^£D STA% i 2010 National Achievements in Environmental Justice Awards Recognizing Successful Partnerships Achieving Public Health and Environmental Justice Goals EPA is pleased to recognize the ENLACE Cano Marlon Pena Project for establishing and implementing a land use and comprehensive development plan that works to improve social, economic, and environmental conditions for eight communities in the Cano Martm Peha Special Planning District. The Cano Marti'n Pena (CMP) is a 3.5 mile long natural tidal channel located at the heart of the San Juan National Estuary. It provides a vital connection between the San Juan Bay and the San Jose Lagoon. Impoverished squatters who migrated to San Juan during the first half of the 20th Century built their houses in the mangroves bordering the CMP. For decades, the CMP has been a symbol of urban poverty and environmental degradation. Legislation established the Project ENLACE Cano Martin Peha, whose mission is to implement the $744 million land use and development plan. Cano Martin Peha Special Planning District Act (Law 489) also created the Cano Martin Peha Community Land Trust, a first in Puerto Rico, which guarantees affordable housing, resolves land tenure issues, and reinvests any future increase in land value back into the community. The Land Trust is essential to the Plan's implementation, as it prevents gentrification and ensures that the current residents benefit directly from investment in infrastructure, urban reform, and environmental restoration. The partnership addresses environmental justice through mechanisms that allow for transparency, trust in institutions, bottom-up participation, interdisciplinary approaches, respect for diversity, concurrent planning and implementation, constant evaluation, and celebration of successes. Successful projects have included outreach on environmental awareness to more than 3,000 students, the construction of the first vacuum sewer system in Puerto Rico, and the relocation of hundreds of households to allow for dredging of the contamination in the channel. Partners Corporation del Proyecto ENLACE del Cano Grupo de las Ocho Comunidades Aledanas Martin Peria al Cano Martin Pena Fideicomiso de la Tierra del Cano Martin Pena (Community Land Trust) ------- |