Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act Summary: Breakdown and Summary for Communities with an Environmental Justice Lens

President Biden signed the bipartisan $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) into law on Nov. 15, 2021. This Act provides monumental investments to improve and repair our roads and bridges, deliver clean drinking water to our schools and homes, mitigate the effects of climate change, improve transportation, and create millions of good-paying jobs.

Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act Summary: Breakdown and Summary for Communities with an Environmental Justice Lens highlights the investments within IIJA that have the potential to aid and lift up environmental justice communities specifically. This publication is to serve as a quick reference guide, broken down section-by-section, into what funds are becoming available for specific projects. It covers transportation infrastructure investments, water, energy, broadband, improving community resilience, and allocations specifically for indigenous communities.

We hope that this document can serve as a useful starting point in our efforts to ensure that funds from IIJA actually reach the frontline and fence-line communities and work to provide long-term solutions to various environmental issues, so that we can be that much closer to forming more viable, resilient, thriving communities.