NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 22, 2015
Contact: Veronica Mikitka Reed This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 215.434.7194
PHILADELPHIA, PA - The National Nursing Centers Consortium (NNCC) has awarded 10 organizations with more than $43,000 in funding to support community-based education projects aimed at empowering people to take better care of their local environment. The funding comes via a grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to NNCC to support environmental education projects throughout the mid-Atlantic region.
"NNCC is thrilled to continue our work as a leader in creating healthy environments for children through this initiative," said NNCC's CEO, Tine Hansen-Turton. "We look forward to working with EPA and the sub-grantees to promote environmental stewardship throughout the region."
NNCC awarded sub-grants to GreenTreks Network, Inc. and the Energy Coordinating Agency. The organizations will replicate a curriculum concerning asthma, climate change and health, developed by NNCC in partnership with the Clean Air Council, to educate and empower audience members on the impacts of climate change on asthma.
NNCC also awarded eight sub-grants for environmental education projects in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia that promote additional activities, such as protecting water in our communities. The projects include:
• National Audubon Society (Audubon, PA) - Audubon will provide a multifaceted program to underserved students in Norristown, PA to increase environmental stewardship. This project will, among other things, engage students in field experiences including habitat restoration projects along a nearby stream while also creating an outdoor classroom.
• Calvert County Public Schools (Prince Frederick, MD ) - Students from Calvert County Public Schools in Maryland will learn the importance of clean water for a healthy Chesapeake Bay eco-system by taking measurements of water quality, taking inventory of local plant and fish communities, and by making observations of a nesting pair of Osprey live and via webcam. Students will share data with partner agencies and take action to improve environmental health.
• Delaware Division of Parks and Recreation (Delaware) - This project will implement environmental education activities for underserved students on a reclaimed brownfield property. The project will explore themes including how lax environmental controls of the past contributed to the creek's contamination, how those pollutants imperiled the region's precious natural resources, and how the adaptive re-use of the remaining mill buildings will boost the economic vitality of a small rural community.
• Delaware Valley Green Building Council (Delaware) - This program will aid in expanding the organization's Pathways to Green Schools Program to incorporate an in-depth workshop focused on waste management topics, including recycling, composting, and e-recycling for teachers and key stakeholders involved in the program. Several of the participating schools will also organize and execute a community recycling event for residents to safely dispose of items such as electronics, batteries, paint, furniture, and clothing and to raise awareness about the importance of proper waste management procedures.
• Earth Force (DC area) - This project will support two hands-on watershed education events that highlight environmental projects - the Anacostia Environmental Youth Summit and the School Environmental Action Showcase in Northern Virginia - created by student teams from across the DC metro region. Student projects focus on improving watershed health and many begin with water-quality monitoring and assessment.
• Friends of the Rappahannock (Fredericksburg, Virginia) - In this project, citizens will be provided with a comprehensive list and step by step directions of home-based actions that support a healthy river. These actions will range from simple habits like turning the faucet off while brushing your teeth to more involved actions like building a rain garden.
• Meadowview Biological Research Station (Woodford, Virginia) - This project will support student restoration ecologist interns to be trained in Meadowview's unique five step process of ecological restoration and sustainability. They will focus their efforts on testing the hypothesis that healthy pitcher plants means healthy water and will impart their knowledge to numerous school groups and public visitors as well as work with a local, urban environmental group to advance these issues with the public.
• United Charitable Programs - Urban Outdoor Initiatives (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) - Through the "There's Good Out(doors) in My Neighborhood!" project, UOI will develop four environmental lessons tailored for an urban environment and pilot these lessons in two communities. Participants will learn about the environmental "good" that exists right outside their doorstep, which they can help sustain.
NNCC expects to reach over 1,000 people, many from underserved communities, through its sub-grant activities in both of the areas addressed.
About NNCC
A critical supporter of nurse-managed health clinics in the United States, National Nursing Centers Consortium (NNCC) works to advance nurse-led health care through policy, consultation, programs and applied research to reduce health disparities and meet people's primary care and wellness needs. The nation's 500 nurse-managed health clinics reduce health disparities by providing high quality comprehensive primary health care, health promotion and disease prevention services to uninsured, underinsured and vulnerable patients in rural, urban and suburban communities. For more information on NNCC, visit http://www.nncc.us/.
Information on EPA Environmental Education programs can be found at http://www2.epa.gov/education.
