‘The EPA needs to humble itself’: why some US non-profits are turning down agency funds

Community organizations say grants coming from the government have too many requirements to be truly accessible

Bella Romero Academy, a K-8 school, sits 1,200ft from a fracking site in Greeley, Colorado.

Air on the playground is often thick with benzene - a chemical that can cause dizziness and headaches in the short term, and blood illnesses like leukemia with long-term exposure. In 2019, independent researchers found that benzene spiked above healthy levels 113 times there in a seven-month period.