Abstract |
OEJ has adopted the theme, Continuing to Move Towards Collaborative and Constructive Problem-Solving for the 2000 Biennial Report. Over the past two years, this concept has matured significantly. There is now a seasoned staff within the environmental justice program at EPA, not only in OEJ and other national program offices, but most importantly within the regions. It is in the regions that the Agency comes into direct contact with the communities and other stakeholders confronting environmental justice issues. Three items stand out as important elements of this evolution: (1) OEJ has developed with others, and is aggressively implementing, a model for collaborative problem-solving that is holistic, proactive and comprehensive, includes allfederalagencies, and builds partnerships with all stakeholders, including communities, state, local and tribal governments, faith and philanthropic organizations, the academic world, and business and industry. (2) Another hallmark is the thoughtful use of facilitators to help with consensus-building and use alternative dispute resolution. EPA recognizes that collaborative and constructive problem-solving requires partnerships, often between groups who have traditionally seen themselves as adversaries. (3) A third important hallmark of a maturing approach toward collaborative and constructive problem-solving is a new method to environmental justice training. During the past year, the Agency has established an Environmental Justice Training Collaborative. This effort evolved in response to the EPA regional and headquarters environmental justice programs recognition of the need for training of EPA staff, other federal agencies, states, tribes, business, industry and others. |