Case Studies
(January 2003) (PDF Format 387.8KB)
This report includes six case studies of IWG national demonstration
projects using partnerships to address environmental justice issues.
Download the full case studies report or
the individual case studies below.
Descriptions and Links to Individual Case Studies
The Barrio Logan Partnership (PDF
Format 83.8KB) is based primarily in an inner city community near
downtown San Diego. The partnership formed in 2001 as part of the
IWG designation after initial discussions between a senior EPA official
and representatives of the Environmental Health Coalition, a local
environmental justice organization with a long-standing history
of working in the Barrio Logan community. Barrio Logan is faced
with several challenges, most notably incompatible land-uses brought
about through lack of proper zoning restrictions that led to the
emergence of industrial land uses near residential homes. Through
a structured, facilitated partnering process, the Barrio Logan partnership
has brought long-standing adversaries together to discuss, form
goals, and implement actions to address some of the numerous quality
of life issues facing the community.
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The Bridges to Friendship Partnership
(PDF Format 70.9KB) emerged in 1998 out of concerns that a major
redevelopment effort in a distressed Washington, D.C. neighborhood
would fail to benefit local residents and could eventually result
in their displacement. Initiated by community organizations and
officials at the Washington Navy Yard, these groups formed a structured
but flexible partnership involving numerous community non-profits,
several federal agencies, and the government of the District of
Columbia to ensure that local residents would benefit from the redevelopment
through better coordination, communication, and pooling of expertise
and resources. With over forty partners today, partnership members
view this coordinated approach as an effective way to conduct business
and continue to search for opportunities to better serve local residents.
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The Metlakatla Peninsula Cleanup Partnership
(PDF Format 64.7KB) is a unique emerging collaboration between the
Metlakatla Indian Community (MIC), federal agency field staff in
Alaska, and federal headquarters staff based primarily in Washington
D.C. Its purpose is to ensure the cleanup of over 80 primarily government-contaminated
sites on the MIC's home island in southeast Alaska. Through these
coordinated efforts, the parties hope to cleanup the sites in a
manner that is satisfactory to the Tribe, making more efficient
use of resources, and map out a process for cleanup of complex multi-party
sites. The issues are complex given the numerous agencies and other
parties involved in the contamination, the different parties' policies
and procedures for contaminated site cleanup, and disagreements
over who should cleanup the sites and to what level. The partnership
effort began in 2000 after the designation by the IWG as a national
demonstration pilot and built upon an on-going local collaboration
primarily between the MIC and Alaska federal agency field staff.
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The Metro East Lead Collaborative
(PDF Format 68.2KB) is an effort that emerged after a local hospital
and government officials determined that high lead levels in children
in East. St. Louis and surrounding communities may be a result of
lead-contaminated soil. Recognizing the need for a comprehensive
approach to reduce the threat of lead-poisoning, in early 1999,
an EPA representative brought several groups already at work on
lead and related issues together to form a structured partnership.
Although initially focused on East St. Louis, the project soon expanded
its focus to other nearby neighborhoods. In addition, the enthusiasm
over the partnership's lead-reduction efforts spurred the partnership
to begin simultaneously addressing brownfields redevelopment.
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The New Madrid Tri-Community Partnership
(PDF Format 71.2KB) resulted in 1998 after local residents from
one rural community in southern Missouri requested the assistance
of the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to
help it tackle numerous social, economic, and environmental challenges.
Responding to the call, NRCS joined together with EPA, a regional
non-profit, and two additional communities in the area to begin
addressing common residential concerns. Soon after the partnership
was designated by EPA as a Child Health Champion national demonstration
project, these groups began taking a structured approach to addressing
asthma, lead, and water quality issues in the three communities.
Since then, the partners have made significant progress meeting
the objectives outlined under their program.
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The ReGenesis Partnership (PDF Format
79.8KB) emerged in 1999, after the leader of a 1,400-member group
representing two distressed and adjacent neighborhoods in Spartanburg,
South Carolina brought together numerous stakeholders in an effort
to cleanup and revitalize the area. By building a shared vision
for redevelopment, the energy and enthusiasm surrounding the effort
brought together approximately 70 organizations representing a range
of interests, which includes the cleanup and redevelopment of two
Superfund equivalent sites, the building of a health clinic, a recreational
greenway, new road construction, and new affordable housing. This
loosely structured partnership is headed by Harold Mitchell, the
leader of ReGenesis, and guided by a core group including Mitchell,
and representatives of the City, the County, and EPA's regional
office based in Atlanta.
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