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Our blog follows people and projects in the broad civic work of sustainability and resilience, as well as relevant policy issues and debates. We aim to introduce our readers to some of the more innovative and interesting practitioners, and to provide links to further exploration of their work.
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Application Deadline February 27: All-America City Award.
This year, climate and sustainability initiatives are part of the award honoring local innovation, civic engagement, and cross-sector collaboration. Learn more at National Civic League/America-City-Award/.
About the All-America City Award:
The National Civic League invites you to apply for the 2025 All-America City Award, the nation’s most prestigious community recognition. This award, now in its 76th year, offers a moment for reflection, celebration, and recognition.
2025 Theme: Strengthening Environmental Sustainability through Inclusive Community Engagement.
As communities grapple with the urgent challenges of climate change and environmental degradation, the 2025 All-America City Award will recognize the pivotal role that community engagement plays in advancing environmental sustainability and resilience.
The 2025 All-America City application will ask applicants to discuss the strength of their civic capital—the formal and informal relationships, networks and capacities they use to make decisions and solve problems—and to provide examples of three community-driven programs that have adapted and transformed the community. At least one of these efforts must be focused on the 2025 theme: Strengthening Environmental Sustainability through Inclusive Community Engagement.
The 2025 award will recognize these communities, specifically those that demonstrate a commitment to environmental sustainability through meaningful community engagement initiatives. By engaging residents, businesses, and government stakeholders in the pursuit of environmental goals, they create lasting impacts that reduce and mitigate the effects of climate change while bolstering residents’ well-being.
Environmental Protection Network:
Urgent Notice January 31, 2025
The Environmental Protection Network harnesses the expertise of over 650 former EPA career staff and political appointees from across the country to serve as a trusted resource, answering calls for objective analysis, scientific rigor, and a vision for a transformed 21st century EPA.
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The first two weeks of the new Trump administration has been anything but smooth for those dedicated to protecting public health and community well-being.
With hundreds of EPA grantees STILL locked out of their funding accounts—unable to invoice for any expenses, the firing of inspectors general at 17 government agencies, intimidating government workers into resigning while stripping civil service protections, and so much more, we are all feeling a range of emotions brought on by the uncertainty of this moment.
However, there is one thing that I am completely certain of: the work you do—protecting public health, advancing environmental justice, and strengthening communities—matters now more than ever.
While we can’t be sure what will happen next, for EPA grantees, we offer a few potential actions to consider:
If your funding was removed from ASAP or if you were otherwise denied a draw down, request that EPA reinstate your funds or allow you draw down.
– Clarify that you have a legally-obligated award and that you understand that OMB rescinded their memo, so you should be able to access your funding. Reach out if you need help with language or have specific questions.
– Also, fill out Lawyers for Good Government’s fund protection clinic intake form NOW so they can track this violation and reach out to you about potential next steps.
If you still have access to ASAP, consider trying to get as much of your funding properly and legally drawn down.
– As always, make sure you are 100% clear on your award obligations and that you remain 100% in compliance.
– Remember, for most grants, you will need to spend these funds within 5 days (payroll, purchases, etc.).
– Take screenshots and document any changes in your ASAP to preserve the record.
If you are “in limbo” please make sure we know!
For example, please tell us if you have been selected but have not received your award or your award was signed but not emailed to you.
And, for all grantees
– Consider reaching out to your elected officials and educating them on the benefits your project will provide to their constituents, especially in terms of jobs, the economy, energy independence, decreased exposure to pollution, etc.
– Make sure your finances are in order. If you are an EPA grant program awardee, or you know someone who is, please reach out to Kathy Pope at EPN for information on our February 12th, 1-2:30pm eastern, training on financial management.
While the road ahead may feel precarious, EPN and our partners are here to support you, help navigate these challenges, and fight for the protections that communities rely on. History has shown that setbacks do not define us—our resilience does. Together, we will weather this storm.
Sincerely,
Michelle
Michelle Roos (she/her)
Executive Director
Environmental Protection Network
michelle.roos@environmentalprotectionnetwork.org
646-361-6928 (cell)
www.environmentalprotectionnetwork.org
Michael Méndez
Congratulations to Michael A. Méndez, recipient of the 2021 Henry and Bryna David lecture award!
Congratulations to our Senior Associate Editor, Dr. Michael A. Méndez, for receiving the 2021 Henry and Bryna David lecture award! The Henry and Bryna David Endowment makes an annual award to a leading researcher who has drawn insights from the behavioral and social sciences to inform public policy.
In this lecture, Dr. Méndez will detail why it is crucial to understand the connections between the increasing threat of wildfires in communities across the United States and existing inequalities. He will also explore how to lessen the resulting harms, in particular for the most stigmatized populations, such as undocumented Latino/a and Indigenous migrants. This lecture builds from and expands on Mendez’s previous book Climate Change from the Streets: How Conflict and Collaboration Strengthen the Environmental Justice Movement, which can be found summarized and reviewed on the CivicGreen Bookshelf here.
The lecture will take place on October 14, 2021, at 3:00 pm ET and will be accessible online via webcast. Anyone who wishes to attend can register here. This award is sponsored by the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and Issues in Science and Technology magazine.
Again, hearty congratulations to Dr. Méndez for this well-deserved award!
Carmen Sirianni
Ann Ward
Environmental Protection Network maps path forward at EPA
This past August, a bipartisan network of more than 500 former career employees and political appointees at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who have served under multiple Democratic and Republican administrations, issued an extraordinarily thoughtful and timely report calling for a major course correction at the agency. The report, Resetting the Course of EPA: Recommendations from the Environmental Protection Network, calls for EPA to reaffirm its commitment to fully protect public health and the environment free from political interference. While its detailed recommendations range over science, economics, enforcement, budget, workforce, and international cooperation, it locates civic engagement, collaboration, and environmental justice as core values that should be driven still further into agency practices.
Joel Mills
An Urban Reality Check: Lessons Learned from COVID-19
To paraphrase revolutionary leader Thomas Paine, these are the times that try our souls. A global pandemic is sweeping our communities and leaving destruction in its wake. As the death toll mounts and the cascading impacts on our economic and social health become apparent, it is hard not to feel a sense of despair. Everyone across the globe – all of us – have suddenly been thrust into a shared experience that both unites humankind and forces consideration of where we are as a society. If ever there were a time for reflection and an assessment of our collective well-being, it is now. We have reached a moment of reckoning.
Carmen Sirianni
Peter Levine
Ann Ward
Welcome to Civic Green!
Today we are launching a new project that has emerged from the work of many innovative civic activists, teachers, students, and professionals in the U.S. who are committed to more democratic, sustainable, and just communities in a time of climate crisis. We are calling this project CivicGreen because its resources for learning and practice extend across a very broad range of arenas where civic engagement intersects with green innovation in communities and ecosystems, institutions and policy.