For Release: Thursday, October 26, 2006
DEC Announces More than $220,000 for Environmental Justice
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Denise M. Sheehan today announced the first new State grants awarded under a program called the Environmental Justice Community Impact Research Grant program. Today's announcement includes more than $224,000 for 10 community projects designed to address exposure of communities to multiple environmental harms and risks.
"New York State is committed to working with our communities to help protect our environment and public health," said Commissioner Sheehan. "These grants will provide assistance to community and not-for-profit organizations partnering with DEC to implement important educational and restoration projects and sampling programs to benefit their communities and the overall environment. I am grateful to the members of the DEC Environmental Justice Advisory Group for advising the Department and helping to create such an effective grant program."
The Environmental Justice Community Impact Research Grants program was first announced in May 2006 and was developed to assist local groups and organizations with projects that focus on addressing environmental and/or related public health concerns in their communities. The program, which was created with input from the Environmental Justice Advisory Group, is geared to expand the knowledge and understanding within communities of how to mitigate exposure to environmental impacts and improve quality of life. For a complete list of the members of this board, visit the DEC website .
Environmental justice efforts focus on improving the environment in under-served communities, specifically minority and low-income communities, by addressing disproportionate adverse environmental impacts that may exist in those communities, and ensuring meaningful public participation and environmental benefits. In 2003, DEC issued a Commissioner's Policy entitled "Environmental Justice and Permitting" to promote environmental justice and incorporate measures for achieving environmental justice into its programs, policies, regulations, legislative proposals and activities.
Projects that are eligible to receive Community Impact Research Grants include, but are not limited to: community inventories of industrial, municipal, or commercial facilities; mobile source emission tracking and monitoring; demonstration projects such as green rooftops and alternative energy projects; research about harms and risks to subsistence fishing populations that use waterways restricted for fish consumption; or projects to identify industrial, commercial or municipal processes that result in pollution and monitoring the impacts on a community.
This year, a total of $1 million has been appropriated by the State for the Environmental Justice Community Impact Research Grant Program. Grant applications could range from the minimum amount of $2,500 to the maximum amount of $25,000. Matching funds for these grants are not required and funds allocated through the Community Impact Research Grants can be combined with other funds to pay for larger projects. Under the State appropriated funding for this year, another grant cycle will run early next year.
DEC determined the amount of the grant award based on the scope of the project identified in the application and the proposed budget.
A complete list of the 2006 grant recipients is attached.
Keep Western New York Beautiful - Erie County - $25,000 - Sustainable Urban Lots: The Power of Plants - Will mitigate environmental harms and risks by introducing phytoremediation techniques into community gardening practices.
Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper - Erie and Niagara Counties - $25,000 - Riverwatch Volunteer Waterway Monitoring Action Campaigns - For development of proactive campaigns for water quality monitoring, storm water education, pipe watch/spills monitoring, and Habitat.
Southwest Area Neighborhood Association, Inc. (SWAN) - Monroe County - $24,998 - Reducing Home-based Environmental Health Hazards in Rochester, NY: A Demonstration Project ("Healthy Home") - Will conduct surveys of participants in the Healthy Home education programs to study the most effective means of educating builders, medical professionals and the local community in ways that will improve the environmental health of low-income residences in Rochester.
Groundwork Yonkers - Westchester County - $25,000 - LaMartine Community Health and Pollution Prevention - Will evaluate potential exposure of residents in the LaMartine neighborhood of Yonkers to multiple environmental risks from vacant lots, toxic contamination, soot, and other air pollutants. From this, priority issues and intervention strategies will be developed.
Dunbar Association Inc. - Onondaga County - $23,614 - Lead Education Resource Grant - Will address childhood lead poisoning in a South Syracuse community impacted by various environmental harms and risks including lead, asthma, poor nutrition, and the stresses associated with poverty through blood testing, research into the most effective ways to increase public awareness of the causes and prevention of lead poisoning, and follow up with further blood lead testing to determine the success of their education and outreach efforts.
The North Shore Waterfront Conservancy of Staten Island, Inc. (NSWC) - Richmond County - $10,000 - The Staten Island North Shore Waterfront Communities and Manufacturing Sites Clean Up, Revitalization, and Restoration Project ("North Shore Project") - Will identify manufacturing sites along the North Shore that have negative environmental impacts on the surrounding communities so that sustainable urban planning can be developed for those areas and provide tools used to promote cleanup of contaminated sites, obtain funding for restoration, and provide information for officials to put into future development policies.
West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc. (WE ACT) - New York County - $25,000 - Rosa Parks School Bus Campaign- An initiative to prevent the exposure of Northern Manhattan children and school bus drivers to health risks associated with the buildup of diesel exhaust fumes inside the school bus cabin.
Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, Inc. (YMPJ) - Bronx County - $20,000 - Rooftop Wellness Demonstration Project - A living roof for the St. Joan of Arc Church in the Bronx will be created with solar paneling and vegetable and medicinal herb gardens. This project will address some of the environmental and health concerns in the Bronx River and Soundview neighborhoods, which suffer from high asthma rates and other health problems.
None Like You Educational and Community Outreach Program - Erie County - $21,875 - WE CARE Community Lot Reclamation - A community demonstration project for environmentally sound vacant lot reclamation in Buffalo, part of a broader initiative from the Buffalo Weed and Seed Program and the Buffalo Office of Strategic Planning to address problem properties on Buffalo's East Side.
Environmental Justice Action Group of Western New York - Erie County - $24,496 - East Buffalo Community Hazard Identification Study - Will address a variety of potential sources of contamination in East Buffalo such as household lead sources, Superfund and brownfield sites, and facilities which emit hazardous chemicals. This organization will use the grant funds to develop a two-part program to identify these potential risks.
