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Ten Massachusetts Groups Receive Environmental Education Grants

Release Date: 10/01/2001
Contact Information: Amy Miller, Press Office, (617) 918-1042


BOSTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that 10 projects in Massachusetts have received a total of $57,021 in environmental education grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The funds were awarded to: Bristol Community College ($10,000); South Shore Natural Science Center in Norwell ($8,142); the Community Foundation of Southern Massachusetts in New Bedford ($5,000); Earthworks Projects in Roxbury ($5,000); Mystic River Watershed Association in Arlington ($5,000); Sharon Public Schools ($5,000); Southeast Regional Planning and Economic Development in Taunton ($4,784); St. Joseph's School in Quincy ($4,095); Triton Regional School District in Byfield ($5,000); and Westport River Watershed Alliance ($5,000).

"These projects in Massachusetts will help educate residents about their own environment and how they can help to protect it," said Robert Varney, regional administrator at EPA's New England office. "Teaching residents about the air, land and water around them is an effective, cost-efficient way to protect the environment."

• Bristol Community College will use its funds for a series of 10 forums with experts talking about water quality and wetland protection issues in that area.
  
• The Community Foundation of Southern Massachusetts will help pay for a five-day program involving teahcers and high school students exploring he environmental issues of local rivers, ponds and wetlands. Students will use maps and charts to look for habitats to protect drinking water supplies as well as watersheds and salt water estuaries.
  
• Earthworks will expand its after-school gardening program to three new urban elementary schools.
  
• The Mystic River Watershed Association will use its funds for the New Century Environmental Leadership Institute, which aims to help students become professionals in watershed restoration research, policy development and environmental education.
  
• Sharon Public Schools will use the awards to bring outdoor environmental education to grades 3,5,7 and 10, and to develop a strategy for bringing environmental ed into the 10th grade biology classes. The grant swill also help pay for training for high school and elementary school teachers.
  
• The South Shore Natural Science Center, along with the town of Pembroke, will develop an environmental program at the Willow Brook Farm Preserve that will provide professional development workshops and activities for teachers. More than 400 Pembroke and Hanover third and fourth-grade students are also expected to participate with chaperones or parents.
  
• The Southeast Regional Planning and Economic Development is working with the Boys and Girls Club of Taunton to offer a series of hands-on learning experiences on land use planning with examples from their own community. The program will be offered to 10 to 13-year-olds through an after school program.
  
• St. Joseph's School will use the money to participate in Quincy's Earth Week 2002 to educate the community and students about environmental and health issues of their city.
• Triton School District will develop an outdoor classroom, including a pumpkin patch, butterfly garden, composting program and birdhouse at Newbury Elementary School to help students learn about the environment and gain a lifelong appreciation for it.
  
• The Westport River Watershed Alliance will use the funds to expand its watershed education program to include a fifth grade field study program on dune grass restoration. More than 150 students, 20 parents and six teachers are expected to participate.