VIRGINIA: Petersburg Mayor Samuel Parham has declared April 30th Community Resiliency Day!

Join United Parents Against Lead (UPAL) as we acknowledge and applaud four Virginia organizations that will be awarded MATCH funds ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 for their work building Community Resilience. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provides funding for the MATCH grant program.

MATCH is led by the Center for Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health (CEEJH), directed by Professor Sacoby Wilson in the School of Public Health, and managed by Operations Manager Pamela R. Bingham.

CEEJH awarded $500,000 to community-based organizations through a "mini-grants" application process to support specific projects and capacity building in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

CEEJH awarded $500,000 to community-based organizations through a "mini-grants" application process to support specific projects and capacity building in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

The four Virginia Organizations are Division Street Landscaping, Chester, VA; Little Bluestem Collective, Afton, VA; Pughsville Civic League, Suffolk, VA; and Southside ReLeaf, Richmond, VA, are all addressing the negative effects of climate change exacerbated by historic disenfranchisement coupled with proximity to environmental hazards and underlying social, economic and geographic vulnerabilities.

UPAL, one of CEEJH's 8 Community Partners, will be working extensively to provide support and technical assistance to the Virginia-based Match grantees. The grantees will be recognized in a ceremony on April 30th, 2024, from 1 pm to 4 pm at the Petersburg Hub, Virginia's first solar-powered resiliency Hub located at 464 Byrne Street, Petersburg, VA 23803.

Congratulations to all the MATCH grant awardees! This ceremony culminates Lead Awareness Month 2024. We look forward to more frontline and fenceline organizations leading funding efforts in their communities. This MATCH funding to community-based organizations on the frontlines daily exemplifies what Justice40 should look like. Our communities must be equipped with the resources to save ourselves.