National Institutes of Health Small Research Grants

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has released a new funding opportunity to support small research projects examining the differential risk factors of populations that lead to or are associated with increased vulnerability to exposures, diseases and other adverse health outcomes related to climate change. Applications may involve either applied research studies that address specific hypotheses about risk factors or population characteristics associated with increased vulnerability, or research projects to develop general models or methods for identifying and characterizing population vulnerability to climate change. The ultimate goal of this research program is to help informclimate change adaptation and public health interventions to reducecurrent and future vulnerability of various populations to the health effects of climate change.

A complete copy of the PAR (PAR-10-235) is available online. This program has been released for a three-year period with three application receipt dates. The first application receipt date is September 28, 2010. Prospective applicants are asked to submit a letter of intent (LOI) by August 28, 2010. The earliest anticipated start date is July 1, 2011. Please contact Caroline H. Dilworth at 919-541-7727 at NIEHS if you have questions.

Plan EJ 2014 Released - Comments Requested

Plan EJ 2014, named in recognition of the 20th anniversary of the issuance of Executive Order 12898, Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations PDF (6 pp, 122K), is EPA’s overarching strategy for carrying out the Administrator’s priority.

Over the next four years, EPA will implement and seek to strengthen efforts under the five Cross-Agency Focus Areas outlined in the plan:

Rulemaking;
Permitting;
Compliance;
Community-Based Action; and
Administration-Wide Action on Environmental Justice.

Visit Plan EJ 2014 and submit your comment today. Comments are due October 1, 2010.

EPA Releases Environmental Justice Guidance Rulemaking

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is releasing an interim guidance document to help agency staff incorporate environmental justice into the agency’s rulemaking process. The document, Interim Guidance on Considering Environmental Justice During the Development of an Action, seeks to advance environmental justice for low-income, minority and indigenous communities and tribal governments who have been historically underrepresented in the regulatory decision-making process. The guidance also outlines the multiple steps that every EPA program office can take to incorporate the needs of overburdened neighborhoods into the agency’s decision-making, scientific analysis, and rule development. EPA is seeking public feedback on how to best implement and improve the guide for agency staff to further advance efforts toward environmental justice.

To view the interim guidance and submit feedback

More information on environmental justice

EJ Summit & Call For Research Presentations

Call For Research Presentations on Environmental Justice

Environmental Justice Summit

October 15-16, 2010

Sponsored by the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network (NC EJ Network)

North Carolina's 12th Annual Community-Based Environmental Justice Summit will be held October 15-16, 2010 at the Historic Franklinton Center at Bricks, Edgecombe County, NC. Community members, government officials, environmentalists, students and researchers will participate. The Summit seeks to raise public awareness about environmental justice; connect communities in need with technical resources; support and encourage community-driven research; help communities and policy makers address problems of environmental injustice; and bring about positive changes in public health and the environment by promoting social and environmental justice.

This announcement is a call for research presentations on environmental justice. The NC EJ Network invites submissions that address environmental justice topics from any disciplinary perspective, including environmental sciences, social sciences, humanities, law, journalism, public health and medicine. Although most Summit participants are from NC, they welcome any submissions that have relevance to environmental injustices in NC. Researchers who have conducted community-driven or community-based research are encouraged to present in collaboration with members of community groups. Research presentations (approximately 15 minutes in length) will be given at a plenary session on Friday afternoon, October 15.

Please submit a title, author(s) and abstract (250 words or less) of your research by Friday, September 3, 2010 to:

Steve Wing Department of Epidemiology, CB#7435 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7435 919-966-7416 steve_wing@unc.edu

Abstracts may be submitted by mail or e-mail. Submissions must include the following information: name, organization, street address, city, state, zip, phone, e-mail, audio/visual needs, title, authors, affiliations, and your abstract (250 words or less). Additionally, e-mail submissions should have a subject line indicating “EJ Summit Abstract.”

Abstracts will be reviewed by the Environmental Justice Summit Coordinating Committee. Notification of acceptance for presentation will be sent by September 15, 2010. Authors will be expected to submit a final version of the abstract following the Summit for inclusion in conference proceedings.

As a coalition of community-based organizations, the NC EJ Network is not able to provide travel funds to academics, researchers, and government officials. Community scholarships will be available by application.