EPA REGION 3 Recipient: National Wildlife Federation Applicant Type: Not for Profit Award Amount: $12,000,000 Title: Mid-Atlantic Thriving Communities Hub (MATCH) Location: EPA Region 3 (DE, DC, MD, PA, VA, WV, and 7 federally recognized tribes) Partners: Academic: University of Maryland’s (UMD) Center for Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health (CEEJH) and Environmental Finance Center (EFC), Morgan State University, West Virginia State University; Local NGO: Centro De Apoyo Familiar, South Baltimore Community Land Trust, Virginia Environmental Justice Collaborative, Overbrook Education Center, Sussex Health & Environmental Network/Sentinels of Eastern Shore Health.
Goals and Description: The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) will work with core partners (UMD CEEJH and UMD EFC) to design, operate and lead a Mid- Atlantic Thriving Communities Hub (MATCH) to be an Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center for EPA Region 3, serving the states of DE, MD, PA, VA, and WV and DC. NWF will work closely with multiple community-based partners as core partners selected due to their experience and expertise in environmental and energy justice work.
Using a ‘hub’ approach, the core partners will act as ‘core hubs’, and the community-based ‘hubs’ will allow for service delivery to be more accessible to potential program participants, both geographically as well as culturally, due to their on-the-ground community presence. The community hubs include: (1) Centro De Apoyo Familiar (CAF) (DC Metro Hub); (2) South Baltimore Community Land Trust (SBCLT)(Baltimore area Hub); (3) Virginia Environmental Justice Collaborative (VEJC) (VA Hub); (5) Overbrook Education Center (PA Hub); and (6) Sussex Health & Environmental Network (SHEN)/Sentinels of Eastern Shore Health (SESH)(Eastern Shore Hub).
Morgan State University (MSU) will act as the primary Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Hub and West Virginia State University (WVSU) will act as a hybrid community and HBCU Hub. From a bricks and mortar standpoint, this is effective as participants will have more local or regional places to receive services.
From a cultural perspective, this is effective in that these organizations can draw upon their existing relationships and networks to be able to reach participants quickly, and they can also use the baseline information and services created and maintained by MATCH to distribute to participants, and further modify or tailor to the specific needs of communities in their service area. NWF and the UMD’s EFC and CEEJH will draw upon their unique institutional qualifications and experience to produce content for all the services that will be provided to participants We will also oversee the MATCH operations and oversight.
Operationally, NWF will be responsible for the grant management, the overall MATCH management, and act as the central hub for the suite of core and secondary partners. An Executive Committee will be established to lead all management activities. It will consist of the MATCH Co- Directors, and directors of each community and HBCU hub. The committee will monitor the allocation and use of MATCH resources to ensure appropriate and equitable distribution among all partners (see Budget Justification); lead the strategic planning process; and monitor and facilitate MATCH activities.