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Sarbanes Announces Federal Grant to Support Maryland Urban Farming and Environmental Education Program

September 18, 2018

Funding Will Help Local Nonprofit Provide Hands-On Urban Farming Classes and Environmental Learning Experiences for Maryland Students

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman John Sarbanes (D-Md.) today announced that ECO City Farms, a local urban farming and education nonprofit, will receive $97,844 in federal grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide Maryland students with immersive urban farming classes and hands-on environmental learning experiences.

Funding comes from the EPA's Environmental Education Program, which offers grantmaking opportunities to education programs that promote environmental stewardship and outdoor learning. The grant will support ECO's "Growing Young Stewards Through Urban Farming," a program that educates Maryland students about sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation, and encourages youth to play a larger role in protecting local ecosystems.

"This new federal grant will allow ECO City Farms to provide more Maryland students with hands-on urban farming and sustainability education and better connect them to our natural world," said Congressman Sarbanes, a longstanding environmental education advocate who authored the No Child Left Inside Act. "By providing our students with access to outdoor learning experiences, we can instill them with environmental values and inspire a lifelong commitment to environmental stewardship."

To learn more about ECO City Farms, visit: http://www.ecoffshoots.org/about-us/

For more information about the EPA's Environmental Education Program, visit: https://www.epa.gov/education/environmental-education-ee-grants.

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