An Urban Rivers Renaissance ...

For Immediate Release

Contacts:
Matt Burke | River Network | mburke@rivernetwork.org | 503-784-0977
Ann-Marie Mitroff | Groundwork USA | annmarie@groundworkhv.org | 914-375-2151
Enesta Jones | US EPA | Jones.enesta@epa.gov | 202-564-7873

River Network and Groundwork USA Reclaiming America’s Urban Waters

EPA Awards $600,000 to Help Improve Community Water Resources

PORTLAND, ORE The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, River Network, and Groundwork USA today announced $600,000 in grants to five cities that are working towards protecting urban rivers in their community. These communities have demonstrated they have the vision to address the challenges unique to their highly compromised urban watersheds and are poised to make a difference in their communities given this vital assistance.

Urban rivers hold a central place in the physical landscape and collective memory of cities. Their decline and fall over several centuries has taken a great toll on our urban areas and the people within them. They are the corridors around which downtown and neighborhood revitalization could and should occur.

The following five community organizations will directly receive $40,000-65,000 to support their targeted urban rivers work:

Atlanta, GA - West Atlanta Watershed Alliance is an urban, community-based organization made up of African-American residents working to protect and restore three West Atlanta watersheds. This project will engage residents of the Proctor Creek watershed in efforts to implement green infrastructure improvements to alleviate the area’s long history of flooding
due to combined sewer overflows.

Local contact: Darryl Haddock 404-752-5385 info.wawaonline@gmail.com

Birmingham, AL - Village Creek Human and
Environmental Justice Society has 20 years’ experience leading community-based educational, restoration and advocacy activities in support of the heavily impaired Village Creek, which flows through Birmingham’s poorest neighborhoods. This project will engage community members and youth through water quality monitoring, a classroom-based science curriculum, and numerous community meetings and educational opportunities.

Local contact: Edwin Revell 205-254-2470 edwin.revell@birminghamal.gov

Buffalo, NY - Groundwork Buffalo works with the residents
of Buffalo’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods to provide them with the means and ability to lead positive environmental and social change in their community. Through this project, they
will identify, plan and implement projects to address Buffalo’s vacant property crisis and help restore significant water resources by providing training on green infrastructure techniques and working with neighborhoods and officials to identify sites for demonstration projects.

Local contact: Tim Fulton 716-238-0750 tfulton@groundworkbuffalo.org

Grand Rapids, MI - Plaster Creek Stewards is a collaboration of Calvin College faculty and staff, residents, local churches, and community partners dedicated to restoring Plaster Creek, one of West Michigan’s most polluted watersheds whose impairments disproportionately impact low-income urban residents. This grant will support the outreach/education component of a 3-year restoration plan and focuses
on forging connections between the upstream agricultural communities and downstream low-income urban neighborhoods by working through their local churches.

Local contact: Nathan Haan 616-526-6496 nlh3@calvin.edu

Seattle, WA - Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition is an organization that advocates for the Superfund cleanup of the Duwamish River in south Seattle. With this grant, they will
work to restore the river, protect public health and ensure environmental justice for the river’s low-income, minority, immigrant and non-English speaking communities.

Local contact:James Rasmussen 206-954-0218 james@duwamishcleanup.org

“River Network is excited to help build strong organizations that are doing the vital work of restoring our nation’s urban waterways," said Todd Ambs, President of River Network. "These communities will ultimately benefit from cleaner drinking water, reduced risks of flooding and exposure to contamination, and increased access to scarce recreational resources.”

“Most urban places developed around their waterways,” said Rick Magder, Executive Director of Groundwork USA, “and the renewal of our communities is closely tied to restoration of these urban streams, rivers and lakes.”

Furthermore, the grant will support five additional organizations working to protect urban waterways. They are located in Cincinnati, OH (Mill Creek Restoration Project); Denver, CO (Groundwork Denver); Hartford, CT (Park River Watershed Revitalization Initiative); Prescott, AZ (Prescott Creeks Preservation Association); and University City, MO (River des Peres Watershed Coalition).

"This funding will help communities come together to rediscover and revitalize polluted waters,” said Nancy Stoner acting assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Water.” Together, we can help communities turn local water resources into treasured centerpieces of urban revival."

EPA’s is committed to helping communities – especially underserved communities – access, restore and benefit from their waters and the surrounding land. Many urban waters have a wide range of environmental challenges including polluted runoff, sewer overflows, and other contamination. Through support projects and partnerships with a variety of federal, state, tribal and local partners, EPA hopes to help communities reconnect with the urban waters that are an important part of their health and prosperity. Grants such as these encourage watershed organizations to undertake restoration and protection efforts and produce measurable environmental results.

For more information on the EPA’s urban waters efforts please visit, http://www.epa.gov/urbanwaters.

About River Network
River Network’s mission is to empower and unite people and communities to protect and restore rivers and other waters that sustain the health of our country. Founded in 1988, it is leading a national watershed protection movement that includes nearly 5,000 state, regional and local grassroots organizations, including more than 600 dues-paying River Network “Partner” organizations. In two decades, River Network has helped hundreds of state and local groups become established; assisted tens of thousands grappling with water and environmental health problems; worked with tribal groups across the country to form the Indigenous Waters Network and established the National River Rally as a premier annual gathering for people working for watershed protection. Its 20-person staff is headquartered in Portland, OR, with offices in Vermont, Maryland, North Carolina, Utah and Idaho. Rivernetwork.org

About Groundwork USA
Groundwork USA was established through a unique partnership between the EPA Brownfields program and the National Park Service Rivers & Trails Program, to renew communities across the U.S. faced with decades of environmental abandonment. Its network of 20 nonprofit Trusts uses a contextual model of renewal, tailored to local needs and multi-faceted. In 2009, the Groundwork network restored 120,000 feet of urban river habitat, removed 52 tons of debris, and improved 125 acres of brownfields. More than 15,000 local youth, adults, and senior citizens participated. Groundwork USA has four staff and is based in Yonkers, NY. They are supported by 100+ staff in local affiliates, who have a range of skills in social justice and environmental renewal. GroundworkUSA.org