SAN JUAN – 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.
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