Fostering Community Support
In many communities across the nation, brownfield sites—abandoned or underused properties with potential environmental contamination—pose a significant challenge. However, with the right resources and strategies, these sites can be transformed into valuable assets that improve local environmental quality, attract businesses, create jobs, and boost property values.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognises this potential and offers its Brownfields Program to provide assistance for the cleanup and safe reuse of contaminated properties. This program is particularly beneficial for small and rural communities, nonprofits, and Tribal Nations, as it offers grant funding, technical assistance, local revitalization strategies, and community action tools to address contamination, improve public health, and attract businesses.
One of the key ways this program supports these groups is through grant funding. The EPA offers competitive grants such as Community-wide Assessment Grants (up to $500,000 over 4 years) to inventory, plan, assess contamination, and conduct community outreach at brownfield sites. Additional funds come from Cleanup Grants, Multipurpose Grants, and Revolving Loan Funds to finance site cleanup and redevelopment activities. Recent awards total $267 million nationwide for assessment, cleanup, and revolving loan projects.
Moreover, the EPA provides technical assistance through funded organizations and regional Brownfields Program representatives. This support ensures communities and nonprofit entities can effectively plan and implement cleanup and reuse projects.
The program also facilitates local revitalization strategies by helping transform contaminated properties into usable land, which improves community health by removing environmental hazards and attracts new businesses and economic investments. The EPA encourages leveraging multiple federal, state, and foundation sources to support sustainable redevelopment, helping communities devise broad revitalization plans that meet local needs.
Community engagement is a crucial aspect of the program, ensuring local input shapes redevelopment that benefits public health and economic growth, especially in disadvantaged rural, small-town, and tribal areas. Tools include outreach funding via Assessment Grants and dedicated technical assistance to foster collaboration among stakeholders.
For local leaders seeking guidance on brownfield cleanup and reuse efforts, the Local Officials' Guide offers invaluable resources. Designed for mayors, council members, and other community leaders, the guide includes community action tools, leadership strategies for local revitalization, and information on how land banks can help address brownfields. Additionally, the guide provides a collection of funding resources for brownfield cleanup and reuse.
In conclusion, the redevelopment of brownfields presents a unique opportunity for communities to improve and protect public health while creating opportunities to attract businesses and jobs through strategic, locally driven revitalization. With the support of federal programs like the EPA's Brownfields Program and resources such as the Local Officials' Guide, small and rural communities, nonprofits, and Tribal Nations can overcome financial and technical barriers to safely restore contaminated brownfield sites and foster sustainable growth.
[1] Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). Brownfields. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/brownfields [2] Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). Brownfields Program. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfields-program [3] Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). Brownfields Success Stories. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfields-success-stories [4] Local Initiatives Support Corporation. (n.d.). Local Officials' Guide to Brownfields Redevelopment. Retrieved from https://www.lisc.org/our-work/programs/brownfields/local-officials-guide-to-brownfields-redevelopment
- The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Brownfields Program supports communities with grant funding, providing resources for community-wide assessments and site cleanup activities, totaling $267 million nationwide for assessment, cleanup, and revolving loan projects.
- In addition to financial assistance, the EPA offers technical assistance to help communities and nonprofit entities plan and implement contaminated property reuse projects, facilitating local environmental science educational initiatives and ensuring the safe reuse of brownfield sites.
- The EPA's Brownfields program provides valuable tools for health-and-wellness improvements and economic growth, particularly for small and rural communities, nonprofits, and Tribal Nations, by focusing on environmental quality, boosting environmental-science knowledge, and fostering sustainable financial practices through projects like land reclamation and job creation.
