300F06921
EPA's Environmental Justice
Collaborative Problem-Solving
Cooperative Agreement
Program -
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The EJ CPS Program provides
financial assistance to selected
community-based, non-profit
organizations that seek to address
their local environmental
and/or public health issues.
This is a competitively awarded
grant program in which selected
applicants receive $100,000 for
three-year projects. The funds are
awarded by the Office of
Environmental Justice to recipients
through cooperative agreements
in which EPA will have substantial
involvement in the activities,
performance, and/or management
of the projects.
Environmental
Justice Collaborative
Problem-Solving
Program
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The CPS Model
The CPS Program requires the selected recipients
to use the CPS Model as part of their projects.
The purpose of the CPS Model is to assist affected
communities in working with other stakeholders
to develop proactive, strategic, and visionary
approaches to address their environmental and/or
public health issues. The CPS Model consists of
these seven elements:
Community
Vision
& Strategic
Goal-Setting
Community
Capacity-Building
& Leadership
Development
Evaluation,
Lessons Learned
& Replication
of Best Practices
Consensus
Building
& Dispute
Resolution
Elements of the
Collaborative
Problem-Solving
Model
Multi-Stakeholder
Partnerships &
Leveraging of
Resources
Sound
Management &
Implementation
Constructive
Engagement
by Relevant
Stakeholders
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Information on EPA's Environmental Justice grant and
cooperative agreement programs is also available online at:
Yvww.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/grants
For general environmental justice inquiries,
call the Environmental Justice Hotline at (800) 962-6215
To receive regular environmental justice updates via e-mail,
sign up on the Environmental Justice list server at
www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/listserv.html
For online publications and other information resources,
visit the Office of Environmental Justice Web site at
www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice
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Collaborative problem-solving means:
• Formulating and articulating a goal to
be achieved (e.g., establishing a health
clinic; or replacing diesel buses with
clean fuel buses).
• Providing outreach and education to
affected community residents and other
stakeholders.
• Seeking out other partners in various
stakeholder categories to address the
community's environmental and/or
public health concerns.
• Forming strategic partnerships by
including all stakeholders who can play
a role in addressing the problem.
• Developing and deploying a well-
designed and strategic plan to sustain
the partnership.
Here's what grant recipients
have said about
collaborative
problem-solving:
"We created a vision of community
health and sustainability, and
developed strategies to achieve it.
"We used innovative approaches to
involve and educate our local
community residents and youth.
"We leveraged other resources using
the partnerships we formed through
this program, including partnerships
with former adversaries."
"We learned that environmental
statutes can be a useful tool to solving
our local issues."
"We achieved tangible environmental
and health improvements in our
communities."
"Government agencies played a
critical role in supporting our
community's efforts to form
collaborative partnerships."
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