Morgan State University Awarded Funding by EPA to Study Baltimore's Environmental Justice and Transportation Issues

The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded Morgan State University a grant in the amount of $53,964 to undertake Phase I of the Baltimore Region Environmental Justice and Transportation Project. The project grant is the result of a two-year effort to develop a proposal to address environmental justice issues. The project's goal is to develop community-based transportation related environmental issue feedback, which can be used as a guide for improving the transportation planning and decision-making process. Rep. Elijah Cummings, 7th Congressional District, was involved in the final approval of the project.

The Baltimore Region Environmental Justice and Transportation (BREJT) will consist of community listening sessions to identify residents' environmental justice concerns related to various transportation-related issues. Public Works Environmental, LLC, will assist with organizing and facilitating the public listening sessions. Results from these sessions will be discussed in a dialogue workshop and a list of recommendations for addressing transportation- related environmental issues would be developed.

The purpose of the BREJT Project echoes what Dr. Robert Bullard of Clark Atlanta University wrote in a paper entitled Transportation Justice for All: Addressing Equity in the 21st Century . "Transportation is basic to many other quality of life indicators such as health, education, employment, economic development, access to municipal services, residential mobility and environmental quality," wrote Dr. Bullard.

The BREJT Project is jointly undertaken by the National Transportation Center at Morgan State University in collaboration with the Greater Baltimore Urban League and the Baltimore Metropolitan Council. T he Baltimore Metropolitan Council is an organization committed to identifying regional interests and developing collaborative strategies, plans and programs which will improve the quality of life and economic vitality throughout the region. The Greater Baltimore Urban League is a non-profit organization whose main mission is to provide services to improve the quality of lives of Baltimore's African-American citizens by promoting and achieving social and economic equality. Morgan State University, through its National Transportation Center, undertakes activities to optimize and improve transportation systems management and development.

Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a coeducational institution offering more than 60 academic programs leading to bachelor's degrees as well as programs at the master's and doctoral levels. As Maryland's public urban university, Morgan serves a multi-ethnic and multi-racial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information on Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.