This agreement provides funding to support the environmental finance center (EFC) at syracuse university to implement its project to lead a diverse team of partners to effectively deliver training,…

This agreement provides funding to support the environmental finance center (EFC) at syracuse university to implement its project to lead a diverse team of partners to effectively deliver training, assistance, and capacity building activities across EPA region 2. Syracuse university will also assist communities by providing technical services and engineering, training and event coordination, and community engagement support. The efcs provide finance-related training, education, and analytical studies to help regulated parties develop solutions to the difficult 'how-to-pay' issues associated with meeting environmental standards. The efcs educate state, tribal, and local governments and businesses on lowering environmental costs, increasing environmental investments, improving financial capacity, identifying appropriate revenue generating mechanisms, and evaluating environmental financing options. Activities:the activities to be performed are delivering innovative training and capacity building in four overarching program areas: a. Water infrastructure and equity planning program (wiepp), b. Resource conservation and sustainable materials management community assistance (smmca), c. Aquatic debris prevention program (adpp), and d. Collaborative climate change planning (C3P). There will also be a fifth program area, e. Community grants technical assistance, based on additional available funding. Subrecipient:there will be a subaward for university of puerto rico - RIO piedras to provide water quality research and technical assistance. They will also work with syracuse university to provide capacity-building services to the community of LAS curias, puerto rico to protect and restore local water resources in the LAS curias subwatershed. Outcomes:the anticipated deliverables are individualized technical assistance, partnership building, network development, and development of science-driven decision-support tools, which are expected to lead to the enhancement of access to infrastructure funding, the implementation of best practices in resource conservation, and the protection of public health for communities in region 2, especially for disadvantaged, rural and/or native communities.