Grant-Funded Programs
The Office of Sustainability works closely with local, state, and federal government entities, Community-Based Organizations (“CBO’s”), and non-profit organizations to pursue grant opportunities and disburse those funds to empower local climate action and support the implementation of the RVAgreen 2050 Climate Equity Action Plan.
On August 16, 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) was signed into law setting the course for historic investments in equity, climate change, and clean energy. The IRA coupled with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021 (BIL) has created a unique opportunity for the City of Richmond to significantly advance climate action alongside non-profits, private developers, and other professional industries.
The Office of Sustainability is dedicated to ensuring the City of Richmond becomes the story of how the IRA can transform a community.
An important aspect of the IRA and BIL funding opportunities is that they must align with the Federal government’s Justice40 initiative, which seeks to ensure that 40 percent of the overall benefits flow to “disadvantaged communities” that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution.
Below is a comprehensive list of all grants awarded to-date, the grants’ purpose, and our community partners.
Total Awarded: $9,680,000
Urban and Community Forestry Grant
Total Awarded: $6,000,000
Lead: Richmond Office of Sustainability
A coalition of Black- and Brown-Led Community-Based Organizations and the City of Richmond will accelerate urban greening efforts with the goal of reducing environmental inequalities. This grant funds the development of an Urban Forest Master Plan including a street tree inventory, urban tree canopy assessment, and tree equity assessment, planting and maintaining 3,000 urban trees; engaging 555 youths, 575 adults, and 25 faith-based organizations; certifying 150 urban agriculture professionals; and removing invasive species across five acres within these disadvantaged communities.
Learn more about the Urban and Community Forestry Program.
Partners:Groundwork RVA, Southside ReLeaf, Happily Natural, VA Interfaith Power and Light, Richmond Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities, Richmond Department of Public Works
Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Futures Grant
Amount Awarded: $500,000
Lead: PlanRVA
The Energy Future Grants (EFG) will support a multijurisdictional planning effort to develop a deployment-ready “Energy Savings Action Hub” program to serve households in the Greater Richmond Area. The Energy Savings Action Hub program will provide a one-stop-shop for navigating home energy retrofit assistance, including comprehensive home energy audits, referrals to vetted contractors, access to all applicable economic incentives, and applications for project financing, as needed. Once the Hub is created, the collaborative will then be eligible to apply for implementation dollars that will enable the group to roll the project out within each community.
Learn more about the Energy Futures Grant.
Partners: Virdiant, Henrico County, Chesterfield County, Town of Ashland, Chickahominy Tribe Eastern Division, and project:HOMES
DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Communities LEAP Grant
Amount Awarded: $50,000
Lead: Climate Community Collaborative
The DOE Communities LEAP (Local Energy Action Program) aims to facilitate sustained community-wide economic and environmental benefits primarily through DOE’s clean energy deployment work. This opportunity is specifically open to low-income, energy-burdened communities that are also disadvantaged and/or are experiencing direct economic impacts from a shift away from historical reliance on fossil fuels. Under Communities LEAP, DOE matches selected communities with technical assistance providers who assist them with bringing their clean energy planning and economic development vision to life.
Learn more about the Communities LEAP Program.
Partners: Climate Community Collaborative
DOE NREL Clean Energy to Communities (C2C) Program
Amount Awarded: Technical Assistance
Lead: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL
The Richmond OOS is one of 45 entities that will collaborate on common clean energy opportunities and challenges through the Clean Energy to Communities (C2C) program's peer-learning cohorts. These participants—including county and local governments, Tribes, community-based organizations, and utilities—will convene regularly from July to December 2024 to exchange strategies and best practices, learn in a collaborative environment from each other and DOE’s national laboratory experts, and workshop their pathways to agrivoltaics implementation, residential energy efficiency programs, or municipal fleet electrification.
Learn more about the Clean Energy to Communities Program.
Partners: The Department of Energy (DOE), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), World Resources Institute (WRI), Virginia Clean Cities (VCC)
ARPA Neighborhood Climate Resilience Grants
Amount Awarded: $865,000
Lead: Multiple Organizations
The Neighborhood Climate Resilience Grant Program supports the implementation of equity-centered, neighborhood-based planning, and climate resilience projects within the City of Richmond. The funded projects range from urban forestry initiatives to community design efforts, all aimed at enhancing the city’s sustainability and resilience to climate impacts.
The NCR grant program has been extended through Mayor Stoney’s 2024-2025 budget. Learn more about the NCR grant program here.
Partners:Bridging the Gap in Virginia, James River Association, The Church Hill Association of RVA, Richmond Tree Stewards, Southside ReLeaf, Verdant Richmond, Community Climate Collaborative, SevaTruck Richmond Foundation, The Happily Natural, Tech for Troops, Capital Region Land Conservancy, Second Baptist Church, Storefront for Community Design, Girls for a Change, Living Water Community Center, Capital Trees, Kinfolk Community
Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG)
Amount Awarded: $265,000
Lead: Richmond Office of Sustainability
Through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program, the City of Richmond's Office of Sustainability is partnering with the Office of Housing and Community Development, the Department of Public Utilities, and the Office of Emergency Communications to provide energy efficiency assistance to our low-income residents in alignment with on-going programs prioritizing home safety, lead pipe removal, and flood resilience.
Virdiant, a local non-profit that provides community energy services, will bring the necessary energy expertise to perform home energy audits, install energy saving fixtures, and identify energy efficiency opportunities and incentives tailored to each homeowner. Virdiant will serve roughly the same 60 single-family homes receiving repairs through HCD’s Healthy Homes Program, providing “test in” energy audits to identify and prioritize opportunities to maximize energy burden reductions obtained by funded repairs.
Learn more about the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program.
Partners: Richmond Department of Housing & Community Development, Richmond Department of Public Utilities, Richmond Office of Emergency Communications, and Virdiant
Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) Regional Planning
Amount Awarded: $1,000,000
Lead: PlanRVA
The Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) program provides $5 billion in grants to states, local governments, tribes, and territories to develop and implement ambitious plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful air pollution. Authorized under Section 60114 of the Inflation Reduction Act, this two-phase program provides $250 million for noncompetitive planning grants, and approximately $4.6 billion for competitive implementation grants.
Phase 1 of the CPRG program provides flexible support to states, local governments, tribes, and territories regardless of where they are in their climate planning and implementation process. Planning grant recipients are using the funding to design climate action plans that incorporate a variety of measures to reduce GHG emissions from across their economies in six key sectors (electricity generation, industry, transportation, buildings, agriculture/natural and working lands, and waste management).
Learn more about the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) Program.
Partners: PlanRVA