(AGENPARL) - Roma, 28 Giugno 2022 - (AGENPARL) – mar 28 giugno 2022 EPA Awards Florence Fang Community Farm in San Francisco’s Bayview $75,000 Environmental Justice Grant to Increase Food Access
SAN FRANCISCO (June 28, 2022) – Today the?U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced?a $75,000 environmental justice grant to the AsianWeek Foundation (Florence Fang Community Farm) to address air quality and food insecurity issues in San Francisco’s Bayview community. The grant will support work to develop a sustainable community food system to grow and distribute locally grown food in the Bayview district.
The Bayview Food Sovereignty and Environmental Justice project will develop partnerships with neighborhood farmers, markets, restaurants, and food access programs to implement a “soil-to-soil” food distribution supply chain and train community members to grow and maintain their own sustainable food gardens. These actions will mitigate food access issues and reduce air pollution, an important goal as poor air quality has increased the negative impacts of COVID-19 on the vulnerable community. In addition, this project will aim to educate community members in recognizing the role of local food production in increasing environmental sustainability and improving local air quality.
“We are thankful to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Congress and the Biden-Harris Administration for empowering our Black and Asian farmers,” said Ted Fang, Executive Director of the Florence Fang Community Farm. “Keeping the local community strong and healthy is our goal and your support enables us to do the work of growing fresh vegetables for our neighborhood families.”
The funds for this grant come from the 2021 American Rescue Plan and are being awarded under EPA’s Environmental Justice Small Grant program. Awards made with the American Rescue Plan funding support competitive grants from the EPA focusing directly on the disproportionate impacts the COVID-19 pandemic has had on communities of color, low-income communities, and other vulnerable populations.?
“Now, more than ever, healthy soils and local food supplies are critical to ensuring community resiliency and equitable access to healthy food, ” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. “Florence Fang Community Farm’s visionary project, made possible through American Rescue Plan funding, will make important progress toward these goals while reducing air pollution and encouraging investment in these often-overlooked communities.”
Nationwide, projects supported by American Rescue Plan funding have included training, development of citizen-science tools, pollution monitoring, and educational campaigns to enable environmental justice advocates, scientists, and decision-makers to address pollution and create thriving communities. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 was signed into law on March 11, 2021. It provides funds to address health outcome disparities from pollution and the COVID–19 pandemic.
“The American Rescue Plan funding has enabled EPA to make positive impacts by supporting work making a difference in communities,” said Office of Environmental Justice Director Matthew Tejada. “Increasing access to food and providing education for public health improvement within the community will have tangible effects to reduce existing burdens which have been placed on the Bayview community.”
Environmental Protection Agency, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105 United States