The EPA PREPARED program’s scope is to promote readiness and enhance proficiency to advance reporting and data for EPA and State Revolving Funds (SRF) for clean and drinking water programs applicants and grantees. The program is oriented towards building community capacity on evidence-based approaches to advance data dissemination, reporting, and integration of lived community experiences.
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Program services include developing capacity-building resources to increase community preparedness to apply for, manage, collect and analyze data, and report results to the funding agency. Technical assistance, program outreach, and community engagement support is currently offered through EPA’s PREPARED program to communities in New England. A robust program evaluation will serve as model for program beneficiaries to conduct performance measurement and evaluation plans for continuous improvement of their environmental programs.
Our program provides an innovative approach to integrate qualitative data and lived experiences of communities through participatory storytelling together with partner organization, The Dream Network, based in Lawrence, MA.
Program outcomes are anticipated to be the increased capacity of participants to apply for and manage EPA grants and SRF programs, and improved data collection and reporting for EPA grantees. Longer-term outcomes include sustainable environmental planning and engagement for communities and reduced disproportionate environmental burdens in undeserved and small communities.
TEAM
Nefeli Bompoti, PhD (Principal Investigator) Assistant Professor
Civil & Environmental Engineering
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Email: nbompoti@umassd.edu
Dr. Nefeli Bompoti is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Dr. Bompoti’s expertise is fate and transport of pollutants and environmental policy including sustainable land reuse and environmental justice. She has previously served as the Project Manager of the Technical Assistance for Brownfields Program EPA Region 1 where she assisted communities with brownfield redevelopment projects across New England. She received a PhD in environmental engineering from the University of Connecticut, a MSc in water resources science and technology and a Diploma in civil engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece.
Stacy Seward (she/her)
Certified Diversity Practitioner
Doctoral Student in Psychology-UMass Lowell
Research Affiliate, Boston University Center for Anti-Racist Research
Email: info@thedreamnetwork.org
Stacy Seward, is a Doctoral candidate in Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and an adjunct professor in Psychology and the social sciences. Her expertise centers race, justice, inequity, community, and decolonial storytelling. Stacy holds a master’s degree in Rehabilitation Psychology and Counseling and a certificate of advanced graduate study in school counseling from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Stacy is the founder and Executive Director of The Dream Network in Lawrence, Massachusetts which focuses on social, economic, education, and environmental injustice. Stacy is the co-author of an article published in the third edition of The Local Power & Politics Review titled: The State Takeover of Public Schools as State Preemption: Evidence from Lawrence, Massachusetts. Stacy continues to participate in community-based activities and research to promote racial equity for those living in the Merrimack Valley.
STUDENT TEAM
| Marisa E Gay
Undergraduate Research Assistant |
Izdihaar Welch
Undergraduate Research Assistant |
Marisa is a senior studying Civil and Environmental Engineering with a minor in sustainability at UMass Dartmouth. She is participating in an accelerated program to receive her master’s degree next year. Marisa is excited to soon begin her career in environmental engineering, mainly interested in clean and renewable energy, water quality, and pollution remediation. Eager to learn about environmental justice and assisting communities, she is grateful to be a part of the EPA PREPARED team as a research assistant. |
| Ms. Philomina Twumasi (she/her)
Graduate Student in Civil and Environmental Engineering (starting Spring 2025) |
 Philomina is a Master’s student in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UMassD, who holds a Bachelors in Environmental Science from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. She possesses experience as a regulatory officer from Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority, which is Ghana’s regulatory body, responsible for regulating food, drugs, cosmetics, household chemicals and medical devices.
With a zeal to learn and broaden knowledge horizon, she comes on ready to learn whilst assisting grantees with data collection, analysis and implementation of results to better manage grants. |