PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Earlier this week, Bartram’s Garden in Kingsessing received a letter from the Environmental Protection Agency terminating a grant awarded to them during the Biden Administration. The garden's director says the move is unlawful.
The John Bartram Association, the nonprofit that operates Bartram’s Garden, says the EPA is canceling a grant awarded to them at the end of 2023.
The grant came from the EPA’s Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program to provide financial help to organizations that address local environmental or public health issues in their communities.
According to Caroline Winschel, the director of Development and Communications for Bartram’s Garden, the letter from the EPA says their work no longer aligns with their priorities.
“It's a shame to think that planting trees and growing food and working with high school students to share environmental skills isn't a priority for the Environmental Protection Agency,” Winschel said.
Bartram’s Garden shared the issue on their Facebook page, writing that the $500,000 grant supported 50 paid youth internships, planting 200 trees, and installing 120 home garden beds across Southwest Philly.
“As of last week I think we could still log in to the federal payment platform online and see our grant balance is almost half a million dollars, and as of yesterday it's showing a zero balance that they've canceled, they've canceled it out,” Winschel said.
And the timing, Winschel said, comes right as warm weather brings more people to the garden.
“Right now is hiring season as we get ready to welcome new students beginning in the summer. And so to have sort of a pause and these efforts to delay and disrupt the work, that has impacts. That could be a season or more that gets lost, which means fewer folks get access to the benefits that the grant would have been able to bring.”
Winschel says they plan to appeal the termination.
“We have a legal contract to the grant funds, so we don't think that the termination effort is lawful. We're going to do our best to get that reversed and regain access to the funds that were legally awarded to us through a competitive national process,” Winschel said.
“You know, Bartram's Garden is a very historic place. We've been here for a long time. We're going to keep doing this work. We're not going to be scared away from it.”
In a statement to KYW Newsradio, the EPA says, “As with any change in administration, the agency is reviewing its grant funding to ensure it is appropriate use of taxpayer dollars and to understand how those programs align with Administration priorities.”
According to the Associated Press, the EPA illegally canceled grants worth more than $1.5 billion focused on improving the environment in minority communities hit hard by pollution.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced March 10 that that he was canceling more than 400 “DEI and Environmental Justice grants” totaling $1.7 billion. In a post on X, Zeldin said the cuts were the fourth — and biggest — round of EPA/Department of Government Efficiency cuts.