ECRG New Applicant Resources

Latest News
Last Updated: March 1, 2024

Application Decisions Out Now!

We are thrilled to announce that DTSC’s Office of Brownfields has approved over $41 million in funding for the second round of the Equitable Community Revitalization Grant (ECRG). ECRG serves as a crucial catalyst for expediting the investigation, cleanup and beneficial reuse of contaminated brownfields in California’s historically vulnerable and disadvantaged communities.

While celebrating this milestone, we acknowledge that our journey is only the beginning, and there is much more work to be done as we endeavor to advance environmental justice across California. With the invaluable support of our Brownfields Technical Assistance Provider, the nonprofit Center for Creative Land Recycling (CCLR), DTSC’s Office of Brownfields is actively promoting ECRG throughout the state. ECRG’s Round 2 outreach included in person “ECRGatherings” in Fresno and Fontana. We hosted ECRGenius webinars to share the draft guidelines and held a comment period to encourage state-wide participation.  We met with nonprofits, cities, counties, Tribes, community groups, and land trusts throughout the state as part of our ECRGrowing campaign. The feedback that we collected led to enhancement of the guidelines, which we shared in an open letter to all our stakeholders, ECRG ECRGathering & ECRGrowing Feedback Report and Call to Action for Round 3.

Once the Round 2 application was released, we met with potential applicants to help them with their brownfield journeys. We were grateful to have connected with 230 entities, representing 37 of California’s 58 counties. Our next goal is to engage with communities in all 58 counties. In subsequent rounds, our focus will continue to be on communities burdened with heavy environmental challenges, as indicated by high CalEnviroScreen scores. This includes densely populated urban centers, as well as regions in the far north, central and rural areas of our state. We are dedicated to fostering broader geographic participation in ECRG and will continue our state-wide engagement between grant cycles.

In the coming weeks, we will showcase some of the inspiring projects that will greatly benefit from the environmental investigation and cleanup that ECRG funding provides. We encourage stakeholders to visit the ECRG website for updates and to join us in this transformative journey towards safe and protective community revitalization.

Sign up for our ECRG Newsletter to stay up to date on upcoming webinars and events. 

ECRG Newsletter

ECRGenius Webinars (click to open)

TitleLinksDescription
ECRGenius Webinar #1: Round 2 OverviewRecording

PDF		An introduction to ECRG Round 2. You’ll get a sneak-peek at the new guidelines which are going to be released on August 14 2023. The session will have a particular emphasis on eligibility, application requirements, funding allocations, the ECRG ethos, and how ECRG aims to advance environmental justice goals.
ECRGenius Webinar #2: Eligibility, Ownership and AccessRecording

PDF		A demystification of the ECRG Eligibility Self-Check Tool, CERCLA Liability defense, the All Appropriate Inquiry process, and site access requirements and documentation. The session will present real-life scenarios to demonstrate the application of these requirements.
ECRGenius Webinar #3: Engagement and ReuseRecording

PDF		A synopsis of the ECRG engagement approach, community benefit commitments, equitable reuse, and contract requirements. The session will convey how vital it is to involve the community in cleanup and reuse for successful and equitable outcomes of ECRG projects. We are pleased to welcome the University of California at Berkeley’s Othering and Belonging Institute as a special guest for this ECRGenius webinar.
ECRGenius Webinar #4: FLUXX and Application WalkthroughRecording

PDF		For the last and ultimate ECRGenius webinar, the major questions of the ECRG application directly on the Fluxx application portal. Join us for this one-time, step-by-step rundown and get pointers for successful application completion.

ECRG Resources Round 2

Eligibility Self-Check Tool

Updated September 13, 2023

ECRGuidelines

Appendix G Amended 8-28-2023
Page 75 Amended 9-20-2023
If you opened this document before 9-20-2023, clear your cache and then download this document.

Application Questions

Fluxx User Guide

Round 2 Guide Now Available
(9-12-2023)

CalEnviroScreen 4.0 & Legislative District Finder

Project Suitability Letter

ECRG & Prevailing Wage

Grant Agreement

Owner Attestation Form

Round 2 Guide

FAQs

1. What is the Equitable Community Revitalization Grant?

  • The Equitable Community Revitalization Grant (ECRG) provides about $270 million in grants to incentivize cleanup and investment in disadvantaged areas of California. Currently, we are in Round 2 and the application period closes on October 9, 2023.  There are three grants types that are summarized below.  A more detailed description is included in the ECRGenius Webinar #1: Round 2 Overview and Section 1.3 of the ECRGuidelines.
    • Community-wide Assessment (CWA) grants for $350,000
    • Site-specific Investigation grants for $150,000 to $7,000,000
    • Site-specific Cleanup grants for $300,000 to $10,000,000

2. Who can apply and can I submit more than one application?

A full description of the Eligibility Criteria is available in the Eligibility Self-Check Tool and in Section 2 of the ECRGuidelines.

  • Local public entities, Tribes, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations.
  • Current ECRG grantees who have expended 70% of their current grants or received a waiver from their DTSC Project Manager by demonstrating they are a larger organization with capacity to take on a second grant without impacting the first grant(s).
  • There is no limit to the number of applications an applicant may submit at this time.

3. How do I apply for ECRG?

4. Can you apply for both a US EPA Brownfields Grant and a DTSC ECRG? Can an entity with an existing US EPA Brownfields Grant apply for a DTSC ECRG?

  • Yes, but DTSC and US EPA will need to ensure that grant funds are not used to double-fund any activities.

5. What are the terms of the grant?

  • The grant period is two (2) years after the ECRG grant agreement is fully executed. Only costs incurred after the grant agreement is fully executed are eligible for reimbursement. Applicants should review the non-negotiable grant terms and conditions in the ECRG Agreement prior to submitting the application.

6. Do I need to notify the community or have public meetings prior to applying? Should the community engagement be for the cleanup or the reuse of the site?

  • Public or community meetings are not required before applying, but outreach is among the criteria that are evaluated as part of the decision making process. There are minimum requirements for community engagement which can be reviewed in the Round 2 Guidelines. These requirements can be met with future activities which can be funded by the ECRG. Outreach should aim to educate the community about the environmental status of the site and gather input on the future reuse.

7. How are costs reimbursed?

  • The grantee will submit invoices totaling a minimum of $15,000 for pre-approved activities and will receive reimbursement upon DTSC review and approval, in accordance with the Terms and Conditions of the Grant Agreement. These invoices do not have to be paid by the grantee in advance to be eligible for reimbursement. Note that DTSC’s reimbursement may take up to 90 days. General invoice requirements can be reviewed here.

8. Will subcontractor markup be allowed when applying for reimbursement?

  • Yes, ECRG Round 2 allows for a maximum markup of 10% from a prime contractor on subcontracts and other direct costs in project budgets and reimbursement requests. These include such costs as drillers, laboratory, utilities, surveyors, utility locators, etc.

9. Is there a specific amount of funding available for each grant type and/or geographic regions?

  • No, there is no set or specific allocation for each grant type or for different geographic regions.

10. If I receive a grant, will the entire project be covered by prevailing wage requirements?

  • Work funded through ECRG requires payment under prevailing wage regulations, work not funded by ECRG should be separately evaluated for applicability of prevailing wage. A Quick Reference Guide on ECRG and Prevailing Wage can be found here.

11. What are eligible activities?

  • Eligible activities will differ for the different grant types and are listed in the Guidelines in Appendix G.

12. ECRG requires cleanup to levels that do not require land use restrictions or operation and maintenance of a remedy if the property is proposed for a reuse such as housing, hospitals, day care centers or similar type uses. Does the cleanup have to be achieved this within the two-year grant term?

  • DTSC recognizes that it may take longer than the grant term to achieve this goal; however, ECRG will only fund approved cleanup activities within the two-year grant term. 

13. Is petroleum considered to be a hazardous substance under ECRG?

14. Can current ECRGrantees average the total amount of reimbursements requested across all their Round 1 ECRGrants to meet the 70% reimbursement requirement?

  • Yes.

15. Are there additional clarifications for current ECRGrantees who are seeking waivers to apply for ECRG Round 2?

  • Yes, the following clarifications have been made.
    1. ECRG will allow Round 1 Grantees with multiple grants to average their total reimbursement requests to meet the 70% requirement.
    2. If any Round 1 grants are complete, that grant can be counted as 100% in the averaging. 
    3. If an ECRGrantee meets the 70% or is eligible for a waiver to apply for Round 2 grant, the Round 2 application could be used for the next phase of the work only if the DTSC Portfolio Manager agrees that the ECRGrantee will be able to complete both the Round 1 scope of work and Round 2 scope of work within each respective 2-year grant funding timeline.
    4. The last day to request a waiver is Friday October 6th at 1:00 PM.  DTSC’s Office of Brownfields cannot guarantee that these last-minute waiver requests can be granted.

Fluxx

 

 

 

 

Application Portal

ECRG Home Page

Current Grantee Resources

ECRGatherings - Feedback Sessions

Brownfields Links