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EPA Awards Regional Environmental Education Grants

Release Date: 07/13/2010
Contact Information: (EPA) Phillippa Cannon, 312-353-6218 cannon.phillippa@epa.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 10-OPA075

Chicago (July 13, 2010) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 has awarded $190,000 in grants for projects to enhance environmental education and awareness in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio.

These annual grants are given to nonprofit organizations, government agencies, community groups, tribes, schools and universities.

“EPA is pleased to support innovative programs that help increase knowledge about environmental issues through hands-on training and also provide tangible benefits to communities,” said EPA Regional Environmental Education Coordinator Megan Gavin.

Monmouth College, Monmouth, Ill., received $35,137 for Green and Growing, an educational program providing training, field trips, and project-based learning about sustainable gardening to the Monmouth community. Contact Brenda Tooley, 309-457-2277.

Lake County Solid Waste Management District, Merrillville, Ind., received $32,131 for Environmental Stewardship Begins at Home. It provides workshops and special events on hazardous household waste disposal to several underserved urban communities in East Chicago, Hammond, and Whiting, Ind. Contact Jeanette Romano, 219-769-3820.

Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich., received $34,217 for Michigan Agriculture and Climate Change: Deliberating toward Stewardship. This initiative aims to increase awareness about soil carbon sequestration and field crop agriculture’s role in climate change by working with field crop farmers and training MSU Extension educators. Contact Ashley Speer, 517-355-5040 x286.

Cleveland Botanical Garden, Cleveland, Ohio, received $44,360. The funding will expand the garden's Green Corps, provide classroom teaching, field trips, and hands-on training on pollution prevention, energy efficiency, urban sustainability, and water and watershed protection to high school students from underserved Cleveland area neighborhoods. Contact Molly Molpus, 216-707-2814.

Regents of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn., received $44,155 for its School Forest Carbon Sequestration Modeling Pilot, which will train Minnesota teachers to challenge high school students to explore and think about global climate change in a local context. Students will investigate current carbon sequestration in their school forest and apply what they learn to the environment beyond their school. Contact Elizabeth Rumsey, 218-726-7471.

EPA is awarding these funds under the 1990 National Environmental Education Act, which gives EPA the authority to support and create environmental education programs nationwide. More information about EPA’s environmental education grants program is available at: https://www.epa.gov/education/grants.html.

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