News Releases from Region 09
To Help Mark Children’s Health Month, EPA Funds Organization to Support Tribal Childcare Centers in California
SAN FRANCISCO — In celebration of Children’s Health Month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to award a total of $290,000 in EPA funding through the agency’s FY 2020 Children’s Healthy Learning Environments Grant Initiative. One of the two recipients of this grant funding nationwide, the Community Development Institute (CDI), will address environmental hazards in at least 20 Tribal childcare centers/family childcare homes in California.
CDI, a non-profit organization based in Colorado, will collaborate with childcare administrators in California and elsewhere to improve policies and practices in early childhood settings. CDI will provide trainings, facility assessment tools and information to reduce environmental hazards to at least 20 Tribal childcare centers/family childcare homes in California, as well as over 200 Head Start/Early Head Start centers across 22 states. The training and tools will empower early childhood professionals to use environmental assessments to identify and reduce risks in their childcare settings, benefiting an estimated 1,000 Tribal children in California and thousands of vulnerable children across the U.S.
CDI and the other grantee, New York State Department of Health (NYS DOH), will receive funding for projects to build capacity for children’s environmental health, under EPA’s Children’s Healthy Learning Environments Grant Initiative. EPA anticipates it will award CDI and NYS DOH cooperative agreements in the amount of $145,000 once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied. Funding these projects furthers the Administration's goals of more effective partnerships through collaboration with impacted stakeholders and effective platforms for meaningful engagement.
“Reducing exposures to unhealthy school and childcare settings through the adoption of healthy environment best practices, which both projects aim to do, can lead to improved children’s health, attendance, concentration, and performance,” said Jeanne Briskin, Director of EPA’s Office of Children’s Health Protection.
The other grantee, the New York State Department of Health (NYS DOH), will work to expand and implement statewide the Clean, Green, and Healthy Schools Program. The multi-disciplinary program provides resources to school employees, students, and parents best practices to increase knowledge and empower school occupants to improve their school’s environmental health. The project is expected to reach all 4,433 schools in the 700+ school districts across New York State, including New York City, the largest school district in the country.
The EPA is grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with the awardees and looks forward to further enhancing its partnerships to address protecting children’s environmental health in schools and childcare settings.
To learn more about what EPA is doing to protect children’s health visit: www.epa.gov/children and www.epa.gov/schools.
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