Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE)
Community Profiles 2006
Level I
- Alaska: Nunakauyarmiut Tribe, Toksook Bay
- Colorado: Citizens for Clean Air in Pueblo (CCAP), Pueblo
- Georgia: Harambee House, Inc., Savannah
- Louisiana: St. Bernard Parish Government, Chalmette
- Massachusetts: Nuestras Raices, Pioneer Valley/Hampden County
- Michigan: Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision (SWDEV)
- Oklahoma: Cherokee Nation, Health Services Cancer Programs, Tahlequah
- South Carolina: City of Rock Hill
- Washington: Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department
Level II
- Arizona: Community Assist of Southern Arizona and the Sonora Environmental Research Institute, Inc, Tucson
- California: West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project
- Massachusetts: Boston Public Health Commission
- Michigan: Earth Keepers, Marquette
- Montana: Montana Indian Country CARE Project, Rocky Mountain College
- New Jersey: Clean Air Communities, NESCAUM, Camden
- Pennsylvania: Penn State University, State College
Level I
Nunakauyarmiut Tribe
Nunakauyarmiut Tribe
Toksook Bay, Alaska
EPA Region 10
Nunakauyarmiut Tribe is the recipient of a Level I CARE cooperative agreement. The Nunakauyarmiut Tribe is the federally recognized Tribal government in Toksook Bay which is one of the members of the Nelson Island Consortium (NIC) of Caninermiut and Qaluyaat Communities, the closest translation from Yup’ik to English is “Working Together to Keep the Coastal and Nelson Island Communities and Environment Clean.” In addition to Toksook Bay, the NIC consists of six other tribal communities: Chefornak, Newtok, Nightmute, Umkumiut, Tununak, and Kipnuk. The villages range in size from 232 to 690 and on average about 25 percent of the community members live below the national poverty line which is not adjusted to take the high cost of living in “roadless” western Alaska into account. This funding will allow the NIC and the Nunauyarmiut Tribe to work together to meet CARE project goals in Toksook Bay and other Nelson Island communities. For thousands of years, the peoples of these communities have shared the Nelson Island area lands and waters for subsistence activities and have led a traditional subsistence way of life, including the retention of Yup’ik as their primary language. The subsistence lands encompass much of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. The communities comprise several of the last few Native communities whose daily language for children, adults and elders is Yup’ik and who lead a fully traditional lifestyle. Objectives include identifying, prioritizing, and reducing toxics through increased community participation in existing or planned programs and building sustainable community-based partnerships.
Prospective CARE Partners: Chefornak Clinic, Chefornak School, State Department of Transportation, City of Chefornak, Village of Chefornak Tribal Council, Chefarnrmute Incorporated, Chaputnguak School, Newtok Corporation, Newtok Village Council, Newtok Clinic, Tom’s Store, Ungusraq Power Company, Tununak IRA Council, Paul T. Albert Memorial School, City of Nightmute, Nightmute Power Plant, Chinuruk Incorporated, Nightmute Traditional Council, Umkumiut Village Council, Nightmute Post Office, Nightmute Health Clinic, Nightmute School, Nightmute Enterprises, City of Toksook Bay, Nunakauiak Yupik Corporation, Nunakauyak Traditional Council, Toksook Post Office, Toksook Bay Clinic, Kipnuk Village Council, Association of Village Council Presidents, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Coastal Village Relief Fund, City of Bethel Recycling, US Fish and Wildlife ServiceYukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation, Lower Kuskokwim School District, NOAA, World Wildlife Fund, University of Alaska: Bethel Kuskokwim Campus, and University of Alaska Fairbanks programs: AMAP, Cold Climate Research, Arctic Climate Research Center.
Citizens for Clean Air in Pueblo (CCAP)
- Final Report (PDF) (124pp, 4 MB)
- Appendix D (PDF) (33pp, 3.4 MB)
- Promising Practices to Improve Community Performance and Sustainability - Tip 7: Emphasize a Bias for Action (PDF) (32pp, 3.9MB)
Citizens for Clean Air in Pueblo (CCAP)
Pueblo, Colorado
EPA Region 8
Citizens for Clean Air in Pueblo (CCAP) is the recipient of a Level I CARE cooperative agreement with the EPA. Since its founding in 2000, CCAP broadly-based membership has worked hard to advocate high standards of air and water quality in Pueblo and Southern Colorado, to inform the public on impacts to air and water quality of existing and proposed enterprises, and to promote informed decision-making on environmental policies in the community. With an economy historically based on heavy industry, Pueblo’s citizens bear a large portion of Colorado’s output of lead, mercury, and other toxic pollutants. Pueblo’s industrial-area neighborhoods, largely minority and low income, lie adjacent to a steel mill and an aging coal-fired power plant power plant. These two facilities collectively emit a high percentage of the state’s output of airborne toxic substances. Fountain Creek, which runs through Pueblo, periodically carries tens of thousands of pounds of raw sewage periodically released from a city upstream. CCAP recently completed a two-year project to map hazardous waste sources in Pueblo with SEP funds from the Rocky Mountain Steel Mill. The partnership formed for the CARE project, which includes a cross-section of the community, will develop an inventory of toxic exposures to Pueblo’s citizens and determine which of these should head the priority list for immediate reduction.
Prospective CARE Partners: Citizens for Clean Air and Water in Pueblo/Southern Colorado, Pueblo City-County Health Department, Bechtel Corporation’s Pueblo Team, Rivers Run Development Co., Bessemer Association for Neighborhood Development (BAND), Salt Creek Neighborhood SPIN Project, East Side Neighborhood Association, Christ Congregational Church/Committee for Social Justice, The Office of Social Justice for the Diocese of Pueblo, and Pueblo Recycles.
Visit this community’s CARE web page. 
Harambee House, Inc.
- Fact Sheet
- Fact Sheet (PDF) (2pp, 286k)
- Final Report (PDF) (9pp, 423k)
Harambee House, Inc.
Savannah, Georgia
EPA Region 4
Harambee House (HH) is the recipient of a Level I CARE cooperative agreement. HH has over 15 years of experience as a community based organization working on environmental justice, neighborhood revitalization and community/youth development issues. Additionally, HH has been recognized by the Ford Foundation as an environmental leader in the Southeast region. Building on an environmental justice collaborative problem-solving cooperative agreement, HH will use CARE funding to create a broad-based community group that understands the toxic risks in the community and sets priorities for action. One goal outlined in HH’s work plan is to create a multi-stakeholder partnership that includes the surrounding industries and small business owners in two neighborhoods that are over 90 percent African-American and 14 percent below the poverty line. Other goals include utilizing the NEJAC Community Roadmap and EPA Voluntary Programs to help identify environmental and public health concerns, to work with local officials in engaging stakeholders, and to develop a baseline evaluation plan for measuring results.
Prospective CARE Partners: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry; Eastside Concerned Citizens; Southern Alliance for Clean Energy; CJ’s Management & Consulting; Citizens for Clean Air & Water; Northwest Communities’ Education Center; Fort Valley State University; Morehouse School of Medicine; Savannah Development and Renewal Authority; Shinholster Group; Auto Works; Savannah City Council; George State Senate; Savannah City Council; Chatham County Health Department; and Savannah State University.
St Bernard Parish Government
Final Report (PDF) (115pp, 3.6 MB)
St Bernard Parish Government
Chalmette, St Bernard Parish, Louisiana
EPA Region 6
The St Bernard Parish Government is the recipient of a Level I CARE cooperative agreement. The Parish is recovering from Hurricane Katrina, which flooded 100 percent of the Parish in late summer 2005. Issues prevalent in the Parish pre-Katrina included suburban sprawl, and attendant traffic and air quality issues, public water supply and water quality issues, and public health and safety issues associated with the transportation of petroleum and petroleum-related products. Hurricane Katrina adds the challenging element of dealing with these issues on a large scale level as the Parish undergoes redevelopment with an uncertain return of residential and business populations. Current population estimates are between 10,000 and 12,000, with more than 100 businesses re-opening, since Katrina. CARE funding will be used to bring these community members together in a five-phase process to identify and reduce toxics in the community: collaboration building, issue identification, issue education, issue prioritization, and reduction planning.
Prospective CARE Partners: Toxicological and Environmental Associates, Inc; Louisiana State University Hazardous Substance Research Center; Technical Outreach Services for Communities Program; St Bernard Parish Housing, Redevelopment and Quality of Life Commission; St Bernard Beautification Committee; St Bernard Chamber of Commerce; St Bernard Citizens Recovery Committee; Chalmette Computer Users Group, local businesses and industry that have reopened since Katrina.
Nuestras Raices
Final Report (PDF) (26pp, 1.5 MB)
Nuestras Raices
Pioneer Valley/Hampden County, Massachusetts
EPA Region 1
Nuestras Raices (NR) is the recipient of a Level I CARE cooperative agreement. Over the last seven years, Nuestras Raices has started to examine some of the multimedia environmental and public health problems found in the community to illustrate the cumulative risks facing local residents from contamination in air, water and soil. This Level I capacity-building project will expand existing partnerships to create the Pioneer Valley/Hampden County Community Environmental Network to complete a community-based environmental health assessment and monitoring to better understand the cumulative toxic risks facing communities in the region over two years. The network will be comprised of a diverse set of partners including government (local, state and federal), health agencies, community organizations, academic institutions, regional environmental and health organizations, businesses, faith-based organizations, and local residents work together to build local capacity through hazard and risk identification, education, and training. Over thirty youth and adult leaders will be trained as environmental health leaders and will work with at least 600 local residents through community forums to conduct GIS risk mapping of local environmental and public health hazards and conduct community air monitoring. Specific project results include a detailed inventory of major multimedia toxic risks affecting the health of Holyoke and lower Pioneer Valley residents, compilation of available environmental/health data to understand risk levels and prioritize needs for action, creating and distributing community-specific bilingual educational materials to raise public awareness, and an outline for priority risk reduction activities in the future.
Prospective CARE Partners: Nueva Esperanza, Enlace de Familias, Community Education Project, Avanza Holyoke Taskforce for Excellence in Latino Education, Lean on Me, Holyoke Health Center, North End Outreach Network, Holyoke Board of Health, Holyoke School Committee, Holyoke City Councilor Santiago, MA Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, Holyoke Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Mount Holyoke College, University of Massachusetts, Toxics Action Center, Clean Water Action, Alternatives for Community and Environment, Massachusetts Public Health Association, and Sisters of Providence.
Visit this community’s CARE web page.
Visit a partner’s CARE web page.
Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision
$3.7-million Invested in Southwest Detroit to Reduce Diesel Pollution. (1p, 21kb, About PDF )
Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision (SWDEV)
Detroit, Michigan
EPA Region 5
SDEV’s mission is to improve the environment and strengthen the economy of Southwest Detroit. The organization began in the spring of 1991 as project to initiate a dialogue between Southwest Detroit’s business and industrial interests and community residents. Two years of intensive education and dialogue within the community culminated in the creation of a community plan that identified environmental issues of concern. In 1993 SDEV was formed as a non-profit that would address environmental concerns. Over the past thirteen years, SDEV has carried out program initiatives in the areas of contaminated sites redevelopment, pollution prevention, illegal dumping prevention, air quality, land use, environmental justice and environmental education. The organization researches complex issues and provides information to local residents so they can be informed participants in decisions that impact their quality of life. SDEV has become an environmental resource for community and business and serves to build consensus between groups that are sometimes seen as inevitably in competition.
Through the CARE Program SDEV and ACCESS (see below) plan to develop the Southwest Detroit/South Dearborn Environmental Collaborative (SD2EC). This will be a self-sustaining, community-based stakeholder group to identify and prioritize toxic risks in the community and seek ways to reduce exposure to these risks. The Collaborative will focus on the contiguous communities of Southwest Detroit and South Dearborn. Both communities are beset with an overwhelming number of environmental challenges. The SD2EC project will provide an opportunity to bring together representatives of the ethnically and racially diverse populations of Southwest Detroit and South Dearborn to forge a common understanding of the toxic risks that are impacting them on a daily basis and develop a plan to implement voluntary programs to reduce these risks.
Prospective CARE Partners: The Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) will be the main partner. In addition to ACCESS, a diverse group of locally-based community organizations (as noted below), residents, government officials, University of Michigan Departments and industries will participate in the SD2EC. The following entities have committed to the SD2EC project: Delray Community Council, Ford Motor Company, Marathon Petroleum Company, Latino Family Services, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Original United Citizens of Southwest Detroit, Peoples Community Services, Salina Intermediate School, Southwest Detroit Business Association, State Legislative Representative Steve Tobocman, 12th House District and the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
Cherokee Nation Health Services Cancer Programs
Cherokee Nation
Health Services Cancer Programs
Tahlequah, Oklahoma
EPA Region 6
Cherokee Nation (CN) is the recipient of a Level I CARE cooperative agreement Nestled in the northeast corner of Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation boasts the mountainous terrain of the nearby Ozark Mountains as well as commercial and recreational waterways provided by the Arkansas and Illinois Rivers within its 14-county jurisdiction. The richness of the physical environment is undoubtedly a factor for the growth of industry within the Cherokee tribal jurisdiction. Under the CARE grant, various communities within the Cherokee Nation plan to collaborate and focus on identifying sources of toxic exposure, risk reduction, and environmental improvement. Preliminary discussions have led one group to focus on addressing the problem of polluted runoff from the poultry farms in Delaware County; and another group is already focused on addressing the problem of methamphetamine pollution and particulate matter in Sequoyah County.
Prospective CARE Partners: University of Oklahoma College of Public Health, Oklahoma State Department of Health, Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, various agencies within the Cherokee Nation organization, including Cherokee Nation Community Services and Cherokee Nation Environmental Programs, and Cherokee Nation Anti-Meth Coalition.
City of Rock Hill
City of Rock Hill,
Rock Hill, South Carolina
EPA Region 4
The City of Rock Hill, South Carolina, is the recipient of a Level I CARE cooperative agreement. The decline of the City of Rock Hill’s textile industry in the past fifteen years has resulted in the severe and rapid deterioration of the City’s urban core, also known as the Old Town Renaissance Area. As a result of this loss, the urban core no longer has its main source of economic stability and social vitality. One area in the urban core hit exceptionally hard by this loss is Urban Rock Hill.
Located is the southwestern part of the City, the area is composed of four abandoned textile mills, the Hagins-Fewell, Sunset Park, Crawford Road North, Flint Hill, South Central and Sunset Park Neighborhoods, the Historic Saluda Street Corridor, and several other commercial structures and businesses. Many of the industrial and commercial properties located in the area pose environmental hazards because of the existence of identified or perceived contamination from asbestos, lead-based paint, dyeing and finishing chemicals, petroleum products, and many other hazardous materials. The area has lost four major textile industries in the last fifteen years and several small business operations.
A major goal outlined in the Rock Hill work plan is to create a self-sustaining, community-based partnership that will work to improve the local environment. This will be done by the creation of a Toxic Task Force that will help community residents gain an understanding of the potential sources of toxic pollutants in their neighborhoods, identify environmental health issues and concerns of the residents, and create the Urban Rock Hill Toxics Substance Registry. As a consequence of this work, residents will be empowered to identify, prioritize, and implement risk reduction activities. Community residents will be provided opportunities to evaluate the work of the Task Force, the educational offerings, and the outcome of the risk reduction activities that are implemented.
Prospective CARE Partners: South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control; Old Town Roundtable; Urban Rock Hill Weed and Seed Steering Committee; Rock Hill Council of Neighborhoods; Rock Hill Clean and Green; Winthrop University Environmental Science Department.
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department
Tacoma, Washington
EPA Region 10
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department (TPCHD) is the recipient of a Level I CARE cooperative agreement. For over 100 years TPCHD has been protecting the health of the Pierce County residents by collecting and sharing health information, giving advice, issuing permits, and partnering with other local organizations and community members. TPCHD is using CARE funding to create a county-wide coalition with three regional workgroups. These workgroups are meeting monthly to share environmental health information, set priorities, and develop action plans to address priority issues.
Project Goals: 1) Form a coalition of business, environmental, agency, tribal, and other community members who live and/or work Pierce County; 2) Improve Coalition members’ understanding of Pierce County environmental health risks and concerns; 3) Identify three environmental health priorities for each Pierce County region; 4) Develop action plans to reduce these priority environmental health risks; 5) Begin mobilizing resources to implement action plans.
Prospective CARE Partners: Centro Latino, Chambers-Clover Creek Watershed Council, City of Tacoma, Firgrove Mutual Water Company, Friends of Pierce County, Key-Gig Harbor-Island Watershed Council, Port of Tacoma, Puget Creek Restoration Society, Puget Sound Action Team, Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, Puyallup River Watershed Council, Puyallup Tribe, Tacoma Urban League, University of Washington-Tacoma, Washington State Dept. Ecology, Washington State University Pierce County Extension, and others.
Visit the Coalition's web page.
Level II
Community Assist of So Arizona and Sonora Environmental Research Institute
Community Assist of Southern Arizona and the
Sonora Environmental Research Institute, Inc
Tucson, Arizona
EPA Region 9
The Community Assist of Southern Arizona(CASA) and the Sonora Environmental Research Institute, Inc (SERI) are the recipients of a Level II CARE Cooperative Agreement. CASA and SERI partner with neighborhoods that are under economic, environmental, and disproportionate health stress. CASA supports a better understanding of environmental health risks and their reductions by the members of affected neighborhoods who are most familiar with the needs of their own neighborhoods. CASA/SERI implements these goals through a promotora program where individuals from the affected neighborhoods are trained on environmental health issues and methods of conducting community outreach. The neighborhood communities engage in all aspects of developing an action plan to reduce toxics through the identification of the greatest potential pollutant producers by specific industrial sectors problems, and conducting visits in order to explain and provide pollution prevention information which will enable the voluntary reductions of toxics. The fundamental goal is to strengthen through education and experience the community’s ability to make informed environmental health choices and to participate in long-term, sustainable solutions.
Measurable results will include tracking the reduction of toxic compounds when displaced by recommended pollution prevention chemicals, use of Best Management Practices, and the reduction of toxic emissions.
CARE Partners: The Rose Family Resource and Wellness Center of the Tucson Unified School District, Pima County Department of Environmental Quality, The University of Arizona, The City of Tucson Fire Department, Luz Social Services, Inc.
West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project
West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project
Oakland, California
EPA Region 9
The West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project (EIP) is the recipient of a Level II CARE cooperative agreement. The West Oakland Toxic Reduction Collaborative (WOTRC) is co-chaired by WOEIP and EPA Region 9, governed by a formal Partnering Agreement and supported by neutral facilitation. Eight work groups address issues including indoor air quality, clean construction, brownfields, diesel truck incentives, land use, Health Impact Assessments, alternative fuels, and Port-related reductions. Each workgroup is co-chaired by a community representative, and the work of all the workgroups is coordinated by way of a Steering Committee. The community's capacity and success in applying the collaborative model has resulted in the transformation of several other environmental forums in the Bay Area to a facilitated and community co-chaired format mirroring that of the WOTRC. West Oakland is a community of 25,000 people located immediately adjacent to the Port of Oakland, through which the fourth highest volume in the U.S. of international container traffic flows. As West Oakland faces escalating pressures from redevelopment - triggered in large part by the community's success in eliminating toxic sources, and from international goods movement - projected to triple by 2020, a broad multi-faceted multi-media approach has proven necessary and is well underway.
Prospective CARE Partners: Port of Oakland, Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, West Oakland Commerce Association, AB Trucking, International Longshore Workers Union, Teamsters, U.S. Representative Barbara Lee, City of Oakland, Alamada County Public Health, California EPA, California Air Resources Board, California Department of Toxics Substances Control, West Oakland Asthma Coalition, Regional Water Quality Control Board, state and local elected officials, U.S. Postal Service, NRDC, University of San Francisco, Alliance for West Oakland Development, Bluewater Network, East Bay Community Law Center, Disability Rights and Education Defense Fund.
Visit this community’s CARE web page.
Read a case study on facilitation assistance provided to this project (PDF) (4pp, 820k) by EPA’s Conflict Prevention and Resolution Center.
Boston Public Health Commission
Boston Public Health Commission
Boston, Massachusetts
EPA Region 1
The goal of this two year, Level II risk-reduction project is to measurably reduce the negative environmental and public health impacts by auto shops on workers and residents by reducing emissions of hazards materials and improving work practices through 150 automobile shop assessments, 600 worker surveys, 40 in-shop trainings reaching over 400 workers and owners on pollution prevention and worker protection, 16 community health screening events, 18 train-the trainer sessions on environment and public health risks, and four major community outreach events to raise public awareness for thousands of residents. Measurable results include a 30 percent increase in the number of employees reporting proper use of best work practices, at least 25 auto body shops adopting two or more preferable work or supply purchasing practices that reduce pollution emissions and worker exposures, two fuel-efficient (hybrid or alternative fuel) vehicles approved for use as taxicabs, at least one new City ordinance to enforce tougher pollution prevention standards for auto shops, and creation of a Boston auto shop business association for sharing lessons learned and assistance for future improvements.
CARE Partners: Boston Inspectional Services; Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health; Bowdoin Street Community Health Center; Joseph Smith Community Health Center; Allston/Brighton Healthy Boston Coalition; Codman Square Health Center; and, the Nuestra Communidad Development Center.
Earth Keepers
Earth Keepers
Marquette, Michigan
EPA Region 5
The Earth Keepers CARE project focuses on the following environmental toxins: pharmaceuticals, household hazardous waste, e-waste, mercury and toxins from household burn barrels. The Central Lake Superior Watershed Partnership with technical support from EPA staff will develop or adopt related community education and outreach materials tailored to address the issues of pharmaceuticals, household hazardous waste, e-waste, mercury and toxins from household burn barrels. In addition, EPA staff will provide technical assistance regarding the development of draft community ordinances to address these issues and achieve the desired pollution reduction goals. This project is uniquely capable of reaching the majority of the community population through the nine faith communities (representing over 25 congregations in the greater Marquette area and over 120 congregations throughout the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) that have signed on to the Earth Keeper Agreement and through the other project partners including local governments, Northern Michigan University and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.
Prospective CARE Partners: In 2004 the Central Lake Superior Watershed Partnership (CSLWP) helped establish the Earth Keepers. Participating faiths included Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal, Jewish, Presbyterian, Buddhist, Unitarian, and Bahai. Other partners of the Earth Keepers including representatives from the environmental sector, industry, government, human health, business, recreation, and academia further expand the ability of the Earth Keepers to inform and involve the community. Other partners include, but are not limited to, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC), The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Northern Michigan University (NMU).
Visit this community’s CARE web page.
Montana Indian Country CARE Project
Montana Indian Country CARE Project
Rocky Mountain College, Montana
EPA Region 8
Mountain Indian Country CARE Project (MICCP) is the recipient of a Level II CARE cooperative agreement. MICCP will create and coordinate the collaboration of four tribal colleges with four different tribal reservation communities. MICCP aims to educate reservation communities about everyday toxic exposures and help them reduce and mitigate those exposures. This cooperative agreement will help the program with the unique toxics issues that are faced by tribal communities while providing real environmental benefits to the people of Montana.
The project will be led by Rocky Mountain College which will coordinate the effort among four local colleges utilizing their science program to provide technical support to the community partnerships. The risk reduction priorities have been identified though a joint project of Rocky Mountain College and the four community colleges called the Indian Country Environmental Health Project (ICEHP) which was supported by the State of Montana’s Community Environmental Health Assessments program. The Priority Environmental Issues include toxic contamination from methamphetamine labs, drinking water contamination, indoor and outdoor air quality, mold, household chemical use and disposal, pesticide use, and solid and hazardous waste. Planning projects include toxic reduction strategy for families, inventory of toxic exposure sources for tribal communities as knowledge base for tribal planning and education campaigns, culturally sensitive messages that communicate toxic exposure in Indian Country, and promotion of toxic reduction strategies in a majority of Tribal schools.
CARE Partners: Montana State Government, Tribal governments, Fort Peck reservation, Fort Peck Community College, Fort Belknap reservation, Fort Belknap College, Northern Cheyenne reservation, Chief Dull Knife College, Crow Reservation, and Little Big Horn College.
Visit this community’s CARE web page.
Clean Air Communities, NESCAUM
Clean Air Communities, NESCAUM
Camden, New Jersey
EPA Region 2
Clean Air Communities (CAC) is the recipient of a Level II CARE cooperative agreement. CAC is a nonprofit organization committed to local partnerships that advance projects to reduce air pollution and achieve energy efficiency in urban communities suffering from a disproportionate share of pollution. CAC was established in 1999 as a collaborative initiative of its parent organization, the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM), Natural Resources Defense Council, and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Since its founding, CAC has built a coalition of diverse partners that has undertaken projects demonstrating environmental and community benefits, technical feasibility, cost-effective emission reductions, community leadership, and meaningful participation that includes education and outreach activities. In the last six years, CAC and its partners have invested $11 million in projects that provide benefits to local neighborhoods across New York City. The 14 projects engaged to date have also pioneered technologies and strategies that can be exported to other communities as CAC expands beyond New York. For its ground-breaking partnership approach and impressive benefits to the community and the environment, CAC was honored with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Air Excellence Award in 2002 and with one of the first Environmental Excellence Awards by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in 2005.
CAC, along with its partners implement recommendations by the state’s Environmental Justice Task Force and the Air Toxics Pilot Project to reduce environmental risks to citizens of the Waterfront South neighborhood of Camden, New Jersey; which is home to several industrial facilities as well as a major terminal of the South Jersey Port Corporation (SJPC). CAC will engage industry and local communities in awareness campaigns fostering continued dialogue between local industries and residents to educate these groups about sources of air pollution including port operations. CAC and its partners will also compile and analyze port vehicles and equipment, determine the best available technologies to retrofit diesel vehicles and equipment owned and operated by SJPC, then prioritize and carry out the vehicle and equipment retrofits.
CARE Partners: NJ Department of Environmental Protection, South Jersey Port Corporation, Heart of Camden, Camden County Municipal Utilities Association, and South Camden Citizens in Action.
Visit this community’s CARE web page.
Visit a partner’s CARE web page.
Penn State University
Penn State University
State College, Pennsylvania
EPA Region 3
The goal of this two year, Level II risk-reduction project, is to measurably reduce the negative environmental and public health impacts by pesticides on the selected community. It is expected to result in a significant reduction of human exposure to pesticide pollutants in the home, air and water. Critical topics include pesticide contamination issues in multiple environments and simple steps to reduce these exposures. The major effort is to educate the community in using specific, effective, affordable and less toxic IPM solutions to address pest problems. Specific goals are: 1) – Raise awareness and understanding of pest infestation causes and pest and pesticide risks to personal and environmental health; 2) – Reduce personal pesticide risks and releases into the environment though increasing residents’ ability to apply less toxic IPM solutions; 3) – Create educational materials for families, health professionals, educators, and housing entities on prevention of pesticide contamination.
CARE Partners: The IPM program of PSU formed a three year-old community-based partnership (Philadelphia School and Community IPM Partnership). The partnership is large and only a few partners will be mentioned here: The Nurse Family, Philadelphia Health Management Corporation, Children Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Water Department, Schuykill Center for Environmental Education, and Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.