The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave almost $20 million this month to state Rep. Marvin Lim’s nonprofit for environmental work in the Norcross area, the most diverse and lowest-income part of Gwinnett County.
“In this county, we’ve got the highest housing and energy cost burdens, some of the most dilapidated properties and unhealthiest conditions and an underappreciated economy,” Lim, a Norcross Democrat who founded the Lucky Shoals Community Association, said in a news release. “But we also have stunning cultural and linguistic richness, a robust construction workforce and greenspace we should preserve.
“I’m grateful to the EPA for believing in our strengths, our potential, and the idea of community ownership over our own assets.”
The association will split the Community Change Grant with the Gwinnett Housing Corp., the Georgia Hispanic Construction Association and the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance. It will fund the development of a facility to provide workforce training in clean energy and other trades and for a space where residents can gather in an emergency.
The grant will also replace lead lines in 200 homes and nonprofit buildings and provide septic maintenance and septic-to-sewer conversions, according to the EPA.
“Over the past decade, the housing market has become increasingly corporatized, with Gwinnett County leading the state in the number of institutionally-owned homes,” Gwinnett Housing Corp. Executive Director Lejla Prljaca said in the release. “This grant will empower our community to reclaim control over its land, fostering sustainable resource management, promoting economic development, addressing housing affordability, and preserving cultural heritage.
“By curbing land speculation and ensuring long-term access to vital land assets, this initiative will ensure equitable opportunities and a resilient future.”
The grant was one of three the EPA gave in Georgia. The city of Thomasville and Groundswell, a nonprofit working in Troup County and east Alabama, also won grants. The EPA did not list the amounts of those awards.
The grants are funded by the Inflation Reduction Act. In total, 105 governments and organizations have received almost $1.6 billion for local environmental projects. In a news release, the EPA called it “the single largest investment in environmental and climate justice in history.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also selected the Lucky Shoals Community Association earlier this year to participate in an international effort to map areas of extreme heat.
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