Prizes and in-kind mentorship services to USA nonprofit and for-profit organizations, non-federal government entities, academic institutions, and individuals for activities related to climate and clean energy. Funding is intended for projects to improve partnerships and relationships with disadvantaged communities. Specifically, this prize seeks to enable and enhance business and technology incubation, acceleration, and other community-based and university-based entrepreneurship and innovation in climate and clean energy technologies.

Through this prize, DOE seeks to identify and support:

• Organizations that are community-centric and have experience in successfully engaging with disadvantaged communities
• Organizations that promote environmental, climate, and energy justice and demonstrate strong community ties
• Organizations that can use their experience to serve as bridges between DOE and disadvantaged communities
• Clean energy grassroots innovation related to technology advancement in climate and clean energy with a focused impact on disadvantaged communities.

The goals of the prize are to:

1. Enable clean energy and climate innovation, and entrepreneurship programming and capabilities at colleges and universities that serve large populations of students underrepresented in STEM, Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), community colleges, and undergraduate institutions.
2. Create or increase participation in clean energy and climate-smart job training and job placement/hiring, including programs that target participation from disadvantaged communities, including formerly incarcerated individuals and youth transitioning out of foster care. Workforce training could cover identifying energy efficiencies and greenhouse gas inventories, renewable energy manufacturing, and deployment.
3. Foster grassroots innovation related to just and equitable clean energy deployment through activities focusing on community-centric networks and bottom-up solutions for sustainable development, based on the needs of the communities involved.
4. Identify and fund activities that will help disadvantaged communities become aware of, apply into, or otherwise secure DOE funding or other federal, state, local government or private (forprofit or nonprofit) funding, in support of the government’s Justice40 goals.
5. Enable the development of replicable clean energy transitions that deliver just and equitable benefits to disadvantaged communities in support of the government’s Justice40 goals. 

It is expected that Phase One funds will enable the winning organizations to fund proposed programs for approximately one full-time-equivalent person and carry out related activities that may include actively engaging with disadvantaged communities in their regions, building relationships through workshops and other events, providing technical support, and facilitating connections with technical expertise and academic institutions. These are examples of potential activities, and organizations are encouraged to think creatively about specific activities that play to their strengths and serve their communities.