PUBLIC INTEREST CENTER: (614) 644-2160
MEDIA CONTACT: Heather Lauer
CITIZEN CONTACT: Darla Peelle

Ohio EPA Awards $60,698 Total for Two Environmental Education Grants to Montgomery County Organizations

Ohio EPA awarded two organizations a total of $60,698 to conduct Montgomery County-based environmental education. Nine grants were awarded statewide for $350,000.

Ohio EPA awarded ThinkTV with $49,853 for its program Nature as the Outdoor Classroom.

The program will train Head Start teachers in practical examples of science to show how very young children can develop literacy, math and science skills while having fun exploring nature in their local neighborhoods. Three PBS stations in Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton will provide training to 840 Head Start teachers through 42 workshops in 28 counties in their viewing area, using the national Growing Up Wild early childhood curriculum from Project WILD.  A follow-up monthly e-newsletter will provide new ideas and activities.

The second grant, awarded to the University of Dayton – Rivers Institute/Fitz Center for Leadership in Community, is for $10,845 for its Rivermobile workshop.

The grant will provide a portion of the seed money to develop a 53-foot-long tractor trailer into an interactive Rivermobile to “bring the river” to schools and community events. The focus will be to correct public misperceptions about local water quality while building overall community appreciation for the region's rivers and aquifer.

The Ohio Environmental Education Fund is administered by Ohio EPA.  Grants up to $50,000 are funded from one-half of the civil penalties collected by the Agency for air and water pollution control violations.

For additional information, contact the Ohio Environmental Education Fund on the web or at (614) 644-2873.

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The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency was created in 1972 to consolidate efforts to protect and improve air quality, water quality and waste management in Ohio. In the past 40 years, air pollutants dropped by as much as 90 percent; large rivers meeting standards improved from 21 percent to 89 percent; and hundreds of polluting, open dumps were replaced with engineered landfills and an increased emphasis on waste reduction and recycling. Ohio EPA...40 years and moving forward.