(AGENPARL) – mer 25 ottobre 2023 Issued: Oct 25, 2023 (2:43pm EDT)
If you wish to unsubscribe please do so
here: http://url6130.epa.mediaroom.com/ls/click?upn=-2BroytcZInNRyuFbAvAoN5aMEQDHIx2RtQl0jT-2FwLgZHafJKm-2F7NYrsKNAZH88rhd98aG2o5sSGIX8iVgGgXwOczi8WNFU0a7GLvUAvQ8R0RGX5bAZ9mjh1NYnKAGekGp8hlX_mLoYh0p4AWg4foFr5HgrZ1QioQ33bLwdnQ-2BsYGKFX9mApcfdQmv0-2Bvkdf9kq-2BlYjGNu7WNLl5acUk8NwLc6zLxcgef19xyxwsPWrRGGciCx4lF3c-2FVQcuArEQgE15OGVpNKRGQsM7HC01g8eie-2FmrF69gXY-2FA18e7FgvKvfo0VybhGdG0B76G5mwjQb01GBSzLu8m8M58sZTW-2Fb05kcQ1afr-2BX2t5QNSsc-2FL-2FVf3allkonXxikgmiVF-2BiQLdcTGZ2j3MwJiNg8GdD3wMEhmJiw-3D-3D
Puerto Rico Organizations and Agencies Slated to Get Over $2.4 Million in EPA
Funding to Support Environmental Justice Work
SAN JUAN (October 25, 2023) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) announced $2.4 million to fund four projects across Puerto Rico
that advance environmental justice as part of President Biden’s Investing in
America agenda. The EPA has selected three community organizations and a
municipality to receive funding through the Environmental Justice
Collaborative Problem Solving Cooperative Agreement (EJCPS) and the
Environmental Justice Government-to-Government (EJG2G) programs. These
projects will support disadvantaged communities that have historically
suffered from underinvestment to achieve cleaner air and water, and implement
climate resilience solutions. The selected projects will focus on community
outreach, climate resilience and nature-based programming among other focuses
and goals.  
“These grants show our continuing commitment to advancing environmental
justice in communities across Puerto Rico,” said Lisa F. Garcia, EPA
Regional Administrator. “EPA Administrator Regan toured areas of Puerto Rico
as part of his Journey to Justice, and made a commitment to take actions side
by side and assist communities that have borne an unfair burden of
environmental pollution. These grants further build on our efforts to support
environmental and climate justice efforts here in Puerto Rico.”  
“I welcome this announcement and congratulate the nonprofit organizations
and municipalities for their successful participation in these programs,”
said Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón. “The federal
resources made available by Congress will enable them to continue supporting
their projects of environmental improvement for our communities.  We all look
forward to the fruits of this effort in a better quality of life for our
residents.” 
The two grant programs directly advance the President’s transformational
Justice40 initiative to deliver 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain
federal investments to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by
underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.  
EPA’s EJCPS program provides financial assistance to eligible organizations
working to address local environmental or public health issues in their
communities. The program builds upon President Biden’s Executive Orders
13985 and 14008, creating a designation of funds exclusively for small
nonprofit organizations, which are defined as having 5 or fewer full-time
employees, thus ensuring that grant resources reach organizations of lower
capacity that historically struggle to receive federal funding. Eleven of the
organizations selected for EJCPS this year are small nonprofit organizations,
receiving over $1.6 million in total.  
EPA EJCPS Puerto Rico selectees:  
Atma Connect: San Juan, Puerto Rico has been chosen to receive $500,000 for
its Grassroots Leadership, Education, and a Safe Water Quality Network in
Puerto Rico. 
PathStone Corporation: Rochester, NY and Puerto Rico has been chosen to
receive $500,000 for its project, Environmental Justice Collaborative
Problem-Solving project in Arecibo, Barceloneta and Utuado, Puerto Rico. 
Sociedad Ambiente Marino: San Juan, Puerto Rico has been chosen to receive
$500,000 for its project, Puerto Rico Planning for Locally Led Adaptation. 
The EJG2G grant will support the selected entities at the local, state, tribal
and territorial level to lead measurable positive public health and
environmental impacts for communities at higher risk for environmental harm.
While helping community-based organizations build partnerships among each
other, the grant program seeks to help selectees create meaningful and
replicable approaches to achieving environmental justice.  
EPA EJG2G Puerto Rico selectee:  
The Municipality of Vega Baja: Vega Baja, Puerto Rico has been chosen to
receive over $978,000 for its project, Assisting communities in identifying,
preventing and eliminating blighted properties and associated health and
environmental risks through education, training, civic engagement and
community planning. 
As selectees begin their projects once funds are awarded the EPA hopes to see
more environmental justice centered in the decision-making process and further
embedded into agency programs.  
From day one of his administration, President Biden has made achieving
environmental justice a top priority. And in August 2022, Congress passed, and
President Biden signed, the Inflation Reduction Act into law, creating the
largest investment in environmental and climate justice in U.S. history. EPA
received $3 billion in appropriations to provide grants and technical
assistance for activities advancing environmental and climate justice. 
Under the Inflation Reduction Act, EPA has launched and expanded innovative
programs to provide more support than ever before to communities that unjustly
bear the burdens of environmental harm and pollution. This includes the $177
million for the creation of 16 Environmental Justice Thriving Communities
Technical Assistance Centers (EJ TCTACs) to remove barriers to federal
resources and help communities pursue funding opportunities like those made
available through President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda. EPA has
also launched and will award funds through the $550 million??Thriving
Communities Grantmaking Program before the end of 2023. 
To learn more about more opportunities for funding and about what EPA is doing
to bring environmental justice to communities, visit EPA’s website.