Center for Green Schools receives EPA grant to support indoor air quality work

Washington, D.C. (Aug. 22, 2024) - Today, the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced that it is one of five recipients of a $34 million grant funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address indoor air pollution in schools. These five selected applications will fund proposed initiatives to monitor and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and indoor air pollution at schools. The Center for Green Schools has been awarded $6.5 million over five years to support school districts in low-income, disadvantaged and tribal communities to establish and put into practice indoor air quality (IAQ) management plans and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions plans.

"The support from EPA will deepen the work we do to support local schools and districts," said Anisa Heming, director of the Center for Green Schools at USGBC. "With this grant, we aim to expand our existing, successful program to provide training to at least 1,000 additional school district staff, which will have an enormous impact on communities that lack resources to improve the learning environments for their student and teachers to thrive and lead to improved student outcomes."

Expanding training for school district staff builds on the long-running and successful support that the Center for Green Schools has provided to hundreds of school district staff, who collectively serve 9.3 million students. The grant will fund efforts to build capacity among school district staff in low-income, disadvantaged and tribal communities and establish IAQ management plans for GHG emissions.

The Center will focus on increasing public understanding of IAQ and GHG planning at schools through education and training. The project will also connect school district peers regionally, providing focused coaching and professional development as well as mini-grant funding to overcome initial barriers to action.

The grants to protect children's health are made possible through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the largest investment in climate action and environmental justice in history. The IRA provides funding for grants to "monitor and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants at schools in low-income and disadvantaged communities." The Center for Green Schools will begin its work for this grant in October.

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