The Great Lakes Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program

EJ TCGM logo.

The Great Lakes Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program (TCGM) opened its grant competitions in December 2024. Grants will remain open through Fall of 2026. The TCGM will accept applications on a rolling basis and make awards every 3-4 months. Eligible applicants include Federally recognized Tribal governments, local governments, institutions of higher education, and nonprofit organizations including grassroots/ community-based, philanthropic, and civic nonprofit organizations. Within these eligible applicants, the TCGM prioritizes the following groups:

  • Federally recognized Tribes
  • Native American and community-based nonprofits or fiscally sponsored projects with budgets under $5 million (under $1 million for Tier 1 grants)
  • Indigenous-led and community-based nonprofits or fiscally sponsored projects with fewer than 10 full-time-equivalent staff members
  • Eligible entities that have been formed in the past five years
  • Communities that have received federal or state disaster declarations in the past five years
  • Communities with populations under 10,000

Things to keep in mind: 

  1. You do not need to develop a new project to receive a TCGM grant. These one-time grants are well suited to support existing work that is currently not funded by another source or to complement other projects that are already funded. However, TCGM also welcomes proposals for high-priority new projects.
  2. Project locations must fall within Inflation Reduction Act Disadvantaged Communities. Eligible projects must focus their budget, efforts, and benefits in one or more areas considered disadvantaged. You can determine whether an area is considered disadvantaged by using the EPA's EJScreen. These instructions are a helpful guide for using the EJScreen mapping tool. 

Grants can fund a broad range of environmental and climate-related projects. Please visit GreatLakesTCGM.org for more details. 

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Next Steps

To get started, follow these suggested first steps:

  1. Visit GreatLakesTCGM.org and sign up to receive email updates and webinar announcements.
  2. Review grant guidelines on the GreatLakesTCGM.org website.
  3. Submit a TCGM intake form here.
  4. Sign up to attend an upcoming office hour in January or February/March.  
  5. Review previous recorded webinars and office hours here.

Technical Assistance

The Great Lakes TCTAC will be providing technical assistance on the Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program grant application. If you have questions about:

  • What Tier your project fits into,
  • Determining if your project will fit the criteria, including benefiting disadvantaged and underserved communities as defined by the EPA,
  • Need assistance with the TCGM intake form or 
  • Need assistance with the grant application form.

Please fill out the Great Lakes TCTAC intake form here.