. broadened community engagement in local urban forest planning, tree planting, and management activities, and 3.

improved community and urban forest resilience to climate change, extreme heat, forest pests and diseases, and storm events through best management and maintenance practices. > _Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)_**** **** To begin a new grant application or to continue an existing application in-progress, click the _Apply Online_ link in the menu bar above.

The Grant Portal's online application process utilizes workflow based web-form and document upload processes that allow you to apply for and submit your application online.

About the Urban and Community Forestry Program The **USDA Forest Service Urban & Community Forestry Program** is a technical, financial, and educational assistance program, delivering nature-based solutions to ensure a resilient and equitable tree canopy where more than 84 percent of Americans live. It is the only dedicated urban forest program in the federal government.

The UCF Program assists State Forestry agencies and partner organizations in **addressing and applying nature-based solutions to chronic and emergent economic, social, and environmental challenges**in communities across the United States by providing direct funding to communities and especially to communities experiencing low urban tree canopy, dead and hazardous tree conditions, extreme heat and severe flooding, and limited awareness of or access to green job workforce to help them: * Become more **resilient to climate change** * **Combat extreme heat**with the cooling effects of increased urban tree canopy * Experience **improved forest health** conditions and **safer access to tree benefits** * Attain broadened exposure and access to **environmental career pathways**.

## FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION **Legislative Authority and Funding Priorities** **Subtitle D, Sec. 23003 (a).

State and Private Forestry Conservation Programs -Appropriations:** $1,500,000,000 to provide multiyear, programmatic, competitive grants to a State agency, a local governmental entity, an agency or governmental entity of the District of Columbia, an agency or governmental entity of an insular area (as defined in section 1404 of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C.

3103)), an Indian Tribe, or a nonprofit organization through the Urban and Community Forestry Assistance program established under section 9(c) of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2105(c)) for tree planting and related activities. Urban and Community Forestry (UCF) is a covered program under the Agency’s Justice40 Initiative established through Executive Order 13985.

To advance the mission of Justice40, proposals that deliver 40% of the benefits of IRA investments through established partnerships with local organizations working to support disadvantaged communities experiencing low tree canopy and environmental justice will receive priority consideration.

USDA is a partner on the Interagency Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Promoting Equitable Access to Nature in Nature-Deprived Communities, which seeks to reduce the number of people without access to parks and nature in their communities. The America the Beautiful Initiative supports the prioritization of locally led conservation and park projects in communities that disproportionately lack access to nature and its benefits.

## FUNDING OPPORTUNITY SUMMARY **The information summarized here is intended as an introduction. Please review the official Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for complete details and requirements related to this Funding Opportunity.

** State and Local government entities, Agency or governmental entities of the District of Columbia and of an insular areas, Federal Recognized Tribes, Alaska Native Corporations/villages, non-profit organizations, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, and community based organizations. See the Who Can Apply FAQ topic for details. Only non-Federal lands may be included in projects under this funding opportunity.

Eligible land owned by state and local governments, homeowner associations, the private sector, and tribal/Alaska native corporations (including Trust lands). See the Eligible Lands FAQ topic for details. **C.

Eligible Uses of Funding** See the Eligible Uses of Funding FAQ topic for examples of eligible and non-eligible activities under this funding opportunity. The U.S. Forest Service may provide up to $1 Billion for Urban and Community Forestry investments through this opportunity (based on availability of funding, the quality of applications received, agency priorities, and other applicable considerations).

The Forest Service may at its discretion, increase the total level of funding available in this funding round or in any category in this funding round from any available source provided the awards meet the requirements of the statute which made the funding available to the agency. **E. Performance Period** All funding agreements will be for a period of 5 years.

All activities and expenses must be completed within 5 years of award. Funding agreements will not be extended beyond 5-years. Note: Recipients will be expected to implement and demonstrate measurable progress within 12 months of award.

The USDA Forest Service welcomes proposals spanning a broad range of costs from eligible entities working at a community, regional and national scale. The minimum Federal funding amount for projects is $100,000. The maximum Federal funding limit is $50,000,000.

**G. Cost Sharing / Matching Requirements** All federal grant funds are to be matched at least equally **(dollar for dollar)** with non-federal matching private and public monetary contributions, which may include allowable and allocable in-kind contributions. **Non-federal matching funds may be waived for proposals that deliver 100 percent of the funding/program benefits to disadvantaged communities**.

See the Match Waiver FAQ topic for more details. **H.

Pass-Through Funding (Sub-Awards)** In response to stakeholder feedback and to alleviate the administrative burden on small, capacity-strained applicants, to expedite funding to communities in greatest need, and to increase opportunities to award high volumes of grants in condensed timeframes, applications from eligible entities with demonstrated ability to competitively pass-through (subaward) funding to community-based organizations and other partners serving disadvantaged communities are encouraged.

**A minimum of 80% of all funding to a pass-through entity must be competitively sub-awarded to community-based organizations, or other partners serving disadvantaged communities. ** Funding to Pass-Through Entities will be executed through a grant or cooperative agreement with substantial Forest Service involvement, at the discretion of the Forest Service. See thePass-Through Funding FAQ topic for more details.

**I. Proposal Evaluation** Proposals will be evaluated based on the following evaluation criteria (100 points): > * **Alignment with Priorities** (0-30 points) > * **Technical Merit** (0-20 points) > * **Capability and Capacity** (0-20 points) > * **Measurable Results/Outcomes** (0-20 points) > * **Budget and Cost-Effectiveness** (0-10 points) Applications should be submitted through this Online Grant Application Portal.

This on-line application process is a self-explanatory workflow based process with help links to guide you through the entire application and submittal process. See the Apply Online section below for details. ## Apply Online / Update Your Online Application The online application process steps you through the application workflow processes allowing you to complete online web-forms and upload required .

pdf documents***** so that your entire application package is submitted online. **Apply online** now or **continue/edit** your previously started application. ### Online Application Instructions To begin your online application, you'll need to enter your name and email address along with the project title and the grant category for which you are applying.

For added security, you will also be required to setup a secret question and answer. Once you complete this information, you will be send an email with a unique application tracking-id that you will need to access your online application. Each time you access your online application, you'll need your email address, the answer to your secret question and your tracking-id to gain access.

**If a colleague will also be responsible for editing this online application, you'll need to provide them with the application tracking id. ** To enter and upload the required application information, you'll follow the workflow process presented when you access your application. The final step to the workflow process is the application submission step.

You should carefully review your online application before submitting. Once successfully submitted, you will receive an email with a time stamp confirming your submission. This email is your receipt for timely submission.

You will be notified by email during each of the following steps taken by the grant program review committee: * application accepted for review or rejected and reason why All proposals must be received by **June 1, 2023****11:59 PM EDT**. Proposals must be submitted using the Online Grant Portal at https://iraucfgrants. urbanandcommunityforests.

org. Once your application has been successfully submitted, you will receive an email confirmation. **_* NOTE: Files and documents uploaded to the Grant Portal MUST be standard Adobe PDF documents.

Please r \_ead our FAQ section for more details about creating, converting and uploading PDF files. \__**_\_If you encounter issues with uploading your Adobe PDF document, contact technical assistance for help. \__ _To access Adobe Acrobat PDF files, you'll need to have an Adobe Acrobat reader program installed on your computer.

We recommend an Acrobat program such as Acrobat Reader DC or Acrobat Reader Pro DC that allows you the ability to edit PDF files as well as the ability to export PDF files to other formats such as Microsoft Word. Download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Accessing Microsoft Word and Excel documents requires the use of Microsoft Word and Excel respectively.

_ ## For Additional Grant Opportunity Information or Grant Portal Assistance: For grant opportunity assistance and questions, contact: USDA Forest Service, Urban and Community Forestry email: SM. FS. UCF_IRA@usda.

gov For technical assistance with the online Grant Portal and for help uploading . pdf files, contact: **Technical Support Staff**email: contact@sref. info