Community Engagement and Collaborative

Governance Structure
Purpose: To ensure that communities are active participants and decision makers in the
development and implementation of Track I CCG grants, applicants must submit a
Community Engagement and Collaborative Governance Plan (Attachment E). This plan
ensures that communities are active participants and decision makers in the development
and implementation of the proposed projects. The attachment should demonstrate how
you will inform, respond to, and engage community members throughout project
development and performance.

Goals of Community Engagement and Collaborative

Governance Plan Bottom Line
Active and ongoing community engagement will be Conduct robust community
critical to ensure that the projects are community driven. engagement throughout the
EPA is looking for applicants who can show pre-existing process – from design to
implementation. Provide
community outreach and engagement to ensure the
detailed roles and
projects are meeting community needs. Your application
responsibilities for the Lead
will need to show:
Applicant, Collaborating
• Past Community Outreach and Entities, and community
residents and/or community-
Engagement Conducted selected representatives.
How your past engagement with the Project Area
community affected the Strategy and associated project selection and approach in your
application. This includes the outreach and engagement methods you used for the Project
Area and specific neighborhoods or groups within the Project Area.

• Community Engagement Plan Implementation

The specific community engagement methods (e.g. community meetings, surveys, social
media advertisements) you will use and how they will lessen barriers and involve
governmental stakeholders that are necessary to support the overall project performance.

• Collaborative Governance Structure

The specific roles and responsibilities each organization or community representative will
have throughout project development, management, and implementation. This should
include how community members or chosen Double Check
representatives will be meaningfully included, the Has community feedback influenced:
process for internal coordination and decision-  the Community Vision Description
making, and the process for replacing a  the Climate Action Strategies
 the Pollution Reduction Strategies
collaborating entity.

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Guiding Questions and Considerations

Past Community Outreach and Engagement Conducted
1. What key neighborhoods and communities have you reached out to?

2. How have you used existing relationships with community partners and
organizations to capture diverse perspectives?

3. What was the method and frequency of the outreach and engagement?

4. What did you learn through the outreach process? Consider what best practices and
available resources you identified, as well as knowledge gaps, community-specific
concerns, hopes and dreams, and shared goals.

5. How did the community input inform the selection of Strategies and Projects? What
changes did you make in response to the information you collected during
outreach?

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Community Engagement Plan Implementation

1. How will you continue to meaningfully engage members of the community?
Describe:

a. Outreach methods that provide opportunities for broad and diverse community
member involvement:

b. Mechanisms for how you will be accountable to the needs and preferences of
residents in the Project Area:

c. How you will continuously inform communities throughout the entire application
and project life:

2. How will you overcome or lessen barriers to participation?

Barriers may include:

a. Lack of awareness b. Lack of access (time/location)

c. Cultural or social norms

d. Lack of motivation

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3. What are the appropriate government agencies you need to involve in carrying out
your projects? These include federal, state, local, and Tribal governments.

a. Which government agencies will you reach out to and how?

b. How will you involve these government agencies in the projects?

Collaborative Governance Structure

Roles and Responsibilities

1. What are the roles and responsibilities of the Lead Applicant, Statutory Partner, and
each Collaborating Entity?

2. Who are the community resident(s) or community-selected representative(s) who

are officially part of the collaborative governance structure?

Describe:

a. How will they be/were they selected?

b. What was their involvement in selecting the Strategies?

c. What roles will they play in overseeing implementation?

d. What additional responsibilities, if any, do they have on the project?

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3. How have you reached consensus among all your partners on these roles and
responsibilities? How have you documented and communicated these roles and
responsibilities among the partners and to the community?

Process for Internal Coordination and Decision-Making

1. What coordination strategies are you creating to communicate with your
Collaborating Entities and Statutory Partner?

Describe:

c. The method and frequency of communication.

d. Mechanisms to support transparent communication.

2. What type of decision-making process will you use, and who will play a role in
making decisions?

3. How do the Statutory Partner and the Collaborating Entities have real decision-
making authority to implement and achieve project goals?

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Governance Structure

Process for Collaborating Entity Replacement

1. If you need to replace Collaborating Entities, what process will you use? EPA will
need to formally approval of the qualifications, expertise, and experience of the
replacement Collaborating Entity.

Consider:

a. Who needs to be involved in the decision to replace a Collaborating Entity?

b. How will you get input from the other members of the partnership and the
community members/representatives?
c. How will you make sure that the replacement is qualified?

2. How will you make sure that the replacement entity has similar skills, qualifications,
expertise, community support, and experience?

Consider:

a. Keeping records and/or resumes that prove the skills, qualifications, expertise,
community support, and experience of the existing Collaborating Entity.

b. Maintaining ongoing communication and participation with the community and

other potential Collaborating Entities so that they can help identify an alternative
Collaborating Entity, if needed.

c. Understanding the roles and responsibilities of the Collaborating Entity and

demonstrating how an alternative would meet those needs.

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Tips to Consider
This section provides tips for possible concerns and solutions related to the Community
Engagement and Collaborative Governance Plan. See NOFO Section I.G for more
information.
Concerns Solutions to Consider
Meaningful  Consider multiple types of community engagement and outreach
community opportunities (such as online surveys, workshops, advisory
involvement committees).
 Create spaces for brainstorming and sharing experiences together.
 Remember that the point of the project is to improve the lives of the
community, so their voice must be at the center of all decisions.
Clear and  Be clear about how input will be and has been a part of your project
accountable decisions.
outreach  Explain any limits or constraints.
 Have clear roles and responsibilities for stakeholders and partners.
 Use agendas in meetings to maintain clear goals and provide minutes.
 Have a process for collecting, storing, and sharing meeting minutes and
decisions.
 Provide timelines with milestones and make data, measurements, and
reports available to the public.
Continuous  Consider which types of messages are most likely to reach your
outreach and community (such as mail, in-person, social media).
engagement  Community advisory board
 Email lists and physical mailings
 Ongoing public events or presentation
 Other communication tools
Handling of  Multiple methods of announcing outreach and engagement
awareness opportunities.
barriers  Social media; press releases; flyers; direct outreach by partners; short,
low-commitment surveys to generate interest.
Handling of  Consider public transportation, parking, and access for persons with
logistical disabilities.
barriers  Provide childcare and meals, as appropriate and available.
 Hold meetings in an adequate and trusted facility.
 Offer multiple time options to make diverse participation possible.
 Piggyback on other planned events that people are already attending.
 Use websites only as a backup to any engagement and outreach.

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Concerns Solutions to Consider

Handling of  Make sure that community partners are equal partners and able to
cultural or connect with different cultural and social groups.
social barriers  Provide translation services if appropriate, including American Sign
Language.
 Use materials that are easy for the community to read and understand.
 Provide enough background information during outreach activities so
that individuals from the community can meaningfully engage.
 Promote an atmosphere of equal participation by avoiding the use of a
head table or panel at in-person events.
Handling of  Present the Lead Applicant, Statutory Partner, and Collaborating
personal or Entities as being balanced, neutral, and welcoming to diverse
motivational audiences.
barriers  Be transparent about the intent of the engagement and outreach
efforts.
 Communicate how the public can impact the project design.
 Make it clear what the outcomes and results of the projects will be and
how they can benefit the community.
Government  Tribal Nations may have specific procedures on who is able to
involvement represent them.
 Multiple agencies may work in the same communities but not
coordinate.
 Consider other new or ongoing efforts, plans, and policies (such as
town conceptual plans, state incentive programs, or new federal sites
for pollution remediation).
Successful  Modeling collaboration, grace and goodwill go a long way to making the
partnerships decision making easier and the project work better by fostering
goodwill.
 Preparing the application is an opportunity to see if you’ll work well
with potential partners. It is easier to replace a partner in the
application phase than it will be to replace them after EPA has
approved the Collaborating Entities.
Different  Majority rule (more than 50 percent of members of a group support a
methods of decision).
decision-  Plurality (a decision is made based on what has the most support even
making if it is not more than 50 percent of the group).
 Consensus (all members of a group agree on the decision).
 Consider creating a diagram to illustrate decision-making processes,
especially if some entities will have more authority than others.

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Resources
1. EPA Guidance on Participant Support Costs
EPA guidance on participant support costs for community outreach and engagement
efforts.
https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-11/documents/epa-guidance-on-
participant-support-costs.pdf
2. Guidance on Selected Items of Cost for Recipients
EPA guidance on the allowability of certain costs for community outreach and
engagement efforts, including advertising, advisory councils, entertainment,
fundraising, meals and light refreshments, and proposal costs.
https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2018-
05/documents/recipient_guidance_selected_items_of_cost_final.pdf
3. Community Involvement Plans
A Community Involvement Plan (CIP) is a site-specific strategy to enable meaningful
community involvement throughout the Superfund cleanup process.
https://semspub.epa.gov/work/11/174739.pdf
4. Community Engagement Strategy
Issues to consider when planning and designing community engagement approaches
for Tribal Integrated Waste Management Programs.
https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-
03/documents/tribalswcommunityengagementstrategy508.pdf
5. Capacity Building Through Effective Meaningful Engagement: A Tool for Local and
State Governments
A tool for local and state governments to have a roadmap for meaningful engagement
and innovative examples of engagement.
https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-09/epa-capacity-building-through-
effective-meaningful-engagement-booklet_0.pdf
6. Stakeholder Involvement & Public Participation at the U.S. EPA
Provides lessons learned, barriers, and innovative approaches to community
engagement and outreach.
https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPDF.cgi/2000CQR5.PDF?Dockey=2000CQR5.PDF
7. The Model Plan for Public Participation
A report and checklist on public participation from EPA’s National Environmental Justice
Advisory Council.
https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-02/documents/model-public-part-plan.pdf