EPA awards Syracuse University, Onondaga Environmental Institute education grants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is awarding nearly $335,000 in environmental-education grants to Syracuse University (SU) and the Onondaga Environmental Institute.

SU’s Environmental Finance Center (EFC) at the Center for Sustainable Community Solutions will use its $200,000 grant to provide underserved areas in Puerto Rico with education and outreach to promote environmental stewardship in local communities, the EPA said in a news release.

EFC will implement its “Generating a Replicable Environmental Education Network” project in underserved Puerto Rico communities.

EFC will work with more than 7,000 college students, K-12 students, local-organization members, and local-governmental leaders in an “integrated,” environmental-education stewardship program, the EPA.

The program will teach waste reduction, recycling, composting, and green-infrastructure concepts and skills to support expanding environmental projects throughout Puerto Rico.

The Center for Sustainable Community Solutions will also develop hubs in four centrally located institutions where stewards and the public can conduct workshops and access information, curriculum, and resources for teaching and implementing environmental-education projects, the release stated.

Additionally, EFC will sub-award 10 grants of $5,000 each to organizations that develop waste reduction, recycling, composting, and green-infrastructure programs throughout Puerto Rico.

Onondaga Environmental Institute
The Onondaga Environmental Institute will use a grant of more than $134,000 to “strengthen” community relationships with natural resources and to increase public awareness of the various environmental-planning processes at work in the Onondaga Lake watershed, the EPA said.

The nonprofit’s program, dubbed “Reviving Place: Onondaga Lake Watershed Community Mapping and Environmental Planning Education,” targets students and community members who benefit from the watershed.

The institute will use the grant to develop an educational program for middle-school students that will foster personal connections to their local environment, and develop skills in evaluating environmental-project ideas, according to the EPA.

Students will also have the chance to participate in community events that incorporate intergenerational teaching to extend the outreach to adults in the community.

Additionally, the community will learn about local natural resources through community tours, the creation of community maps, and regional informational trainings, the release said.

The Onondaga Environmental Institute will also produce informational videos to teach the community about environmental-planning processes and how to evaluate or get involved in proposed watershed and waterway projects, the EPA said.

Since 1992, EPA has funded more than $55 million in environmental-education grants to support more than 3,500 projects across the country.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com