California Air Resources Board

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) Community Air Protection Program (Program) Community Air Grants (CAGs) invites you to review and respond to its Cycle 5 Request for Applications (RFA) solicitation. Authorized by Assembly Bill (AB) 617 (C. Garcia, Chapter 136, Statutes of 2017), CARB provides grants to community-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations and California Native American Tribes for technical assistance and to support participation in the community air protection process.

• Cycle 5 Request for Applications (RFA) - provides the application and instructions, scoring criteria and application considerations for submitting a proposal to CARB for consideration of award for a community air grant. The Cycle 5 RFA was released on September 3, 2024.
  • Appendices A through C included in Cycle 5 RFA document above
  • Appendix D - Definitions and Acronyms
  • Appendix E - Sample Draft Grant Provisions
  • Appendix F - Grant Application Coversheet
  • Appendix G - Grant Work Plan Template
  • Appendix H - Grant Budget Template
  • Appendix I - Sample Tribal Resolution
  • Appendix J - Sample Nonprofit Organization Board Resolution
  • Appendix K - Payee Data Record (STD 204)form

Cycle 5 Application Deadline: All applications must be received to the Community Air Grants email box (airgrants@arb.ca.gov) no later than 11:59 p.m., Pacific Standard Time, Friday, November 1, 2024.

Funding Available: Almost $16M is available for funding for CAG Cycle 5 projects.

Grant Term: The grant term will be approximately from June 2025 through March 2027 or December 2027, depending on the budget funding source awarded, either FY 22-23 or FY23-24.

Maximum Project Awards:

• Educational projects - $300K award
• Technical projects - $500K award
• Focused projects - $500K award

Eligibility
To be eligible for a CAG, applicants must be one of the following:

• A California community-based organization holding a current nonprofit tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) federal Internal Revenue Code.
• A California organization holding a nonprofit tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the federal Internal Revenue Code as the Grantee, in partnership with a California community-based organization without Section 501(c)(3) status designated as a sub-grantee.
•  A California Native American Tribe. For the purposes of this grant, this includes all Federally Recognized Tribes, and other California Native American Tribes, as defined by Governor’s Executive Order B-10-11 and N-15-19.

Not Eligible
Those not eligible for CAG funding including the following (this list is not exhaustive):

• Individuals
• Schools, school districts, universities, or colleges (public or private)
• California organization holding a tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the federal Internal Revenue Code ancillary or affiliated to a local, municipal, city, county, or state governmental agency or entities

All projects must be wholly located in California, and in and benefit disadvantaged and low-income communities, per Senate Bill 535 (De León, Chapter 830, Statutes of 2012) and Assembly Bill 1550 (Gomez, Chapter 369, Statutes of 2016).

Project Examples - For more project examples, also see the Cycle 5 RFA. 

• Educational project – Building community capacity to participate in the community air protection program
• Technical project – Providing community air monitoring training  
• Focused Emission Reduction Strategies Expansion (ERSE) project – Deploying a specific strategy from an approved Community Emissions Reduction Program in a new community with similar sources of air pollution
• Focused Local- Community Emissions Reduction Plan (L-CERP) project – Convening a community to develop a Local Community Emissions Reduction Plan in coordination with local government and other stakeholders

Pre-Application Assistance - CARB will conduct three public workshops to assist interested applicants with any questions in developing a competitive application in the Fall 2024. Workshops will be recorded. The same information will be presented in the September 30 and October 8 workshops. To register for the workshops, please click on the respective workshop location link below.

• September 30, 2024 - Cycle 5 RFA Public Workshop 1

                Time:               4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

                Location:        Remote Access Only (Zoom)

• October 1, 2024 - How to Prepare a Grant Proposal Workshop

                Time:               4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

                Location:         Remote Access Only (Zoom)

• October 8, 2024 - Cycle 5 RFA Public Workshop 2

                 Time:               4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

                 Location:        Remote Access Only (Zoom)

Grant Resources

• RFA Frequently Asked Questions (Sept 2024..pdf)
• Cycle 5 Grant Factsheet (April 2024, .pdf)
• CEQA Acknowledgement documentation - required for all CAG projects
• Project Summaries for Previous Cycles:
  • Cycle 1 and Cycle 2
  • Cycle 3
  • Cycle 4

Cycle 5 RFA Development Background

In development of this RFA, CARB staff released a Draft RFA for public comment on July 19, 2024, and released its draft engagement plan. CARB’s outreach and engagement process will include representatives of communities consistently nominated for the CAPP, previous applicants, past and current grantees, air districts, Tribal governments, local land use agencies, academia, business, and industry. CARB invited interested stakeholders to provide written comments and conducted two public virtual workshops on August 20 and August 22, 2024, to hear from stakeholders on what should be considered in finalizing the RFA. Simultaneous Spanish translation was made available and the workshop presentation was provided in English and Spanish. The Draft RFA public comment period closed on August 25, 2024. After consideration of comments received, CARB released the Cycle 5 Request for Applications on September 3, 2024, which outlines grant application instructions and scoring criteria.