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EPA AWARDS ENVIRONMENTAL GRANTS TO ARIZONA AND UTAH GROUPS

Release Date: 6/17/1999
Contact Information: Lois Grunwald, U.S. EPA, (415) 744-1588

     Learning about tribal environmental issues and endangered frogs are some of funded projects

     SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced the award of $15,000 in environmental education grants to three Arizona organizations and $5,000 to a Utah program.

     Including the Arizona grants, EPA awarded grants totaling $160,000 to 19 organizations in California, Nevada, and Hawaii. Recipients of the grants include school districts, colleges and universities, non-profit organizations, and city, county, tribal, regional and state government agencies.

     The grants, awarded under the National Environmental Education Act, provide funding to support projects that will address significant environmental issues.  The organizations contribute matching funds. For more information on EPA's environmental education programs, access EPA's web site at: https://www.epa.gov/enviroed.

The recipients are:

Arizona 4-H Youth Foundation, Phoenix - $5,000 4-H Project S.T.O.P. (Stop Trashing Our Planet) This project will train ten middle/junior high groups to become peer teachers to their own age group and to elementary school children to increase environmental awareness with an emphasis on recycling.  The program, started in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1990, was introduced to the Phoenix area in 1996.  This grant funding will permit expansion of the project to other areas statewide. At introductory school assemblies a life-sized walking globe will incorporate songs, dances, and skits to convey the awareness message. The assembly will be followed up by hands-on workshops in paper making, recycled art projects, and similar activities based on the recycling theme. Contact: Jolie Ogg Graybill, (602) 470-8086, ext 345.

Douglas Unified School District #27, Douglas -- $5,000 "Viva la Rana" - Pond/Wetlands Curricula Dissemination and Teacher Training In the summer of 1998, ponds to provide habitats for the Chiricahua Leopard Frog were created at one high school and four elementary schools.  This project will join the Nimon S. Hopkins Conservation Education Center with Douglas Unified School District staff to: produce environmental science lessons for teachers at schools with pond sites, train teachers to use the lessons, and provide high school students with opportunities for teaching elementary school children.  During the workshops, teachers and high school students will take part in model lessons and use supplies provided to each school. Contact: Hans Bodenhamer, (520) 364-3464.

The Hopi Tribe, Kykotsmovi - $5,000 Educate Teachers and Students about Environmental Issues on the Hopi Reservation This project will establish a partnership between the Hopi Environmental Protection Office, the Institute for Tribal Professionals at Northern Arizona University, and the Hopi Tribe school communities to develop and deliver a culturally sensitive curriculum of environmental education lessons for elementary school children living on the Hopi reservation.  Teachers will be trained by attending workshops that have been adapted to Hopi culture and land base, with portions of the curriculum to be taught in the Hopi language.  These materials will be augmented by field trips, demonstrations using tribal elders, videos, and hands-on projects dealing with local and global environmental issues. Contact: Steve Blodgett, (520) 734-3609.

Four Corners School of Outdoor Education, Monticello, Utah - $5,000 The Colorado Plateau--A Roving Teacher Education/Mentoring Bioregional EE Program A two week, field-based summer institute for elementary school teachers will teach concepts of bioregion. Institute participants will serve as mentors to their colleagues at each school site.  Science resource centers will be provided to each school.  During the summer institute and throughout the school year, teachers will be introduced to existing environmental education curricula. Contact: Janet Ross, (435) 587-2156.