SEPA United States Environmental Protection Agency talFi An EPA Grant Program What are Environmental Finance Centers? What is Environmental Finance? EPA supports a network of eight environmental finance centers (EFCs) located across the country. EFCs are university-based organizations that provide innovative solutions to communities to help manage the costs of environmental protection programs and activities. EPA leverages funding provided through its grant program, which combines with other non- EPA funding sources to support the various EFCs. EFCs provide government officials and small businesses with a number of services, including: Analyses on environmental financing alter- natives Technical assistance Education through short courses for state and local officials and graduate courses through traditional university curricula Development and publication of case studies about innovative financing tech- niques Serving as clearinghouses for regional and state information on environmental financing and program management Outreach services such as financial management tools, training courses, lecture series, or education for communities and relevant stakeholders about financing issues WEB: www2.epa.gov/envirofinance/efcn EMAIL: ocfoinfo@epa.gov EPA's Center for Environmental Finance within the Office of the Chief Financial Officer manages the cooperative agreement with the EFCs. Knowledge about how to fund environmental programs is often limited. But financing mechanisms are essential to successfully implementing environmental programs at local, state, and federal levels. There is a significant need to educate public officials, currently on the front lines of financing environmental facilities and services, about options and tools available to help them meet their regulatory requirements and individual program goals. Locations of Environmental Finance Centers Currently Serving 7 of EPA's 10 Regions Serving EPA Region 1 University of Southern Maine Jack Kartez, Director tel: (207) 780-5389 jack@usm.maine.edu Serving EPA Region 2 Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems Mark Lichenstein, Director tel: (315) 443-5678 mlichenstein@syracusecoe.org Serving EPA Region 3 University of Maryland Joanne Throwe, Director tel: (301) 405-5036 jthrowe@umd.edu Serving EPA Region 4 University of Louisville Lauren Heberle, PhD, Director tel: (502) 852-4749 lauren.heberle@louisville.edu Serving EPA Region 4 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Jeff Hughes, Director tel: (919) 843-4956 jhughes@unc.edu Serving EPA Region 5 Cleveland State University Kevin O'Brien, Director tel: (216) 687-2188 k.o.obrien@csuohio.edu Serving EPA Region 7 Wichita State University Angela Buzard, Director tel: (316) 978-3401 angela.buzard@wichita.edu Serving EPA Region 9 Dominican University of California Sarah Diefendorf, Director tel: (415) 494-5422 sdiefl@gmail.com October 2014 EPA-190-F-14-001 ------- |