News Releases from Region 02

EPA Provides $120,000 to PUSH Buffalo for Green Jobs Training and Environmental Education

(Buffalo, N.Y. – October 5, 2016)  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Judith Enck was joined today by Rahwa Ghirmatzion, Acting Executive Director, People United for Sustainable Housing – Buffalo, to announce an EPA Environmental Justice grant awarded to PUSH Buffalo. The $120,000 grant will be used to support job training and environmental education outreach on green infrastructure and environmental stewardship.

“This grant will produce amazing results by combining good environmental practices with green infrastructure education and job training in a low-income community,” said Judith Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. “This project will do great things for the City of Buffalo while helping local residents develop job skills.”

The EPA grant will:

• Train 10 local residents in ecology, native plant identification, habitat restoration and stewardship, and green infrastructure. A workshop will prepare community members to become good environmental stewards with employable skills in the growing ecological restoration and green infrastructure fields;
• Support a demonstration project at Silo City where students can put their learning into practice;
• Fund an educational workshop, led by Riverkeeper’s Young Environmental Leaders Program, for youth in Buffalo’s First Ward, a community adjacent to Silo City; and
• Bring together Buffalo area organizations to discuss strategies for ensuring clean water and job creation in the green jobs sector.

The job training will support green infrastructure in local municipal codes and put green infrastructure into practice. The network of trained professionals will emphasize Minority and Women’s Business Enterprise contracts. Elements of this project will result in improvements to water quality, and air quality while increasing the biodiversity of the area. Providing habitat and food sources for local wildlife and stabilizing the river bank are specific goals of this project. 

PUSH Buffalo is a membership-based community organization with a mission to mobilize residents to create strong neighborhoods with quality, affordable housing, expand local hiring opportunities, and advance economic justice in Buffalo. PUSH Buffalo has more than 400 individual members in Buffalo’s low-income neighborhoods. The partners on this project include the Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Buffalo Museum of Science, Western New York Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management, Silo City and local landscaping and horticultural businesses.

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