EPA Press Office:

EPA Announces Phase 2 Winners of the Environmental Justice Video Challenge for Students

University of Richmond Students Among Winners

PHILADELPHIA, (May 9, 2023) Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its co-sponsors, American Public Health Association, the Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities – Network (EPIC-N), Environmental Defense Fund, Environmental Justice journal, and Groundwork USA, announced the Phase 2 winners of the Environmental Justice (EJ) Video Challenge for Students. The winning teams, which consisted of college students and local community organizations, worked together to develop community capacity building strategies to address an environmental justice issue important to a local community.

“This challenge showcases how collaboration between the next generation of environmental justice advocates and community organizations can produce truly innovative ideas to address environmental and public health issues affecting communities,” said Chris Frey, Assistant Administrator of EPA’s Office of Research and Development. “We are encouraged by each team’s exceptional efforts and look forward to creating pathways for continued community capacity building that will help us to achieve our mission to protect human health and the environment.” 

In Phase 1, college students created videos demonstrating innovative approaches to identify and characterize an environmental justice issue in a community using data and publicly available tools. In Phase 2, students worked collaboratively with local community organizations to develop a community capacity building strategy and an accompanying video that demonstrates effective community engagement and advocacy to address the environmental justice issue identified in Phase 1. 

EPA selected the Pollution to Prosperity: Tackling Landfill Impacts for a Thriving Future – University of Richmond Project as Third Place Phase 2 winner.  

Third Place ($40,000): Pollution to Prosperity: Tackling Landfill Impacts for a Thriving Future – University of Richmond

• Community Organization Partner ($34,000): Concerned Citizens of Charles City County
• Student Team Members ($6,000): Megan Salters, McKenna Dunbar, Sarah Murtaugh

Check out the Phase 2 winning submissions.

For further information: r3press@epa.gov