Iowa Environmental News

Grants Available for New England Community-Based Nonprofits Working to Reduce Environmental Risks

(Boston, Mass. – June 22, 2006) – Two programs are making grant funds available to groups working to improve New England’s environment from the ground up. EPA's New England regional office is seeking applications for two national funding programs designed to assist local groups working to reduce environmental risks in communities. These funding programs are the “EJ Small Grants” program and the “EJ Collaborative Problem-Solving” program.

Proposed EJ Small Grants projects, worth $50,000 each, must be designed to form collaborative partnerships, educate the community, develop a comprehensive understanding of the local environmental and/or public health issues and identify ways to address these issues at the local level. EPA anticipates awarding at least one grant in the New England region. The purpose of proposed EJ Collaborative Problem-Solving projects, worth $100,000 each, must be to address an existing local environmental and/or public health issue. However, these projects cannot focus only on education or training. EPA expects to award at least one of these grants in the New England region.

The deadline for both grant applications is late October. Applicants may apply for either program, but not both. The focus of this assistance agreement program is to build the capacity of community-based organizations to address environmental and/or public health issues at the local level.

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	Did You Know?
	SARA is the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (1986) Federal law reauthorizing and expanding the jurisdiction of CERCLA. Signed into law October 17, 1986. Title III of SARA is known as the Emergency Planning and Community Right- to-Know Act of 1986. It is a revision and extension of CERCLA.SARA is intended to encourage and support local and state emergency planning efforts. It provides citizens and local governments with information about potential chemical hazards in their communities. SARA calls for facilities that store hazardous materials to provide officials and citizens with data on the types (flammables, corrosives, etc.); amounts on hand (daily, yearly); and their specific locations.