Do applications need to evaluate Project Subrecipients based off of the required Environmental Justice metrics?

Full Question

EJ MOP that that we must include in our application are:

i) the number of Project Subrecipients receiving a subaward who have never before received EPA or GLRI funds;

ii) the number of community members engaged in the program as a result of Principal Recipient efforts;

iii) the number of community members engaged, meaning, community members are involved in planning, oversight, and/or execution, including providing, collecting, and applying community feedback;

iv) the number of communities where projects are taking place – as identified by ZIP and HUC 8- or 12-digit code.

Answer

To what degree do we have to identify evaluation criteria in our application for the elements listed in 3.e. above and to what degree we have flexibility in refining those criteria after the project is awarded, as we anticipate using expert stakeholder partners’ input to refine those criteria when the grant is awarded. The EJ metrics listed are those that Principal Recipients report to EPA and do not need to be included in evaluation criteria of the Project RFAs. Any changes to proposed EJ metrics follows the same guidelines as outlined for the Outputs and Outcomes and GLRI measures of progress questions above.