RI organization selected for EPA grant

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - The Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island will use a recently awarded $38,000 grant from the EPA to educate local students about the environment.

The organization which focuses on reducing the risks of poor air quality is one of 74 organizations in New England to apply for funding and one of four to receive funding.

The funding will go towards the ECO Youth Multimedia Community Educators Program, which offers after school programs to local high school students on air quality, toxics and house-hold chemicals. The hope is to reduce community members' exposure to asthma triggers both indoors and outdoors.

Other New England groups awarded grants were:

• The Education Connection in Litchfield, Conn ($28,977) for a program aiming to integrate the environment into classrooms and involving 10 middle school teachers and up to 250 students.
• The Mount Desert Island Biological Lab in Salisbury Cove, Maine ($83,628), a two-year program to educate students and teachers in two inland Maine high schools about marine vegetative environments.
• The Coalition for Buzzards Bay of New Bedford, Mass. ($67,629), which is working to educate elementary school children on water quality issues through a partnership between Bay In My Backyard, the YMCA Southcoast and Wareham Public Schools.

How to apply for an EPA environmental education grant