By K. Mauser, contributor
Harrisonburg will apply for a grant aimed at helping disadvantaged communities reduce pollution and make neighborhoods more resilient to climate change.
The city will move forward with an application for an Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grant through the Environmental Protection Agency, officials announced at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
If awarded, the grant would increase the environmental and sustainability education for disadvantaged populations in the city, implement a “comprehensive community engagement strategy” for community feedback on environmental initiatives and incorporate this feedback into the city’s practices, according to the city council presentation from Sustainability and Environmental Manager Keith Thomas alongside Grants and Programs Analyst Luke Morgan.
“This is our largest concentrated effort extending this today related to environmental justice and just our environmental sustainability programs in general,” Morgan said.
Harrisonburg will be the lead applicant when applying for the grant along with Church World Service and the Northeast Neighborhood Association, Morgan said, adding that other groups and organizations may still be added as partners “even after the grant has been awarded.”
Thomas said the grant would ultimately reinforce the city’s Environmental Action Plan already in place to guide city leaders, staff and community members in upholding sustainable practices. Some of these goals include reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping educate the public about sustainable practices.
In order to reach more of the community, Thomas said city staff will take into account the three largest barriers for the participation of people in disadvantaged communities, such as language differences or a perception that public engagement does not lead to change.
“This here is evidence that you’re dealing with populations who would have been marginalized and left out of this conversation forever,” council member Monica Robinson said. “You’re also doing what’s so important by incorporating that feedback into the Environmental Action Plan. And that’s what we want to see — we want to move from injustice to justice.”
The Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grant program is funded with $2 billion through the Inflation Reduction Act that Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed in 2022.
City leaders hope to submit the grant application by Aug. 1, Thomas said. He said the grant has a “rolling deadline,” so there’s no set date on when Harrisonburg can be awarded or denied this grant.
“I am very, very impressed with this,” Robinson said. “Kudos.”
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