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Vietnamese Non-Profit Group Awarded a $100,000 EPA Environmental Justice Grant

Release Date: 08/30/2007
Contact Information: Paula Ballentine (617) 918-1027

(Boston—August 30, 2007) The Vietnamese American Initiative for Development (Viet-Aid), of Boston MA, is one of ten awardees to receive a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency across the country to help improve the environment in low income communities.

To protect workers in the Boston area, many of whom are Vietnamese, the Healthy Floor Finishing Project will develop and distribute materials in Vietnamese that will include recommended product substitutions as well as fire prevention and basic health and safety information. In addition to reducing fire hazards, adopting safer alternatives can help reduce exposure to toxic chemicals. The project will also develop and distribute an educational program in Vietnamese for cable television, Vietnamese language, Radio, and Vietnamese newspapers. Several hands-on training sessions on how to use safer alternatives will also be scheduled.

“These grants are essential to ensuring that communities who are more vulnerable to environmental challenges have the resources to promote environmental solutions in their own neighborhood” said Robert W. Varney, regional administrator of EPA's New England office.

“We thank the EPA for supporting the Healthy Floor Finishing Project. We hope the EPA grant will allow us to achieve environmental justice for Vietnamese floor finishers,” said Mai Hoa Nguyen, Director of Programs at Viet-AID.

Healthy Floor Finishing Partners include the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH), New Ecology Inc., University of Massachusetts Lowell, and the Department of Work Environment.

Financial assistance under the Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Program is available to all non-profit organizations designated by the IRS or recognized by the state, territory, commonwealth or tribe in which it is located. The purpose of the funding is to assist affected communities so that they can develop proactive, strategic, and visionary approaches to address their environmental justice issues and to achieve community health and sustainability.

More information on environmental justice:
https://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/grants/index.html

More information on Viet-AID (www.vietaid.org)

Event presentation (https://www.epa.gov/region1/pr/pdfs/hffp083007.pdf)

Photo from event can be viewed at: https://www.epa.gov/region1/eventphotos.html