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November 4, 2024

UConn nets $10M grant for regional environmental center

Hartford Business Journal The University of Connecticut
By Hanna Snyder Gambini

UConn has won a five-year, $10 million U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant to launch a new regional center focused on environmental justice, the university announced.

UConn’s Environmental Justice Thriving Community Technical Assistance Center, working with the EPA, will support urban, rural and tribal communities throughout New England, by helping organizations access state and federal funding to complete environmental justice projects, the school said.

The center became operational with the launch of its website, environmental-justice.program.uconn.ed.

University and EPA officials said certain communities, typically lower-income and communities of color, are more likely to be at risk of suffering from environmental harms like pollution and vulnerability to climate change-related impacts like flooding.

Community organizations will be able to submit requests for free support with tasks like needs assessment, identifying funding sources, grant preparation, grant applications, and grant management. The team will engage partners directly and create digital informational resources, including webinars, podcasts and videos.

Through this technical assistance, the center will support projects aimed at improving the quality of life and economic development of communities most affected by environmental injustices.

One area of focus could be transportation equity. Officials said expanding public transit networks is not only good for the environment by cutting motor vehicle carbon emissions, but it also increases mobility for people who do not own a car.

The center would explore how to improve the transportation system so that disadvantaged communities that don’t have good access to public transportation will be able to travel more efficiently, said center director Carolyn A. Lin.

Other initiatives may tackle health disparities related to pollution exposure and toxic infrastructures, helping community organizations combat sources of pollution, develop educational resources, or connect community residents to healthcare services.

The Center is partnering with the EPA; the Institute for New England Native American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Boston; the New England Environmental Finance Center at the University of Southern Maine; the New England Rural Health Association; Groundwork USA, and the Environmental Protection Network. 

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