Pollution Prevention Institute at RIT accepting Community Grants Program applications

The New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) is accepting applications for the organization’s 2024-2025 Community Grants Program.

The program, founded in 2008, is part of the NYSP2I’s ongoing efforts to make the state more sustainable for workers, the public, the environment, and the economy through pollution prevention. Pollution prevention is reducing or eliminating waste at the source by modifying production processes, promoting the use of non-toxic or less-toxic substances, implementing conservation techniques, and reusing materials rather than putting them into the waste stream.

Eligible applicants, which must be New York state-based community organizations, municipal departments, public sector, or nonprofit entities, are invited to apply for funding to support community-based projects that promote public awareness, understanding, and implementation of pollution-prevention practices. The application deadline is 5 p.m. EDT on May 3, 2024.

“We are excited to open the new application period for the next round of our Community Grants Program funding,” said Nabil Nasr, NYSP2I’s interim director. “Eligible organizations from across the state have used this funding to implement a variety of pollution prevention and educational projects.”

“We look forward to seeing the next round of innovative proposals, and this year we are encouraging projects that have high impact on underserved communities,” he added.

According to NYSP2I, competitive projects utilize partnerships and collaborations with other organizations; demonstrate a broad community impact; address populations and communities that are affected by or susceptible to environmental harms and risk such as Environmental Justice (EJ) communities; are easy to replicate and use by other organizations; and demonstrate an ability to obtain funding from additional sources. Examples of project focus areas include reduction of natural resource consumption; reduction of hazardous chemical use; food waste reduction; pollution prevention in New York state priority areas such as greenhouse gas reductions or waste reduction through adoption of circular economy concepts; and outreach and education.

The 2024-2025 grant year marks the 17th round of program funding from NYSP2I. Since its inception, the program has funded 171 projects totaling more than $2.8 million for organizations all across New York state. Case studies and awarded projects are available on the NYSP2I website.

For information on the Community Grants Program, contact Ambika Walker, NYSP2I’s program manager, Outreach and Education, at apwgis@rit.edu or 585-475-2399.

About the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute

Funded by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute is led by Golisano Institute for Sustainability at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and is a partnership between RIT, Binghamton University, Clarkson University, Cornell University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the NYS Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

NYSP2I’s goal is to make the state more sustainable for workers, the public, the environment, and the economy through pollution prevention. Pollution prevention is reducing or eliminating waste at the source by modifying production processes, promoting the use of non-toxic or less-toxic substances, implementing conservation techniques, and reusing materials rather than putting them into the waste stream.