Up to $9.5 million is available to award grants between $10,000 and $2,000,000 from the Climate Smart Communities Grant Program for implementation projects related to flood risk reduction, extreme event preparation, reduction of vehicle miles travelled (VMT), reduction of food waste, reduction of landfill methane leakage, and reduction of hydrofluorocarbons emissions from refrigeration and other air conditioning equipment. In addition, $500,000 is available to award grants between $10,000 and $100,000 for certification projects that advance adaptation, land use, transportation, and organic waste management planning, inventory and assessment actions aligned with Climate Smart Communities Certification requirements.

The Climate Smart Communities Grant Program is a competitive 50/50 matching grant program for municipalities to conduct climate change adaptation or mitigation implementation projects, or to undertake eligible actions as part of a strategy to achieve Climate Smart Communities Certification.

Any county (or NYC borough), city, town, or village of the State of New York is eligible to apply. Registered or Certified Climate Smart Communities (CSC) will receive additional points in the competitive scoring system, but you do not need to be a Registered or Certified CSC to apply.

The complete Request for Applications (RFA) for the Climate Smart Communities Grant Program is available here. It is essential to read the RFA to obtain complete details on the program, including information on application evaluation and scoring.

Apply for the Climate Smart Communities Grant Program through the NYS Consolidated Funding Application (CFA), available here. Hand-delivered, facsimile, mailed or e-mailed applications will NOT be accepted. In addition to the application portal, information on other NYS grant opportunities, instructions for applicants, and a schedule of statewide application workshops are available at the CFA website.

Applications are due by 4 pm on July 28, 2017. Applications will NOT be accepted after this date and time.