EPA Dallas Regional Administrator Al Armendariz announced Wednesday that five local environmental organizations have been awarded $487,500 in grants by the federal Environmental Protection Agency for environmental justice, job training and education programs. The grants announced at a ceremony Wednesday at the New Orleans Healing Center on St. Claude Avenue were:Louisiana Green Corps, $300,000 environmental job training grant to train low-income residents for jobs in energy efficiency and green building; solar and/or solar thermal system installation; and materials reuse, deconstruction and recycling. The program will last two years. The Green Corps acts as a recycling center for paint and construction materials and provides those materials for rebuilding projects in the city.
Global Green USA, $100,000 green jobs pilot program grant for local youth job training and placing workers with local, small construction contractors. The organization’s NOLA Wise program, operating with support from the U.S. Department of Energy and the city of New Orleans, is renovating existing homes to be energy efficient, providing contractors and apprentices with employment opportunities.
Lower Ninth Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development, $32,500 pollution-control grant, in partnership with Nurtured World, to provide Lower 9th Ward residents with energy efficiency training.
Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association, $30,000 environmental education grant to provide local youth with training to monitor air quality in eastern New Orleans.
Louisiana Bucket Brigade, $25,000 environmental justice grant to provide air-quality sampling around industrial areas in southeast Louisiana. The organization has used its air-quality sampling to support successful Clean Air Act lawsuits against several local refineries.
(Nola)
