Environmental Justice Training Resources

The Department of Interior offers the following list of online resources designed to build the capacity in communities to advance environmental justice (EJ). The resources below give federal employees, EJ professionals and advocates, and members of the public access to a broad range of knowledge on topics relevant to the practice of environmental justice.

This list of resources will continue to grow based upon both public and governmental requests for trainings, emerging concerns and priorities, and changing needs.

Training Resources for Communities and Environmental Justice Specialists

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Resources

  • Growing Grassroots: Building Capacity for Environmental Justice Work in the Southeast

    The Environmental Justice virtual workshop series was created to forge collaborative relationships to benefit communities, promote sustainable growth, and build capacity for individuals and organizations working in underserved and disadvantaged communities to address environmental and public health concerns.

  • Environmental Justice Small Grants Tutorial

    The Environmental Justice Small Grants program awards grants that support community-driven projects designed to engage, educate and empower communities to better understand local environmental and public health issues and develop strategies for addressing those issues.  This tutorial provides an overview of grant eligibility, types of projects, application criteria, tips and advice.

  • Increasing Awareness of Federal Grants and Resource Opportunities

    This webinar provides an overview of the Grants.gov registration process, how environmental justice stakeholders can search for funding opportunities, and how to apply for those opportunities using Grants.gov. The webinar also highlights grant opportunities for communities available from the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency.

  • National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS 101) Webinars for Communities

    This webinar provides an overview of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards established by the EPA as required under the Clean Air Act.  It highlights standards set for the following six common air pollutants: particulate matter, ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and lead. The webinar also provides tools and resources that focus on other air quality and public health issues.

  • EJSCREEN: Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool

    EJSCREEN is an environmental justice screening and mapping tool that provides EPA and the public with a nationally consistent approach to characterizing potential areas that may warrant further consideration, analysis, or outreach.  A series of short tutorial videos on the basic EJSCREEN functionality is available on the EJSCREEN Videos page.  To help beginners get started using the tool, a basic step-by-step walk-through is also available at https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen/learn-use-ejscreen.

  • EPA EnviroAtlas

    EnviroAtlas is an interactive web-based tool that decision-makers can use to inform policy and planning in the places where people live, learn, work and play. The EnviroAtlas provides geospatial data, easy-to-use tools, and other resources related to ecosystem services, their chemical and non-chemical stressors, and human health. Training materials and tutorials, as well educational materials for every grade level from kindergarten through undergraduate, are available on the EnviroAtlas site.

  • Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice Webinars

    The Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice hosts the Access & Awareness Webinar Series to provide public access to the working group and to increase community awareness of federal agency environmental justice strategies and holistic community-based solutions to address environmental justice issues. This series helps the public gain a deeper understanding of how federal agencies are collaborating and what resources are available to anyone interested in improving the health, quality of life, and economic opportunities in overburdened communities.

  • Generate: The Game of Energy Choices

    Generate is an interactive game from the EPA that allows students to explore energy choices and teaches the considerations and costs in deciding what type of energy generation to build. The website offers links to all of the printable materials for the Generate Game, including the game board, game pieces and instruction manual. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Resources

  • Health Equity and Environmental Justice 101 Training

    Available nationally, the Health Equity and Environmental Justice 101 training aims to increase awareness and knowledge of the basic principles of health equity and environmental justice. By the end of the training, you should have a better understanding of how these concepts relate and can be applied to their work.

  • Using Geographic Information Science to Advance Health Equity and Environmental Justice

    Public health professionals may use geographic information sciences to assess the health of communities by analyzing exposure, or being subjected to negative factors such as pollution, as well as accessibility, or the ability to access positive factors such as green space and healthy food. This webinar discusses the process of geovisualization, hypothesis generation, data exploration, and communication and knowledge transfer in conducting environmental justice research.

  • Environmental Health: Air Pollution, COVID-19 & Health Disparities

    Globally, outdoor air pollution kills nearly 4.2 million people each year. Research shows the polluted environment is a major driver of health disparities and disproportionately high mortality rates from COVID-19 in communities of color. Systemic racism in policies that shape the environments in many of these communities is at the root of the problem. This webinar explored how the environmental justice movement can address these issues and offer solutions to improve health outcomes.

  • Community Environmental Health Assessments

    This course discusses the importance of community engagement in setting environmental health priorities, reviews and describes how the Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health can be used to conduct a community environmental health assessment, identifies strategies for working with communities, and the importance of integrating community environmental health assessments into larger public health planning.

  • Environmental Health and Shelters

    The lectures in this course focus on teaching environmental health specialists how they can apply their knowledge of everyday environmental health problems to dealing with environmental health issues that arise in the creation of mass shelters that may follow a major disaster. By the end of this course, the student should be able to describe key environmental health issues and the roles of environmental health professionals in shelter operations.

  • Introduction to Environmental Health

    The Environmental Health Online eight-module series provides a framework for understanding the major environmental factors that impact human health. The sources of problems, relevant legislation, and interventions utilized for prevention and control are discussed. The Introduction module presents a framework for integrating environmental health concepts into professional practice.

  • #NYCHealthEquity – Advancing Racial and Social Justice

    For one to have a true commitment to health equity, it is critical to engage with the political, social and historical context of structural racism within society. The history of slavery and segregation is deeply embedded within public policies that have fostered neighborhood underdevelopment, increased incarceration rates, and worsened health disparities among minority and ethnic populations. This webinar uses a racial justice lens to build organizational capacity to advance racial equity through data visualization, community engagement, neighborhood investment and public policy.

  • Effective Communication for Environmental Public Health

    Do you find yourself struggling to communicate your public health message? This self-paced, interactive module is designed for public health professionals, especially those responsible for implementing environmental health programs. It introduces key communication strategies to help field workers successfully educate the public about environmental public health issues, communicate important environmental health information to diverse audiences, resolve conflicts, and market the value of environmental public health activities to clients and the public.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Resources

  • National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences— Partnerships for Environmental Public Health Webinar Series

    Partnerships for Environmental Public Health (PEPH) established its webinar series to promote interactions among grantees, increase awareness of common issues and approaches, and facilitate consideration of emerging concerns. Webinar presentations are available on a range of topics, including citizen science, culturally appropriate communications in environmental health research, strategies for effective social media use, and engaging youth in environmental public health.

Training Resources for Tribes and Indigenous Peoples

Training Resources for States

The EPA launched the State EJ Training Webinar Series to build the long-term capacity of practitioners working to advance environmental justice at the state level on a variety of topics.

  • Information Systems to Advance Environmental Justice​

    Data systems provide important information about the environment and public health that can be used to advance environmental justice. The EJ practitioner will learn about EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), Wisconsin’s Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s emissions events database.

  • Incorporating Equity in Disaster Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Programs

    State programs are addressing the pressing issues of disaster mitigation and climate adaptation. The EJ practitioner will learn about Florida’s use of social vulnerability assessment, Massachusetts’s prioritizing resources for communities with EJ concerns, and North Carolina’s work with a historic township to recover from multiple flood events.

  • Identifying and Prioritizing Environmentally Impacted and Vulnerable Communities 

    Identifying and prioritizing environmentally impacted and vulnerable communities is an important first step in integrating environmental justice in decision-making. The EJ practitioner will learn about factors and data sources used to identify areas of EJ concern, how states are using this information to prioritize agency attention and resources, and different approaches you can use in your own work.

  • Enhancing Community Involvement in the Regulatory Process

    Community involvement is an important tool for advancing environmental justice. The EJ practitioner will learn about methods to make public participation more meaningful, ways in which community involvement leads to better decisions, and how a state agency integrated community involvement into its culture.

  • Using Comprehensive Area-Wide Planning to Promote Equitable Development

    Approaching a community holistically through area-wide planning is an important way to address environmental justice and promote community revitalization and equitable development. The EJ practitioner will learn about key elements of area-wide planning, how a community applies the area-wide planning approach, and how a state environmental agency uses comprehensive collaborative approaches.

  • Application of Environmental Justice to State Environmental Impact

    Environmental justice, health issues and community impacts are important considerations during environmental impact review process. The EJ practitioner will learn about the basics for considering environmental justice in National Environmental Policy Act review, how a state agency addresses health issues through health impact assessments, and application of environmental justice principles in a transportation project.

  • Rural Water Issues: Progress and Challenges in Implementing California’s Human Right to Water 

    The State of California is implementing programs to ensure safe, accessible and affordable drinking water for overburdened and disadvantaged communities, particularly those in rural areas. The EJ practitioner will learn about policies, tools and resources associated with implementation of California’s Human Right to Water, how community engagement and stakeholder advocacy have shaped California’s water laws and policies, and remaining and emerging challenges, including a changing climate.

  • EPA Air Pollution Training Institute 

    Free training resources for state and local government personnel (air quality planners, technical staff).  Includes online self-instructional courses, videos, and classroom sessions relating to subjects such as planning/regulation development, monitoring, mobile sources, basic Clean Air Act 101 topics, and much more. 

  • Reducing Lead in Drinking Water in Schools and Child Care Facilities Case Studies Webinar Series

    These webinars include a brief overview by EPA on lead in drinking water and highlight examples of state efforts to reduce lead in schools and childcare facilities. The webinars included presentations from Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and University of Massachusetts Amherst, New York Department of Health, Denver Water and Denver Public Schools.

Resources Offered by Universities and Nongovernmental Organizations

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