WASHINGTON --- Today, the E.P.A. announced the completion of the latest round of awards under the Environmental Education (EE) Grants Program.
Plans include a community-based plan to study Monarch butterflies, a watershed and stream monitoring teacher training program, a classroom-based simulation of the United Nations Climate Summit, and a mobile laboratory. Additional Plans include school-based, after-school and non-formal EE programs focusing on a range of environmental issues, from air quality to recycling.
The agency funded 35 grants from across the country, ranging from $40,000 to $192,200, for a total of approximately $3.3 million.
Grant recipients include organizations in 24 states as well as from Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. States include: Alabama, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
Since 1992, E.P.A. has distributed between $2 million and $3.5 million in grant backing per year, for a total of approximately $65.5 million supporting in excess of 3,600 grant projects.
This year, E.P.A. distributed 2 types of grants under the EE Grants Program. Plans awarded under the Model Grants Request for Proposals (RFP) are intended to serve as model, replicable projects; each plan will be implemented in at least 2 states. Local Grant awards fund locally focused EE projects. E.P.A. anticipates issuing a new RFP for Local Grants in the winter of 2015-2016.
The grantees were selected from in excess of 400 applications received in February and March of this year. This longstanding, highly competitive grants plan supports EE Plans that increase public awareness about environmental issues and provide participants with the skills to take responsible actions to protect the environment. The plan provides financial support for Plans that design, demonstrate, and/or disseminate environmental education practices, methods or techniques.
For more information on the new awardees and on how to apply for future EE grant competitions, please visit http://www2.epa.gov/education/environmental-education-ee-grants
