Making Environmental Justice Training More Accessible to Federal Workers
The ask: To increase staff awareness of and access to information on environmental justice, the federal government needed help developing a comprehensive environmental justice training course.
The solution: MDB developed an online Environmental Justice training course for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that educates employees about Environmental Justice and its history, environmental hazards, and healthy community environments.
More specifically, the course is designed to provide insight and assist HHS employees in applying Environmental Justice principles to their work. It also provides tools and resources for improving the effectiveness of HHS programs, policies, and activities that affect and serve minority, low-income, and Tribal populations, who often disproportionately experience harmful environmental exposures. Throughout the training, 20 knowledge checks evaluate user learning.
MDB also helped the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Water to develop an Environmental Justice Resource Guide that assists staff in integrating environmental justice into agency programs, policies, and activities. The Guide included background information about environmental justice; an inventory of resources and tools available to support Office of Water staff in integrating environmental justice into their day-to-day work, examples of successful integration of environmental justice into EPA programs, policies, and activities; and a list of EPA environmental justice and Office of Waters contacts.
Notable outcomes: These courses have equipped HHS and EPA staff with information and resources to better address environmental justice challenges as they perform their work.
