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EPA Announces $200,000 of Urban Environmental Grants for MA Groups; Releases 5-Year Report on Urban Initiatives in Boston, Hartford & Providence
Contact: Andrew Spejewski, EPA Press Office, (617- 918-1014)
For Immediate Release: January 24, 2002; Release # 02-01-08
BOSTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced nearly $200,000 in grants for six projects addressing urban environmental and public health problems in the Boston area and released a report highlighting EPA's work on environmental issues in Boston, Providence and Hartford.
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The six grants from EPA New England will fund projects ranging from youth leadership programs in Roxbury, to growing food on vacant lots in Roxbury and Dorchester, to community planning in Chelsea. EPA also announced $218,000 in grants to groups in the Providence and Hartford areas for urban environment and public health projects.
The report released today, "Agents of Change: Making the Vision a Reality," documents the accomplishments of EPA New England's Urban Environmental Initiative over the past five years, focusing on environmental problems in Boston, Hartford and Providence. EPA New England has worked with community partners on projects that have helped reduce lead poisoning rates, turned vacant land into urban farms and community gardens, reached thousands of residents through multilingual education campaigns, and started to reduce asthma hospitalization rates in children. EPA New England has awarded and managed over 110 grants worth over $3.3 million in the neighborhoods of Boston, Providence and Hartford, addressing lead poisoning, air quality, urban rivers, open space, environmental education and sustainable development.
"Residents living in urban areas bear a disproportionate share of our nation's environmental problems," said Robert W. Varney, regional administrator for EPA's New England Office. "EPA New England and its community partners have made great progress in restoring the quality of the environment and improving public health in Boston, Providence and Hartford. Today's grants build off the successes of the past and give community groups some of the resources required to continue achieving results for future generations. "
Highlights of the report include:
- Nearly 400 staff, nurses, and school professionals have been
trained in asthma, indoor air quality, and Tools For Schools through
community workshops and conferences.
- In Roxbury, Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE)
operate an ambient air quality monitor and local education campaign
that allows asthmatic children and families understand air quality
conditions on a daily basis and adjust their outdoor activities
to reduce the risk of triggering an asthma attack.
- The Food Project has turned 2 acres of vacant urban land into
small farms that engage over 3,000 youth to produce and distribute
over 300,000 lbs of organic produce annually in Boston.
- EPA New England and community partners worked with Boston and Providence City environmental strike teams to sample and/or clean up debris, trash and waste on over 1,000 vacant lots.
- Lead poisoning rates in Providence, RI have decreased from 1 in every 3 children to 1 in every 5 children.
- The report is available on-line at http://www.epa.gov/region1/eco/uei, or call (617) 918-1797 to request a printed copy.
The competitively awarded grants announced today include:
Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE): ACE received a $20,000 grant to support the Roxbury Environmental Empowerment Project (REEP). ACE is partnering with Roxbury elementary schools and the T Riders Union to develop youth leadership around environmental justice and public health issues in Roxbury. Through this grant, the recipient will hire five youth leaders through its Internship Program and provide in-depth training on environment and public health issues so these youth can serve as peer leaders and trainers for others. These youth leaders will engage nearly 300 youth in local schools and other out-of-school workshops and educate them on the issues of asthma, indoor air quality, ambient air quality, and environmental justice. REEP's education and organizing work will also reach thousands of neighborhood residents (youth and adults) who attend workshops and events.
The Food Project (working with the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative) was awarded a $25,000 grant. The Food Project responds to locally-articulated, high-priority environmental justice issues through its community-based urban agriculture and capacity-building initiatives. The Food Project will train, educate, and employ urban youth from Roxbury and Dorchester to practice sustainable urban agriculture and integrated pest management on its urban vacant lots that have been reclaimed as small farms, including the West Cottage Street Lot. The youth, Food Project staff and community residents will work together to learn about environmental hazards, including lead poisoning and pesticide contamination, and will be taught safe and sustainable techniques including integrated pest management and other pesticide-free techniques in urban food production. The goal of the project is to increase community capacity to create a safe, pesticide-free urban food system throughout greater citizen, corporate and environmental group engagement and action.
New Ecology Inc. was awarded $4,400 to support a portion of the Green Community Development Corporation initiative. New Ecology is a nonprofit environmental organization that promotes economic development in distressed urban communities throughout New England by using law, planning, education, and advocacy to help implement development projects that are economically viable and socially and environmentally responsible. The Green Community Development Corporation's (CDCs) Initiative project is creating a functioning network of "green" community development groups. This will allow participating members to share sustainable development strategies and successes, build consensus around issue, coordinate technical assistance, financial resource resources and academic programs.
Neighborhood of Affordable Housing, a non-profit group in Chelsea, is receiving $30,000 for a Chelsea Creek Master Planning Process and Comparative Risk Assessment Action Agenda. Chelsea Creek is considered the most polluted, least accessible part of the Boston Harbor watershed. This project will create a community-based master plan to help improve dialogue with industry and local residents about changes needed for Chelsea Creek. The project will help identify opportunities for sound restoration and revitalization projects, support safe public access and increased open space, and prepare residents to participate in the municipal harbor planning process; and impact zoning decisions. The Neighborhood of Affordable Housing will be working with the Chelsea Green Space and Recreation Committee, Chelsea Creek Action Group, Campaign for the Water's Edge, Greater Boston Urban Resources Partnership, MA Riverways, MA Environmental Trust, The Watershed Institute, MA Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, MIT and Tufts University.
The Neighborhood Planning Association of Back Bay was awarded $40,000 to support work through the Alliance of Boston Neighborhoods for Community Education for Participation in Transportation Planning. This project will create educational resources for residents active in local planning issues to learn more about the environmental and public health factors, issues, and policies related to transportation in Greater Boston. This project will host a series of community forums for Greater Boston residents to participate in interactive and educational workshops on a range of issues impacting local transportation planning. The project hopes to engage and inform residents currently living in low income and diverse neighborhoods that are not typically engaged in transportation planning efforts and serve as a model that can be replicated.
EPA also is awarding $80,000 to The Freedom House to support the ongoing work of the Greater Boston Urban Resources Partnership. The Freedom House and the Greater Boston Urban Resources partnership have joined forces to spend the next year creating a sustainable upscale plan to service urban communities throughout the State of Massachusetts. This effort will build off successes and experiences of the past investments in Greater Boston and encourage creative solutions to issues impacting urban areas across Massachusetts. The project will document the investments and measurable results from projects completed during the past four years in Greater Boston and identify ways to provide technical and financial assistance to support urban community needs across Massachusetts.
METADATA
- TITLE: EPA Announces $200,000 of Urban Environmental
Grants for MA Groups; Releases 5-Year Report on Urban Initiatives
in Boston, Hartford & Providence
- ABSTRACT: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
today announced nearly $200,000 in grants for six projects addressing
urban environmental and public health problems in the Boston area
and released a report highlighting EPA's work on environmental
issues in Boston, Providence and Hartford.
- PURPOSE: Public Information
- ORIGINATOR: Regional Administrator's Office
- PUBLICATION DATE: 01/24/2002
- ACCESS CONSTRAINTS: N/A
- AVAILABILITY: N/A
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- COVERAGE: N/A
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- POINT OF CONTACT FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Andrew Spejewski,
Office of the Regional Administrator
EPA New England
1 Congress Street, Suite 1100 (RAA)
Boston, MA 02114-2023
617-918-1014
- RESPONSIBLE PARTY:
Andrew Spejewski, EPA Press Office (617-918-1014)
Office of the Regional Administrator
- DATE OF CREATION: 01/24/2002
- AGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION: N/A
- EXPIRATION DATE: 02/24/2002