The Tree Equity Catalyst Fund is part of American Forests’ larger Catalyst Initiative, which resources frontline, environmental justice, and under-served populations with both technical knowledge and funding to help them advocate for, plant and steward trees where they are needed most.
The Catalyst Fund prioritizes reaching those organizations with the greatest opportunity for social impact, but face the highest barriers to participation. This includes faith leaders, organizations and congregations, frontline organizations new to the work of urban forestry or with limited capacity, and cities and towns facing financial constraints that have been not historically well represented in the field of urban forestry. We seek projects that center and serve frontline communities and will consider a range of approaches to advancing Tree Equity, rooted in community needs and vision.
Funding for this project is provided by the Inflation Reduction Act (2 CFR 415.2) and the Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Urban and Community Forestry Program. The Forest Service and American Forests are equal opportunity providers.
In partnership with the Forest Service, American Forests is excited to launch our second funding opportunity through a competitive RFP to support both faith-based organizations and frontline environmental justice organizations in advancing your Tree Equity initiative.
The Catalyst Fund anticipates funding 20 to 40 reimbursement-based subawards with 1- to 3-year terms to eligible organizations and/or coalitions of organizations in December 2024. Applications will be accepted between September 30 and October 25, 2024. All projects funded through the Catalyst Fund must be completed by June 30, 2028. The Fund encourages grantees to leverage grant funds for matching opportunities, if applicable.
Catalyst Fund grantees will have opportunities for tailored technical assistance, coaching, and learning from American Forests’ team of experts in Tree Equity, as well as access to tools, resources and networks to help you expand and sustain progress in your Tree Equity journey beyond your cash grant. Technical Assistance Offerings encompass the following topic areas:
- Effective coalition-building and equitable community engagement practices
- Data-driven prioritization of tree investments
- Developing an urban forestry workforce
- Planting and maintaining tree canopy for equity, climate resilience and resilient species
- Developing sustainable financing
Who the Fund Will Support
Organizations the Catalyst Fund will support must meet the following eligibility criteria:
- Be located in the United States
- Meet at least one of the following legal status requirements:
- Have 501(c)(3) status
- Be fiscally sponsored by an organization with 501(c)(3) legal status
- Be fiscally sponsored by a government entity
- Be fiscally sponsored by a public or state-controlled institution of higher education
- Be a federally recognized Indian tribe, or organized under Section 17 of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934
Meet the following criteria for either a faith-based organization (see 7 CFR 16.3) or a frontline environmental justice organization (or directly partner with one or more organizations who meet the following criteria):
Faith-based organizations are defined as:
- A faith-based organization is a group, organizations or institution rooted in the teachings, values, and practices of a particular religion.
- These organizations often aim to provide services, support, or advocacy based on their religious principles and beliefs, and their activities might include charitable work, community service, education, or spiritual guidance, all aligned with their faith’s teachings.
- Eligible organizations may include houses of worship and local congregations, faith-based not-for-profit organizations and coalitions, or regional or national networks of faith congregations.
- Applicants under this funding track must demonstrate that they are a faith-based organization and associate with a specific faith or belief system.
- The Catalyst Fund supports a diversity of faith backgrounds among the portfolio of awarded applicants, and strongly encourages organizations of interfaith, multi-faith & minority faith backgrounds to apply.
Frontline environmental justice organizations are defined as:
- A frontline environmental justice organization is a group or organization which directly serves a community or communities disproportionately affected by environmental hazards, climate change, and economic inequality (frontline communities), and has a central mission in social, environmental or economic justice.
- Eligible organizations may include community-based organizations, community development corporations, organizations with workforce development, youth empowerment and economic development programs, advocacy coalitions, and other civil society organizations.
- The Catalyst Fund prioritizes supporting frontline organizations of a diversity of backgrounds, missions, and programmatic foci, and strongly encourages organizations new to the work of urban forestry to apply.
What the Fund Will Support
Projects must meet the following eligibility requirement(s):
- Protect & expand tree canopy to maximize social and physical benefits for disadvantaged communities through at least one of the following activity areas:
- Equitable planning and coalition building – engaging community members through participatory planning and involvement; creation of strategic collaborations, including cross-agency councils, regional planning initiatives, grassroots coalitions, and/or public agency-community partnerships to implement and sustain Tree Equity
- Developing an urban forestry workforce – including youth development and career exploration, jobs creation, re-entry programming, training and placement, and other economic opportunities
- Planting and maintaining tree canopy for equity, climate resilience and resilient species, including tree nursery development
Required Project Scope:
Project scope of work must deliver 100% of the funding/program benefits to disadvantaged communities as defined by the Federal government and identified as a “Designated Disadvantaged Community” in the EPA IRA Disadvantaged Communities map.
Additionally, projects may:
- Be at various stages of development and/or implementation ranging between:
- Early Stage and Innovation: applicants getting started in Tree Equity or seeding an innovative concept
- Systems Change/Tree Equity at Scale: applicants ready to launch and implement a larger scale effort or are seeking to sustain and grow a launched Tree Equity initiative
- Be led and implemented by:
- A single organization
- A partnership or coalition of one or more partnered organizations (the lead applicant must be the organization that will hold fiscal responsibility, i.e., submit and receive reimbursements)
What the Fund Will NOT Support
The Fund will not support projects that include the following activities and purposes as named in the original USDA-Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Inflation Reduction Act Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO):
- Research: Basic research as defined in 2CFR 422.1, “Systematic study directed toward fuller knowledge or understanding of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and of observable facts without specific applications towards processes or products in mind.” (Note: Technical transfer, education, and outreach activities associated with applying research can be included in the application.)
- Construction and capital improvements. Examples of construction include facilities, infrastructure, roads, new buildings, culverts, and boardwalks.
- Land acquisition (conservation easement and fee simple) projects.
- Cost-share, reimbursement, and other types of payment provided directly to private landowners. However, Urban and Community Forestry funding (and match) may be used to perform work on private lands; for example, an eligible entity could pay for trees to be planted on private lands with permission of the landowner.
- Small business start-up funding.
- Equipment purchases are rarely approved and will be reviewed prior to the grant award. Equipment rental should be considered as an alternative. Equipment is defined as an article of nonexpendable, tangible personal property having a useful life of more than one year and an acquisition cost of $5,000 or more per unit.
Review Criteria
Applications that meet all the minimum eligibility requirements will be evaluated on the following programmatic criteria:
- Climate Justice: The proposed project serves and centers frontline communities through project representation, participation, and decision-making.
- Tree Equity: The proposed project aims to protect, expand and increase access to tree canopy to maximize the social, physical, health, environmental and economic benefits for disadvantaged communities (as defined by the EPA IRA Disadvantaged Communities Map).
- New Entrant Capacity Building: The proposed project builds capacity among organizations to enter, sustain or grow their action on Tree Equity locally.
- Project Feasibility and Applicant Capability: The proposed project plan includes an appropriate budget relative to its scope and scale, clear milestones, methodology, evaluation framework, and a project team with the capability and capacity to successfully execute the project within the proposed timeline and cost.
Applications that successfully meet the above criteria will then undergo a financial review that includes due diligence of submitted financial documents and federal forms.
Funding Amount
Applicants may request any funding amount based on the unique needs of their project between a minimum of $100,000 and a maximum of $1,500,000. Projects may be awarded at a lower amount than requested based on review of the entire application. Funding amounts will be administered via a quarterly reimbursement schedule for each year of individual grant awards.
Timeline
- September 30, 2024: Application Period Opens
- October 1, 2024: RFP information session, watch the recording or download the slides
Information Session Recording – October 1, 2024
- October 25, 2024: Application Period Closes
- By December 31, 2024: Applicants notified of award status
Application Submission Instructions and Materials
The application is now live and will close on October 25. If you missed the information session on October 1, you can watch the recording here.
Have questions about the application portal? Read the guide here.
NOTE: In order to submit an application, you must possess a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) from SAM.gov. Organizations registered with SAM.gov will already have a UEI. Organizations not yet registered with SAM.gov only need to request a UEI (without registering). Click here to learn more about requesting a UEI.
In our first round of funding, American Forests has awarded over $25 million in grants to 33 municipalities and 3 community-based organizations across the Midwest and Northeast to help establish and implement Tree Equity programs including equitable tree planning and planting, nursery development, community engagement, workforce development and more. This funding is a portion of $50 million received from the USDA Forest Service, Urban and Community Forestry Program as part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA).
The cities and organizations awarded are:
- City of Kewanee, IL
- City of Springfield, IL
- Village of Rantoul, IL
- City of Elkhart, IN
- City of Bloomington, IN
- City of Huntington, IN
- City of Goshen, IN
- City of Kalamazoo, MI
- City of Sterling Heights, MI
- City of Ann Arbor, MI
- City of Jackson, MI
- City of Pontiac, MI
- City of Richfield, MN
- City of Shoreview, MN
- Onondaga Earth Corps (located in City of Syracuse, NY)
- Village of Haverstraw, NY
- Village of Lancaster, NY
- Olmsted City (located in Utica, NY)
- City of Yonkers, NY
- Town of Smithtown, NY
- City of Albany, NY
- Village of Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
- City of Kingston, NY
- City of Long Beach, NY
- City of Glens Falls, NY
- City of Coshocton, OH
- City of Fostoria, OH
- City of Obetz, OH
- City of Port Clinton, OH
- City of Bowling Green, OH
- City of Xenia, OH
- City of Lancaster, PA
- Borough of Mechanicsburg, PA
- City of Allentown, PA
- City of Easton, PA
- Community Foundation for the Alleghenies, Inc (located in City of Johnstown, PA)
*USDA and American Forests are equal opportunity providers and employers.*
