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Environmental Education Projects in New Jersey Get Big Boost from EPA; Nine Projects in New Jersey Receive More than $52,000 in Funding from EPA

Release Date: 07/24/2001
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(#01085) New York, New York - Demonstrating its continuing commitment to education about the importance of a clean environment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has funded nine diverse environmental education projects in New Jersey. Each year, the Agency helps fund projects that foster an understanding and respect for the environment. "Even with all the progress we’ve made in cleaning up our environment in the past few decades, the future of our environment still very much depends on the knowledge and skills of individuals and their ability to understand how people interact with the environment," said William J. Muszynski, Acting EPA Regional Administrator. "By getting involved in hands-on projects like these, students of all ages will learn the lesson that we didn’t fully grasp just a few generations ago – that we are inextricably connected to and dependant upon the environment." EPA’s grant program supports environmental education projects that enhance the public’s awareness, knowledge, and skills, enabling them to make informed decisions that affect environmental quality. Since 1992, EPA has awarded $ 20 million in grants. For more information on EPA’s Environmental Education Grant program and how to apply for a grant, visit the Web site at: https://www.epa.gov/enviroed/grants.html. The projects in New Jersey that received EPA funding in 2001 are: Camp Vacamas - $5,000 256 Macopin Road, West Milford, New Jersey Contact: Michael Friedman Youth Environment Squad (YES) The YES program provides intensive preparation for five environmental education assistants who are graduates of the Vacamas Academy residential alternative education program. The program, which will prepare them to work with approximately 150 middle school students from Crown Heights in Brooklyn, focuses on hands-on environmental and interdisciplinary programs and skill building in planning, designing and scheduling lessons. The YES teaching assistants will then work with Vacamas environmental education counselors providing environmental education programming to the Brooklyn students who make five visits to the camp during the school year. Citizen Policy and Education Fund of New Jersey - $5,000 400 Main Street, Hackensack, New Jersey 07601 Contact: John Weber Lead Poisoning Prevention: Train the Trainer Statewide Initiative This project targets staff members of social service organizations and leaders of community groups in neighborhoods with a high incidence of lead poisoning. Participants attend a day-long seminar on lead poisoning, lead poisoning hazards, techniques to prevent lead poisoning, ways to help clients understand their legal, housing and educational rights and strategies to assist families of children at risk for lead poisoning. The components and materials used in the workshop are provided to participants so they can take them back to their communities where they train others. Participants will receive assistance with their presentations and activities on lead poisoning prevention. An electronic bulletin also provides post-training support. Cross County Connection - $5,000 Transportation Management Assoc., Inc, Greentree Executive Campus, 2002D Lincoln Drive West, Marlton, New Jersey 08053 Contact: Rebecca Pierson Commute Awareness Classroom Teaching The Cross County Connections’s educational program teaches third graders about the problems associated with traffic congestion, air pollution and how air pollution can affect human health. The program targets approximately 1000 children in school districts in Camden and Burlington Counties. Cross County Connection staff conduct classes in the school and provide take home materials. It is interactive and hands-on program that allows students to understand what air pollution is, what causes it and how transportation choices can make a difference. The students find out about the formation of ground level ozone and its impact on youngsters, the elderly and those with respiratory ailments. Students design ride-share billboards and explore alternatives to single occupant vehicle travel as a method to decrease air pollution and receive Friends of the Environment certificates. The Passaic River Coalition - $5,000 246 Madisonville Road, Basking Ridge, New Jersey 07920 Contact: Ella Filippone Where Are You in Your Watershed? The Passaic River Coalition is a watershed association working in water and land use management in northern New Jersey and southern New York. As part of the Sate of New Jersey’s water management program, the Coalition is developing a poster entitled Where Are You in Your Watershed?. The poster will be used, along with stickers, to help people of all ages identify their location in the Passaic River watershed. The initial audience will be reached through a distribution to local government agencies, libraries and schools. For schools, there will also be a take-home version so that families can understand their relationship to the watershed. The poster also identifies water and sewage treatment facilities, and ecologically sensitive areas such as the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Society of American Foresters - $5,000 New Jersey Division, 370 East Veterans Highway, Jackson, New Jersey 08527 Contact: Terry O’Leary Protecting Stream Headwaters This program consists of a series of four workshops reaching approximately 150 environmental education leaders and facilitators. The focus is on the Pinelands National Reserve, the locale of the headwaters of streams in the ecologically significant Pinelands region of New Jersey. The workshops provide leadership education on the sensitivity of headwaters to changes in the environment and the need for watershed planning and management. The field-based workshops examine factors that impact watersheds, including non-point source pollution, and provide participants with hands-on experience examining the headwaters of a tributary of the Toms River. Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association - $22,315 Environmental Education Program, 31 Titus Mill Road, Pennington, New Jersey 08534 Contact: George Hawkins Watershed Education Initiative BEES (Building Environmental Education Solutions), the community-based environmental education program of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, educates teachers throughout the state about watershed issues and management. Partnering with New Jersey Audubon, The Youth Environmental Society and Project Urban and Suburban Environments, BEES seeks to improve teachers’ environmental teaching skills. The project includes a week-long Water Education Institute, a workshop on watershed education and water quality monitoring techniques, an intensive day of field experience on the Millstone River, a resource guide for educators compiled from existing sources, a website and support for teachers after the workshop are key components of the program. In addition, the Watershed Stewardship Program and a Student Colloquium provide additional opportunities to involve community members, teachers and students in watershed stewardship experiences. Union City Board of Education - $5,000 Hudson Elementary School, 3912 Bergen Turnpike, Union City, New Jersey 07087 Contact: Silvia Abbato Recycling Education Project at Hudson Elementary School This project overcomes language and cultural barriers to promote recycling as a community ethic in the Hudson Elementary School’s immigrant Latino population. Teachers and parents are involved in workshops, while students take part in recycling-related classroom activities and field trips about recycling. Students will develop a Spanish-language publication to promote recycling that targets early elementary grades. The publication, which includes student posters developed as part of the program, will be featured on the Union City Public Schools website and the booklet will be disseminated to district elementary schools and other local and state information centers.