US EPA Region 9 Environmental Justice Funding and Programs

2023 Tribal EPA Region 9 Conference
October 24-26, 2023
Alpine, CA & Online

Abstract
This session aims to give an overall update on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 9’s Environmental Justice (EJ) program. This session will provide updates on prior, current, and upcoming EJ grants, introduce our Region 9 TCTACs, and allow time for discussion. As the R9 EJ program has continued to grow and evolve, this session is dedicated to gaining insights from Tribal members, resolving questions, and introducing new EPA programs and partners.

Speakers
Michael Cloyd is an Environmental Justice Coordinator with the US EPA Region 9 Environmental Justice Team. Michael serves as the Tribal liaison for the team as well as a project officer on the San Diego State University Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center. Michael came to Region 9 in 2022 bringing prior experience in Clean Air Act Permitting, conservation biology, and field work assessing water quality.

Rebecca Lewison is a conversation ecologist and professor at SDSU. As the project lead for the $10M EJ TCTAC grant, she spearheads the capacity-building efforts to serve the needs of communities excluded from policy decisions and actions impacting them. The center and its partners are co-creating accessible, multilingual, in-person, and virtual services to help communities most affected by environmental challenges apply for federal funding. She is a biology professor and serves as the Chair for Research and Scholarly Excellence for the Division of Diversity and Innovation. She received her bachelor's degree from Vassar College and her doctorate in Ecology from the UC Davis.