EPA awards four Environmental Education grants for Massachusetts

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently awarded Environmental Education grants worth a total of more than $275,000 to four Massachusetts organizations for projects that will promote education on environmental issues like climate change.

“These organizations are doing just the kind of work that is so important for the future of our environment,”  EPA New England Office Regional Administrator Curt Spalding said. “Projects that introduce youth, educators and communities to the problems and the possibilities of environmental protection and climate adaptation are bound to help us develop solutions for a well-protected and healthy New England environment.”

In Massachusetts, the grant winners are Greenagers, Inc., in Great Barrington; “e” inc., from Boston; New England Environmental Alliance, based in Devens; and the Massachusetts Audubon Society in Lincoln. The four organizations join three other winning programs from New England, in Vermont, Maine and Connecticut, which brings the total amount of grant funding for the region’s environmental education to $533,000.

“The environment science learning and action center in Boston is thrilled by this opportunity to bring STEM education, paired with hands-on projects that make a difference, to eight low-income after-school sites in Boston and six in Somerville through the generosity of this EPA program,”  “e” inc. Executive Director Ricky Stern, whose organization won the largest Massachusetts grant with $88,000, said. “Up to 500 children from first to fifth grades will be reached and every child will make a change for the better in their school or community.”