CPRG Tools and Technical Resources – Meaningful Engagement and Low-Income and Disadvantaged Community (LIDAC) Benefits Analysis

This webpage provides a list of tools and resources that support Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) Planning Grantee efforts in meeting the Low-Income and Disadvantaged Community (LIDAC) Benefits Analysis and community engagement requirements for the Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP) and Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP). These requirements are laid out in the Program Guidance for States, Municipalities, and Air Pollution Control Agencies. The authorizing statute for the CPRG program specifies that recipients should provide information on the extent of expected greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions for LIDACs.

A benefits analysis for LIDACs should therefore assess benefits of GHG reduction measures within such communities. Consistent with the Justice40 Initiative, the PCAP and CCAP should identify disadvantaged communities in the jurisdiction covered by the plan, how the recipient meaningfully engaged with such communities in the development of each plan, and how they intend to continue this engagement into the future. EPA and other federal organizations publish and maintain a variety of resources that grantees may leverage to meet these requirements, including Meaningful Engagement and LIDAC Benefits Analysis resources. These and other datasets and tools are further described below.

Note: There are several other training recordings and supplemental resources on meaningful engagement and the LIDAC Benefits Analysis for CPRG Planning grantees located on the CPRG Technical Assistance Forum (TAF) Resource Library SharePoint site. If you are planning grantee, planning grantee partner, or TAF participant and would like access to the site, please contact [email protected].

Meaningful Engagement

State and metropolitan area lead organizations must involve interested parties in the process for developing the PCAP and CCAP. Recipients are required to involve LIDAC and other interested parties in the PCAP development process through meaningful engagement and inclusion of community priorities. Additionally, recipients are required to engage early, frequently, and purposefully with representatives of LIDACs throughout the CCAP development process and seek conscious input around key decisions and overall progress. Similar to the PCAP and CCAP, the Status Report must show that the recipient has communicated with representatives of LIDACs and other interested parties to identify next steps and funding opportunities.

• Capacity Building Through Effective Meaningful Engagement: A Tool for Local and State Governments is intended to help create or expand plans for meaningful engagement with communities. No two approaches to meaningful engagement will be exactly alike. This tool aims to spark ideas on how to build trust within communities through meaningful engagement. This resource could help recipients fulfill the meaningful engagement requirement outlined in the CPRG program guidance document.
• The Interagency Coordination and Meaningful Engagement with Communities Training Webinar provides insight on the three phases of effective community engagement with local entities. Potential interested parties include urban, rural, and underserved or disadvantaged communities as well as the general public, governmental entities, federally recognized tribes, port authorities, labor organizations, community and faith-based organizations, and private sector and industry representatives. This resource also outlines best practices and tips for creating a community engagement plan and maintaining ongoing engagement.
  • EPA also created a Q&A document that offers additional guidance for LIDAC engagement. 
• The Meaningful Engagement: Update and Technical Resources Training Webinar offers in-depth guidance for what meaningful engagement looks like, how to incorporate meaningful engagement into planning, and how to create and implement a community engagement strategy.
  • EPA also offers a webinar slide deck on how to pursue meaningful engagement.
• On November 16, 2023, EPA announced the release of the draft policy, Achieving Health and Environmental Protection Through EPA’s Meaningful Involvement Policy, for a 60-day public comment period. This policy updates EPA’s 2003 Public Involvement Policy that guides EPA staff to provide meaningful public involvement in all its programs and regions. The revised policy builds on this premise and updates EPA’s public involvement approach. This draft policy is a useful resource to grantees as it outlines an EPA-wide approach to engagement that can be tailored for program and regional needs.

LIDAC Benefits Analysis

The LIDAC Benefits Analysis should include the identification of low-income and disadvantaged communities, a description of the engagement with the identified communities to understand community priorities, and the estimation of potential benefits of the GHG emission reduction measures to the identified communities. Planning grant recipients must include a preliminary analysis of anticipated LIDAC benefits from the GHG reduction measure(s) in their PCAP. Recipients must later submit a CCAP which qualitatively and quantitively evaluates the extent to which any GHG reduction measures in the CCAP will deliver co-pollutant emissions reductions and other LIDAC benefits. Four years after award, the Status Report should include updated analyses of the above requirements.

• The Technical Reference Document for Low-Income and Disadvantaged Communities Benefits Analysis offers further guidance on the recommended analytical approaches and metrics for estimating benefits flowing to LIDACs as required under this program. This resource can be used to better understand EPA’s expectations for the LIDAC Benefits Analysis, including recommended tools for identifying LIDACs and identifying and describing benefits.
• The LIDAC training includes an overview of CPRG requirements for the LIDAC benefits analysis, using CEJST/EJScreen to identify LIDACs, and identifying and describing benefits.
  • The LIDAC Benefits Analysis Webinar explains the purpose of the LIDAC analyses.
  • EPA also offers a Q&A document from CPRG’s Grantee Training on the LIDAC Benefits Analysis.
• Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) and Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool (EJScreen) data are both available for download in multiple file formats. Users can download CSVs to extract census block or tract IDs of disadvantaged communities in their regions. If only one tool will be used to identify LIDACs, EPA recommends that grant recipients use CEJST.
  • EPA has created a combined layer with data from both the CEJST and EJScreen tools to identify LIDACs for the purposes of implementing EPA programs under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), including the CPRG program. This combined layer can be found on the EJScreen tool under “Places” tab and by selecting “Justice 40/IRA” then “EPA IRA Disadvantaged Communities.”
  • The underlying data for this combined layer is available for download here. The database provides a list of all U.S. census tracts, identifies which are designated as disadvantaged under either the CEJST or EJScreen tools, and provides the data in two formats: text file (.csv) and geodatabase file (.gdb). An ArcGIS map identifying EPA IRA disadvantaged communities is available here.