Community-based Circular Economy Strategies to Improve Local Well-being and the Environment

NAPCEA is calling for proposals from organizations to support projects that will help North American communities implement circular economy initiatives and strategies to improve local well-being and the environment. The way resources are being extracted, used and then disposed of in the current linear economy model is putting pressure on natural systems, communities and public health.1 A circular economy shifts toward sustainable production and consumption patterns by improving management and efficient use of materials and resources throughout their life cycles (from extraction to recovery). This shift opens the door to new economic and environmental opportunities, and secures a more sustainable and resilient economic future for our communities.

The NAPECA grant program will receive proposals and support projects that:

• Focus on implementing community-based CE initiatives or strategies that address local, specific and clearly defined environmental issue(s) related to an unsustainable use of raw materials, or sources of waste or pollution;
• Are achieved at the community level where they provide tangible benefits (at the social, material and/or financial level) and promote the involvement of community members and organizations in one or more stages of the project, from its design to its implementation;
• Propose solutions that demonstrate innovation in addressing environmental issue(s) and improving local well-being that could be replicated in other regions or communities;
• Include an implementation plan that clearly identifies concrete and measurable objectives and results (through qualitative and/or quantitative indicators), specific actions/project activities, beneficiaries and actors, an approximate timeframe of implementation and a detailed budget. Most results must be suitable for reporting within the timeframe of NAPECA support (i.e., 12 to 24 months);
• Are carried out by organizations that have the capabilities to successfully perform the project and can leverage other resources (human, material or financial) to achieve greater impact, replicability, scalability and sustainability of the project and its results, once funding has concluded;
• Create formal or informal partnerships, collaborations or linkages among relevant key actors, such as different levels of government, local or Indigenous communities, academia, youth-led organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector within the North American region, generating the interconnections of key actors that are needed for circularity.

Application Instructions

Please submit as one combined pdf labeled with PI’s Lastname, Firstname:

1. A one‐page letter of intent with a description of proposed aims and approach.
2. If the final application requires a statement of broader impacts, please summarize your plans to address the specific requirements on an additional page.
3. CV (not biosketch) of the PI including past grant funding.

to limitedsubs@uw.edu by 5:00 PM Wednesday, November 5, 2025. Proposals are due to the sponsor 12/1/2025 so you will need to have your materials in to the Office of Sponsored Programs by 11/20/2025 if given the go‐ahead by the Limited Submissions review committee.