Working in Neighborhoods Receieves EPA Grant

Dec. 1, 2020

Cincinnati, Ohio's Working in Neighborhoods group won a federal grant to help reduce pollution and flooding from sewer overflows.

Working in Neighborhoods (WIN), a Cincinnati-based community development not-for-profit, won a federal grant to help reduce pollution and flooding from sewer overflows.

The U.S. EPA announced an award of $120,000 to the agency to help improve management of the Mill Creek watershed. This would reduce the runoff and pollution that occurs during heavy rains when storm water overwhelms neighborhood sewer systems, according to Soapbox Cincinnati.

WIN was one of 18 community-based organizations nationwide to win the grant, reported the EPA. This grant was made under the EPA’s Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Agreements program. 

This program funds non-profit agencies that want to create partnerships with industry, government, and academia to develop solutions that address environmental and public health issues in their communities.

“This EPA grant will help a community in Cincinnati disproportionately impacted by water pollution and flooding to find local solutions,” said EPA Region 5 Administrator Kurt Thiede.

With the grant, WIN will work to install green infrastructure to prevent storm water from flooding homes and overwhelming sewers in about 25 properties in the Mill Creek watershed, reported the EPA.

With the Partners for Better Watershed Management project, WIN will conduct demonstration projects, training, surveys and public education relating to the causes, effects, prevention and reduction of water pollution in Cincinnati, according to the EPA. The project’s main focus is on remediating storm water runoff, so the project will develop a comprehensive watershed management plan. 

In order to achieve these goals, WIN will conduct phone banking and social media outreach, hold demonstrations and educational workshops.

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Cristina Tuser