EPA Region 5 Awards Education Grants
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.
The 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 of 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.
Lake County Solid Waste Management District of Merillville, 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 and East Chicago, Hammond, and Whiting, Ind.
Michigan State University of 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.
Cleveland Botanical Garden of 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 area neighborhoods.
Regents of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn., received $44,155 for its School Forest Carbon Sequestration Modeling Pilot, which will train 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.
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.