To promote environmental stewardship, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently announced more than $980,000 in grants for 56 environmental education projects. DEP’s Environmental Education Grants Program had three priorities this year – climate change, environmental justice, and water. The 2024 projects aim to deliver a wide range of environmental learning opportunities, from providing youth with immersive field experiences to engaging residents in climate mitigation projects to supporting efforts to develop new standards-based curriculum.
The state’s focus on environmental justice (EJ) has resulted in 48 grants that will support environmental education activities in those communities. For instance, the National Audubon Society was awarded $25,000 to develop a seven-part climate resilience and community health workshop series to increase awareness of local environmental issues and support community action in EJ communities around Philadelphia.
One example of a project addressing the water priority is an award to Dauphin County Conservation District to conduct six Stormwater Management for Homeowners workshops with municipal partners. The workshop is designed to address runoff and other sources of nonpoint source pollution.
A full list of the 2024 awards is available here.
DEP’s Environmental Education Grants Program is funded by a set-aside of five percent of the pollution fines and penalties collected by DEP. To date, DEP has awarded more than $14M to support more than 2,200 projects through the program.
