CARE Progra

CARE

Mail Code 8001A

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20460

Phone: 1­877­CARE­909

Inside This Edition:

CARE Communities in Action...... p. 2­3

Tools and Resources...................p. 4

Upcoming Events.......................p. 4

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Community

Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) program promotes

local action by providing technical support and federal funding

directly to community­based collaborative partnerships.

CARE’s continued success is evidenced by the twelve current

CARE communities reporting significant second­quarter

achievements in each of the four CARE process stages. So

far the CARE Projects have over 210 partner organizations

and have leveraged over $600,000. More detailed information

about each of the twelve communities’ efforts can be found

inside under “CARE Communities in Action” (p. 2­4).

Final 2006 CARE Requests for Proposal Applicants Selected

Over 110 project proposals were submitted to CARE by the April 10th deadline. Regional CARE teams

ranked and forwarded on select project submissions to Headquarters for final review. Afterwards, mid­May, a

committee of Regional and Headquarters CARE staff met in Washington, DC, to decide upon which would

advance to the final phase of the application process. Ten Level I (about $75,000 each) and seven Level II

projects (about $300,000 each) were chosen. 2006 final awardees will be officially announced in October.

http://www.epa.gov/care

Five current CARE communities and their respective regions were highlighted in

three separate panels at this year’s Community Involvement Conference (CIC) in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, June 27­30. Organized by EPA annually, the CIC brings

together public participation and community involvement professionals from EPA

and its federal, state, tribal, and local partners. The City of New Haven and Muskegon County Environmental Coordinating Council — Level II CARE communities —

presented implementation steps, ways their partners have participated in the projects, sustainability and resource activities, and challenges they have been facing.

Two Level I communites, DeKalb County Board of Health and Clean Air Council of

Southeast Philadelphia, discussed the growth of their partnerships and the various

steps for identifying and prioritizing risks. They then requested advice for addressing some of their challenges. Additionally, Grace Hill Settlement House, a Level II

project, shared the benefits of logic modeling. Audience members were engaged

during all three panel sessions.

New Haven CARE Project Addresses Toxics at Port

Douglas Eller of Grace Hill

presents at Community

Involvement Conference

Community Action for a Renewed Environment 

CAR E Program

Quarterly Highlights — August 2006

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) program helps communities

address risks from various sources of toxic pollutants in their local environment.

CARE Making Strides for Community Health and Environment

CARE Well Represented at Community Involvement Conference
Level I grant

Level II grant

Joining Together

Sharing Resources

Over 109 organizations or individuals are participating in the

ject. The partnership has

drafted several documents, including “Visions of Success,”

“CARE Community Collaboration Philosophy,” and “Roles in

the CARE project”. At monthly meetings, a table is made

available for community handouts. This enables team members to share information, from the distribution of radon test

kits to various light pollution materials.

ject by establishing CARE working

joined a multi­media Port Task Force to create a comprehensive

In addition, students at California State University in Northridge

Expanding Public Information

March 29th and April 22nd at the Annual International District Spring Clean­Up

where community residents received information about indoor and outdoor air

quality, drinking water quality, and solid waste/recycling/land use. In response to

community requests additional information about seafood safety, IDHA is working with the Washington Department of Health and WA Fish and Wildlife to coordinate programs that connect water quality and seafood safety.

U.S. EPA CARE Program: Quarterly Highlights ­ August 2006

Cleaner­burning Equipment used

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Oneida County (NY) CARE pro

Convening Rural Counties

Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments launched its 2­year CARE pro

groups in 3 of its counties. San Juan College hosted the first meeting for San Juan County; the Future Foundations

Family Center convened a meeting in Cibola County; and the Gallup/McKinley County Chamber of Commerce

launched a partnership dinner for McKinley County stakeholders.

Building Alliances

Clean Air Council (CAC) of Southeast Philadelphia, PA is engaged in building trust

and capturing the attention of local port officials, businesses, unions and civic

groups. The CAC learned that several port operators switched their equipment from

diesel­fueled to relatively cleaner propane or electric power due to increased concern for employee health and safety and greater efficiency. These employeecentered concerns open the door for unions to play an important role in expanding

CAC’s actions. In addition, several groups, including the Coast Guard’s Ecological

Risk Assessment, an Environmental Justice Regional Citizen’s Committee, the

Delaware Valley Goods Movement Task Force, and Philadelphia Diesel Difference

Working Group,

approach in expanding the port area.

Identifying Problems & Solutions

Involving Schools

A series of community meetings and workshops at 3 elementary schools helped engage residents in identifying

sources of toxics for Pacoima (CA) Beautiful

walked throughout the community to see and document problematic land uses. Also, the class is researching business plans, risk assessment maps and other data to provide a better understanding local sources of toxics.

International District Housing Alliance (Seattle) held two “resource fairs” on

CARE Communities in Action:

Page 2

International District Housing Alliance

Community Meeting

There are four steps in the CARE process: oining together,

identifying problems & solutions, implementing solutions &

reducing risks, and becoming self­sustaining. 2005 CARE Communities

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Implementing Solutions & Reducing Risks

Reducing Air Pollution

New Haven’s CARE partnership successfully engaged St. Raphael's Hospital on a proposed boiler con

Page 3

gram. As a result, the hospital will burn natural gas from at least April through August each year, which

emissions of harmful pollutants (nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter) by more than 15

In addition the hospital agreed to a complete Environmental Management System project at the hospita

New Partners, New Efforts

Groundwork Denver’s (CO) CARE Project has had remarkable

bringing numerous neighborhood associations and businesses

Twenty­five organizations are part of the CARE partnership inclu

City Council members, the Regional Air Quality Council, Clayto

hood Association, Colorado Motor Carriers Association, Elyr

Business Association, the Denver Tobacco Prevention and Con

to Nestle Purina Petcare Association. The new partners have en

ject activities. For example, volunteers from General Motors ass

groups in performing water quality sampling.

Groundwork Denver’s Partnership Team

Targeted Seasonal Effort

This spring, the Muskegon (MI) County Environmental Coordinating Council is focusing on working with

Posters for boat launch areas a

ect, DeKalb County (GA) CARE, has made broad steps towards sustainability. L

ects are designed to form multi­stakeholder partnerships to identify risks and prioritize concerns. United

fered assistance to the CARE partnership by facilitating a community focus group. Agnes Scott College

by a CDC initiative to incorporate public health concepts into undergraduate colleges — required its stud

ect as part of their practicum. Additionally, the DeKalb County CARE p

ager was selected to be part of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation effort called CONNECT. CONNEC

RCAP Solutions, Inc. (NH) worked with an Antioch New England Institute’s economist to look at all wast

ment options and develop a method to evaluate their costs, environmental impacts, infrastructure needs

ceptability and feasibility. Small seed grants were awarded to local communities to pilot collection of ele

University of Washington PhD Candidates have agreed to conduct an evaluation of International District

Alliance’s (Seattle) Wilderness Inner­city Leadership Development (WILD) program, as well as the effec

its partnership. WILD, is a youth leadership development program which focuses on environmental hea

tice issues providing cultural and language appropriate services to low­income communities and is a ke

Grace Hill Settlement House (St Louis) has established baseline idling measurem

of a new effort to reduce school bus idling. These have been taken at schools prior to idle­reduction eff

Through CARE funding, Groundwork Denver has leveraged $20,000 to expand the use of promoto 

workers into additional neighborhoods in northeast Denver and to add information about health impac

Lake Watershed Council to prepare for the fishing and boating season.

prepared to provide information on proper fish cleaning techniques to minimize ingestion of pollution.

Becoming Self­Sustaining

Gaining Foundation and United Way Attention

Although a Level I proj

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sist in the community CARE proj

Foundation’s effort to educate policy makers on public health efforts in local communities.

Developing Business Plans

curbside pick­ups and other pollution prevention options.

Evaluating Results

IDHA CARE project.

be compared to measurements taken following education and intervention efforts.

Leveraging Funds to Expand Outreach

ronmental tobacco smoke.
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Tools and Resources for CARE Communities

CARE staff members at outreach booth

National Sustainable Design Expo May 2006

(Washington, DC)

U.S. EPA CARE Program: Quarterly Highlights August 2006

http://www.epa.gov/care

At a June 15 meeting in Atlanta hosted by EPA Region 4 and Department of Energy, a

CARE panel consisting of representatives from DeKalb County Board of Health, Center

for Environmental Information, and Groundwork Denver, discussed the importance of

collaboration. The panel highlighted the value of CARE partnerships; provided important tips to Environmental Justice communities; and answered questions regarding the

challenges pro ects may encounter. Groundwork Denver provided a specific presentation on the progress a community organization can make from an Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem­Solving grant to a CARE grant.

Building Partnerships in Environmental Justice

Communities

Upcoming Events

September 14, 2006 nd CARE training conference call: How to

Engage Small Community Businesses

September 18, 2006 – CDC and CARE collaboration meeting

(Atlanta)

October 2006 – New CARE cooperative agreements awarded

November 6, 2006 CARE presentation at the American Public

Health Association conference (Boston)

November 13, 2006 CARE panel at the Brownfields Conference, (Boston)

November 15­17, 2006 nd Annual CARE National Training

Workshop (Seattle)

Working with the

American Bar

Association

The ABA has invited attorney’s to do pro bono work

with CARE communities.

So far lawyers have agreed

to work with 5 CARE communities.

Household Environmental Education Conference Call

The CARE program is conducting a series of training calls at the request of CARE communities. On June 8, the

first conference call focused on “Household Environmental Education” and provided CARE communities with information on environmental risks to households. Twelve CARE community partnerships participated on the call moderated by Charlie Chase of Groundwork Denver. Four CARE partnerships (International District Housing Alliance,

Groundwork Denver, Grace Hill Settlement, and Pacoima Beautiful) shared techniques for providing household environmental education to communities; best practices in providing technical advice; challenges they encountered;

and lessons learned. Six specific resources were highlighted — Center for Disease Control (CDC) Healthy Homes,

Alliance for Healthy Homes, HUD Health Homes, and EPA’s lead, indoor air and pesticides programs. These resources are available to CARE communities through an online information­sharing site, called QuickPlace.