Thursday, March 28, 2024

EPA announces $3.3 million in Environmental Education grants

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced more than $3.3 million in funding for 35 Environmental Education grants across 26 states, which will allow organizations to create awareness about environmental issues and teach skills pertinent to environmental stewardship.

The Environmental Education Grants Program began in 1992 and has developed into a highly competitive program that awards between $2 million and $3.5 million each year. In total, over nearly two and a half decades the program has supported more than 3,600 projects with approximately $68 million.

This year’s grants ranged from approximately $36,000 to $192,000, with California receiving the most, at four, and the majority of states receiving one. Grants were awarded based on the projects’ plans for environmental education practices, methods or techniques, whether they intend to design, demonstrate or disseminate. 

Examples of projects that will be funded with this year’s Environmental Education grants include school-based initiatives like environmental programs in New England community colleges, teacher training in Louisiana, and tribal middle school education in Washington, as well as more general community-based projects like watershed literacy in Montana, urban agriculture in Oklahoma and green infrastructure in Ohio.