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Environmental Justice Newsletter
July 18, 2024
Summary of Important Dates
Announcements
DEP Kicks Off the 2024 Youth Inclusion Initiative
On July 8th, The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection officially launched its fourth annual Youth Inclusion Initiative program, which partners with community-based organizations to give young people from overburdened communities the opportunity to learn about various careers in the environmental field through interactive skill-building activities. Participants, ages 16 to 20, engage with Community Host organizations and DEP professionals to learn technical skills and complete community projects. Through these hands-on experiences, DEP hopes to empower the next generation of environmental leaders and provide opportunities for communities that have disproportionately less open space or historically lack natural lands access. Host Community Organizations include The Work Group in Camden, Groundwork Elizabeth, and the Ironbound Community Corporation in Newark. Learn more online.
Murphy Administration Launches New Interactive Website to Track Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Investments
Last month, The Murphy Administration launched the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Formula Funding Tracker, an interactive website monitoring the use and impact of more than $7.28 billion in BIL funding and state matching dollars statewide. Projects funded under the BIL are varied and far-reaching, spanning from infrastructure improvements and natural resource protection to initiatives addressing longstanding inequities experienced by underserved communities. The Tracker provides users with project locations and descriptions, phases of work, exact funding allocations, and the amount expended, enabling a greater degree of government transparency and accountability in delivering equitable and sustainable outcomes for environmental justice communities. Learn more online.
Participation Opportunities
Upcoming Environmental Justice Law Public Hearings
August 7- Shell Oil Newark Terminal, AO-25 (hybrid)
August 22- Calpine/Sherman Ave Energy Center, EJ Rule (hybrid)
September 18th- Citgo - Linden Title V Renewal, AO-25 (virtual)
Facilities subject to the Environmental Justice Law must facilitate meaningful opportunities for overburdened communities to engage in permitting decisions for pollution-generating facilities through an enhanced public participation process. Subscribe to EJ Law notices by County
 Register Now for IAC's Heat Focused Webinar
Join the New Jersey’s Interagency Council on Climate Resilience for an upcoming webinar on August 13th at 11am. NJ Interagency Council on Climate Resilience Asks: Has it Always Been This Hot in NJ? is the first in a new series of heat-focused virtual learning opportunities for residents and will feature a panel of climate and weather experts. The panel will discuss NJ's warming temperature, it's current and projected impacts, and the role of the Urban Heat Island effect in temperature rise. More information is available online.
Funding and Technical Assistance Opportunities
In case you missed it, see below for opportunities that provide funding and assistance for projects related to green infrastructure, climate change, healthy communities, and more.
Free Technical Assistance through NJ Fleet Advisor
As part of NJDEP's Drive Green NJ program, the New Jersey Fleet Advisor is a new initiative providing free technical assistance to fifteen eligible New Jersey fleets interested in vehicle electrification. Each fleet selected to participate will receive a personalized Fleet Electrification Roadmap developed by NJDEP’s technical experts to help reduce practical barriers to EV adoption. Eligible applicants include private, non-profit, or public fleets that are registered and operate in New Jersey that have 10 or fewer medium- or heavy-duty vehicles fleet. Priority will be given to fleets in overburdened communities, many of which have disproportionate rates of diesel emissions and higher concentrations of truck traffic.
Applications are due August 15, 2024. More information is available online.
Applications for Brownfield Designation Areas Now Open!
The Office of Brownfield and Community Revitalization has relaunched of the Brownfield Development Area Program and is now accepting applications for new designation areas. Through the Brownfields Development Area Program, OBCR works with selected communities affected by multiple brownfields to design and implement remediation and reuse plans for these properties simultaneously. This approach enables remediation and reuse to occur in a coordinated fashion that addresses cumulative impacts in areas concentrated with brownfields, often located in overburdened communities.
Applications for new BDA designations are open through July 31, 2024. Learn more online.
Applications Now Open for the Arbor Day Foundation Community Roots Program Grant!
In partnership with the USDA Forest Service Urban & Community Forestry Program, the Arbor Day Foundation has established the Community Roots Grant Program to support community forestry projects in underserved underrepresented communities. With over 4 million dollars in total funding available, the ADF will support community-led initiatives, including investments in tree planting and maintenance, planning, and capacity building. ADF will prioritize project proposals that seek to increase tree canopy and address challenges such as lack of access to green space, limited opportunity for green jobs, food insecurity, and urban heat in environmental justice communities. Community-based organizations and non-profits are eligible to apply.
Applications are due August 12th, 2024. Learn more online.
Deadline to Request Community Change Grants Program (CCGP) Technical Assistance
To provide eligible applicants with the most effective technical assistance (TA) possible, and in light of the of the fast-approaching November 21, 2024, Community Change Grants Program (CCGP)application deadline, EnDyna, EPA’s TA contractor, will stop accepting new requests for TA after August 16, 2024.
Eligible entities that are interested in receiving TA for CCGP application preparation must submit a complete TA intake form by August 16, 2024. More information is available online.
Trainings & Office Hours on EPA’s Environmental Justice Mapping Tool
This summer, EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights is holding a series of trainings and office hours to help users with new updates to EJScreen, EPA's environmental justice (EJ) screening and mapping tool. EJScreen 2.3 offers important updates, highlighting new environmental indicators and map layers, providing interface improvements, and incorporating updated demographic and environmental data. Trainings are structured webinars, while office hours provide an opportunity to discuss how to use and apply the tool, troubleshoot technical issues, and talk with EJScreen experts. More information is available online.
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All New Jersey residents, regardless of income, race, ethnicity, color, or national origin, have a right to live, work, and recreate in a clean and healthy environment. Historically, New Jersey’s low-income communities and communities of color face a disproportionately high number of environmental and public health stressors and, as a result, suffer from increased adverse health effects. New Jersey seeks to correct these outcomes by furthering the promise of environmental justice.
DEP’s Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) aims to improve the quality of life in New Jersey’s most vulnerable communities by educating and empowering communities who are often outside of government decision-making processes and guiding DEP’s programs and other state departments and agencies in implementing environmental justice.
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