Greater Portland Council of Governments among Maine nonprofits receiving EPA funds
File photo / THE ECOLOGY SCHOOL
ReTreeUS in Auburn is one of six recipients of federal environmental justice grants. ReTreeUS helped the Ecology School in Saco to plant trees in the past.
Working waterfronts, food forests and heat pump installations were among projects selected to receive over $3.5 million to advance environmental justice.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week announced six organizations will use the funds to with the goal of ensuring disadvantaged communities that have historically suffered from underinvestment have access to clean air and water and climate resilience solutions.
“Successful environmental justice programs are built with community collaboration, common goals and community empowerment,” said David Cash, the EPA's New England regional administrator. “Across New England, these selectees are poised to catalyze lasting change and make a profound difference, bringing cleaner air and water to their communities, combating climate change, creating green jobs, and improving environmental health.”
Grants direct to organizations
- Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Portland: $500,000 for building capacity for disadvantaged working waterfront communities to engage constructively in offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine.
- United Charitable: $500,000 for supporting a ReTreeUS project in Auburn to work with 11 partner organizations to develop eight food forests, providing benefits such as improvement of public and environmental health, while serving communities with high rates of food insecurity. United Charitable, headquartered in Vienna, Va., is a nonprofit working with wealth advisors on impact investment. ReTreeUS, based in Auburn and Sandwich, N.H., has planted over 70 school and community orchards throughout Maine and delivered educational programming, signage and workshops.
- Maine People’s Resource Center, Bangor: $500,000 for a community-led program to invest in the workforce development necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants through clean energy projects.
- Center for an Ecology-Based Economy in the western Maine foothills region:$150,000 for increasing community resilience across municipalities, schools, and public land through education, planning and technical assistance.
Government-to-government grants
- Penobscot Indian Nation: $1 million for installing a minimum of 150 heat pumps in Tribal housing units and private housing units occupied by Tribal citizens with the greatest need – elderly, veterans, and families with young children.
- Greater Portland Council of Governments: $886,014 for assisting communities in creating and implementing action steps to respond to climate change with a special focus on addressing energy insecurity and climate adaptation for underserved, disadvantaged and rural populations in Cumberland and York counties.
The EPA selected the organizations through its Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem Solving Cooperative Agreement and Environmental Justice Government-to-Government programs.
The money comes through the federal government’s Inflation Reduction Act.
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