EPA Region 9 Environmental Justice (EJ) Grant Successes

Since 1994, EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region has awarded 150 small grants to 124 organizations, totaling over $3 million. Nearly 90% of the recipients have been non-profit organizations, including tribal grassroots organizations.

Environmental Justice Small Grants are a powerful tool for engaging communities in environmental problem solving. Many grant recipients use EPA funding to establish stewardship in their communities through volunteer programs and projects. For example, the Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) has created a video-learning tool, Creating Healthy Neighborhoods. EHC is using a grant to train community members about how to engage in local land use decisions. Additionally, Community Services Unlimited reached over one hundred Los Angeles residents through healthy home gardening workshops; Amigos de los Rios organized 27 stewardship days that reached over 300 residents; Urban Habitat convened numerous community education events and forums on climate change that reached an estimated 300 community residents; The Watershed Project enlisted its members and volunteers in replacing over 2,000 cubic feet of hard packed clay with native habitat and green space in the heart of Richmond, California; the Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services Clinic in Hawaii trained 10 community volunteer health educators and reached over 600 local residents with culturally relevant information about healthy homes; the Community Water Center empowered 141 San Joaquin Valley volunteer community members to advocate for solutions to drinking water challenges at the local, regional and state levels; Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice educated over 230 truckers, more than 20 businesses, two schools and one daycare center and over 2,000 Kettleman City and Avenal residents about the impacts of diesel truck idling and brought on nine businesses to a voluntary “Good Neighbor Agreement” to abide by anti-idling laws.

• Creating Healthy Neighborhoods
• Community Services Unlimited
• Amigos de los Rios
• Urban Habitat
• The Watershed Project
• Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services Clinic 
• Community Water Center
• Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice

• Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services: Our Community, Our Health (pdf)
• Community Water Center: Protecting Groundwater from the Ground Up (pdf)
• GreenAction for Health and Environmental Justice: Diesel Education, Emission Reduction, and Environmental Health Project (pdf)
• Yurok Tribe Environmental Program: Climate Change Impacts Assessment and Prioritization Project (pdf)
• Amigos de los Rios: The Emerald Necklace (pdf)
• Communities for a Better Environment, LA Youth Making the Connection: Climate Change, Local Fossil Fuel Impacts and Alternatives (pdf)
• Community Services Unlimited, from the Ground up: Promoting Safe and Healthy Urban Agriculture (pdf)
• The Malama Learning Center: Hawaii Green Collar Institute (pdf)
• Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment, New Voices are Rising—Youth Creating Environmentally Just Communities (pdf)
• Urban Habitat: Community Climate Action Engagement Project (pdf)
• The Watershed Project: Richmond Greenway Bioswale and Native Plant Garden (pdf)