All News Releases By Date

NJ Groups Get $31,000 in EPA Education Grants; Groups Will Promote Recycling, Watershed Mgmt., Tree Planting and Awareness of Environmental Health Risks

Release Date: 08/02/2000
Contact Information:

(#00141) New York, N.Y. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that it has awarded grants totaling over $31,000 to four organizations in New Jersey for efforts to educate children and their parents and teachers about the environment and its impacts on human health. Since 1992, EPA’s Environmental Education grant program has provided financial assistance to non-profits, educational institutions and local and tribal government agencies that help communities understand and care about what are often complex environmental issues. "When it comes to environmental conservation, educating our children is perhaps the most important thing we can do," said Jeanne M. Fox, EPA Regional Administrator. "The New Jersey groups that are receiving these grants this year are working to build attitudes, lifestyles and critical thinking skills among young people that will make them better stewards of the world they will inherit. We are very proud to support their efforts." EPA’s New York City office received applications from 23 New Jersey groups for environmental education grants this year, from which the following four organizations were selected. For information on how to apply for an environmental education grant, contact Teresa Ippolito, EPA Regional Environmental Education Coordinator, at (212) 637-3675. Greater Newark Conservancy - $16,467 Newark, NJ ToxRAP Teacher Training Workshops The Greater Newark Conservancy will partner with the Resource Center of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI) and the Newark Board of Education to train more than 200 sixth-grade teachers from Newark public schools to use EOHSI’s ToxRAP Curriculum. Using the module "What is Wrong with the Johnson Family?" educators will help students understand that health problems can be caused by environmental hazards. Students will assume the roles of health hazard detectives and, while investigating a carbon monoxide problem, learn to gather information, collect and analyze data and draw conclusions based on evidence. Society of American Foresters, New Jersey Division - $5,000 Jackson, NJ Community Stewardship Action Partnership The Society of American Foresters will partner with Project Learning Tree and the New Jersey Tree Foundation to educate teachers and students from urban areas about environmental stewardship. Teachers will learn how to plan urban tree-planting events and urban tree-maintenance programs. The Society’s two professional development workshops will give teachers the skills needed for forestry projects, tree identification and inventory and community tree care. After completing the workshops, participating teachers will work with their students on projects that will encourage stewardship of community forest resources. Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association - $5,000 Pennington, NJ Creating River Friendly Schools The Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association will work with students, educators and administrators to develop pilot school-based watershed education programs to highlight the impact two serious local environmental issues – non-point source pollution and development – have on water quality. During the four-part program, the Association will develop a River Friendly School Manual, conduct a workshop for school administrators and educators and help students and teachers evaluate a school’s day-to-day activities’ impact on the local water supply. After implementing the pilot project in a local school and conducting workshops for other schools within the Stony Brook-Millstone watershed, the Association will make the model available on its website, http://www.beesinc.org Weehawken Board of Education - $5,000 Weehawken, NJ Helping a Culturally Diverse Audience Understand the Need for Recycling The Weehawken School District will partner with the Hudson County Improvement Authority to implement a special environmental program in recycling. The program, to be conducted in both Spanish and English, will target 7th and 8th grade students and their parents and emphasize the local and global importance of recycling. The Board will focus specifically on translating recycling-related materials into Spanish to serve a student population that is approximately 48% Latino. The Board will also bring experts to the schools, engage students in a range of hands-on activities and organize field trips to the Hackensack Meadowlands Environmental Center for students and their families.