About Us
Who we are
The EPA has selected the Mountains and Plains Environmental Justice (MAP EJ) Grants Hub as the grantmaker for EPA Region 8. The MAP EJ Grants Hub is managed by JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc (JSI). JSI is a global nonprofit dedicated to improving lives around the world through greater health, education, and socioeconomic equity for individuals and communities.
The MAP EJ Grants Hub is administered by JSI’s Colorado office in Denver. Established in 1982, JSI Colorado focuses on local and regional level work related to a variety of public health and environmental health and justice topics. JSI is working with multiple partners in the region to ensure geographic and community representation in the MAP EJ Grants Hub.
As a grantmaker, the MAP EJ Grants Hub will:
- Design competitive subgrant application and submission processes
- Award environmental justice subgrants, providing $40 million in subgrants over a three-year project period
- Implement tracking and reporting systems
Provide support and technical oversight for subgrantees
Learn more about the MAP EJ Grants Hub team.
EPA Thriving Communities program
In 2022, the Biden-Harris administration signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which allocated nearly $2 billion to underserved communities to address environmental and climate justice challenges.
As part of the IRA, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is implementing the Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking (EJ TCGM) program. The goals of the TCGM program are to:
- Benefit communities of interest, as defined by the Inflation Reduction Act Disadvantaged Communities Map
- Seek to address a specific environmental justice issue in that community of interest
- Engage community members and prioritize community representation and inclusion