What is the Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers Program (EJ TCTAC)?
The EJ TCTAC Program is part of the Environmental Protection Agency's Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers Program that is working towards a holistic government-wide framework for providing technical assistance and capacity building resources those most in need to improve and foster thriving communities throughout the country. Region 1 and Region 8 are currently in the TCTAC grant competition phase.
Currently, EPA has selected 16 EJ TCTACs in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy that will receive $177 million to help underserved and overburdened communities across the country. The National Wildlife Federation (Environmental Justice, Health and Community Revitalization Program, Climate and Energy Program and Choose Clean Water Coalition), in partnership with the University of Maryland’s (UMD) Center for Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health (CEEJH) and Environmental Finance Center (EFC) and multiple community-based partners, recently received a $12MM award from EPA to serve as the Region III TCTAC.
Our Mission
Core partners NWF, UMD CEEJH and UMD EFC, will lead a Mid-Atlantic Thriving Communities Hub (MATCH) to be an Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center for EPA Region 3, serving the states of DE, MD, PA, VA, and WV and DC. We will work closely with multiple community-based partners as core partners selected due to their experience and expertise in environmental and energy justice work. Using a ‘hub’ approach, the core partners will act as ‘core hubs’, and the community-based ‘hubs’ will allow for service delivery to be more accessible to potential program participants, both geographically as well as culturally, due to their on-the-ground community presence. The community hubs include:
Provide outreach to underserved, overburdened, rural, and capacity constrained communities in Region III to receive technical assistance;
Deliver technical assistance to increase the capacity of Hubs and communities of concern in Region III to assess environmental and energy justice concerns;
Deliver training and technical assistance to increase the capacity of underserved, overburdened, rural, and capacity constrained communities in Region III to obtain funding to address environmental and energy justice issues; and
Deliver technical assistance to increase hub and community capacity to engage policymakers, government agencies, and industry in projects, programs, and initiatives that will address local environmental and energy justice issues in Region III. We will also work in partnership with TCTACs around the country to assist as needed.
