The agreement provides funding to national wildlife federation (NWF)

Specifically, NWF will work with core partners (UMD ceejh and UMD EFC) to design, operate, and lead a mid-atlantic thriving communities hub (match) to be an environmental justice thriving communities technical assistance center for EPA region 3, serving the states of DE, MD, PA, VA, and WV, as well as the district of columbia. NWF will work closely with multiple community-based partners as core partners selected due to their experience and expertise in environmental and energy justice work. This action partially funds the grant in the amount of $4,000,000. Federal funds in the amount of $8,000,000 are contingent upon availability of additional funding. Activities:using core partners and community-based hubs, this project will provide outreach to communities in need of technical assistance and increase capacity and knowledge related to environmental and energy justice concerns. Subrecipient:core partners national wildlife federation, university of maryland center for community engagement, environmental justice, and health (ceejh) and university of maryland environmental finance center (EFC), will design, operate and lead a mid- atlantic thriving communities hub (match) to be an environmental justice thriving communities technical assistance center for EPA region 3, serving the states of DE, MD, PA, VA, and WV and DC. NWF will work closely with multiple community-based partners as core partners selected due to their experience and expertise in environmental and energy justice work. Using a 'hub' approach, the core partners (1 subaward for UMD) will act as 'core hubs', and the community-based 'hubs' (10 subawards) will allow for service delivery to be more accessible to potential program participants, both geographically as well as culturally, due to their on-the-ground community presence. Outcomes:the expected outcomes of this project include: gained knowledge and skills needed to understand and assess environmental and energy justice issues and to engage policymakers, government agencies, and industry; and an increase in financial, technical, and institutional knowledge, resources, and skills to assess, design, implement, maintain, and pay for environmental and energy justice related projects. The intended beneficiaries include communities that are underserved, overburdened, resource-constrained, and rural in all region 3 areas: DE, MD, PA, VA, WV, and DC.