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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Release
date: 25 March 2009
Contact Information: Margot Perez-Sullivan, 415-947-4149;
Perezsullivan.margot@epa.gov
SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is
awarding $20,000 to Forgotten People CDC of Tonalea, Ariz., an
organization working with western Navajo Nation communities to
tackle environmental justice challenges.
Nationally, the agency is awarding 40 grants in 28 states totaling
approximately $800,000 to community-based organizations and local
and tribal governments for community projects aimed at addressing
environmental and public health issues.
“These grants mark the beginning of a full-scale revitalization of
what we do and how we think about environmental justice,” said EPA
Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “Environmental justice is not an
issue we can afford to relegate to the margins. It has to be part
of our thinking in every decision we make.”
Forgotten People CDC is working with the community to increase
access to clean, safe drinking water in remote areas of the Navajo
Nation. The organization is identifying practical, effective
solutions for the Diné communities in western Navajo Nation homes
without access to piped water. In this remote region, families are
forced to haul and store water on the premises. The data from the
assessment phase will quantify the unique problems faced by these
communities. Stakeholders will then work together to develop an
effective action plan and pilot a project to improve and provide
access to safe drinking water.
Nationally, grant recipients will use the money to create healthy,
sustainable communities through dozens of local projects aligned
with Administrator Jackson’s top five priorities—improving air
quality, managing chemical risks, cleaning up hazardous-waste
disposal sites, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting
America’s water.
Financial assistance under the environmental justice small grants
program is available to all non-profit organizations designated by
the IRS or recognized by the state, territory, commonwealth or
tribe in which it is located; city, township, county government
and their entities; or federally recognized Native American tribal
government.
In the 15 years since initiating the environmental justice small
grants program, EPA has awarded more than $20 million in funding
to assist 1,130 community-based organizations and local and tribal
governments. For more information on the grants program:
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/index.html
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