At the first meeting for each locality, community members brainstormed common themes, issues and hopes for their communities, collectively forming a long-term vision. These initial ideas were narrowed down into the top three most common themes for each locality. At the second session, attendees chose a theme for their project in an anonymous vote. A few months later, folks came back together to collaboratively design their chosen projects and put the finishing touches on plans to pursue funding. Overall, we welcomed nearly 300 local residents across 15 community meetings.

Funding from a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem Solving grant supported the launch of the Community Strong initiative in early 2024 and funded critical, community-driven work until the EPA terminated the grant program on Feb. 22, 2025. The loss of the grant impacted continued project development, such as hiring contractors to prepare to remove a dilapidated building that was impeding floodplain improvements.

On June 25, 2025, Appalachian Voices joined a group of nonprofits, local governments and Tribes from across the country in filing a class-action lawsuit against the EPA for unlawfully terminating its congressionally mandated Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant Program.

“We are proud to be standing up for the communities and environment where we work — and, very importantly, for the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution,” said Appalachian Voices Executive Director Tom Cormons.

We and our partners appealed a U.S. District Court judge’s August 2025 decision to dismiss our class-action case, Appalachian Voices et al v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The District Court judge had granted the government’s motion arguing that the case belongs in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

Oral arguments in our appeal were presented before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on March 16, 2026. The plaintiffs contend that the decision by the administration to cancel an entire program enacted and funded by Congress raises important questions related to the constitutional separation of powers and the Administrative Procedures Act that are under the District Court’s purview.The Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant Program was created by the Inflation Reduction Act under Clean Air Act Section 138.

“The arbitrary and abrupt cancellation of these grants pulled the rug out from under local environmental projects across the country, disrupting and halting projects that meet the goals set by Congress,” said Cormons. “Our case is about core constitutional separation of powers and rule of law issues that need to be considered on their merits.” 

On July 21, 2026, the appeals court revived the case by vacating the district court’s dismissal of our case and sending it back to the district court to reconsider.

The EPA’s decision to eliminate this congressionally mandated program stopped and disrupted important community projects in Appalachia and around the country. While we fight for the restoration of this program, Appalachian Voices is hard at work advancing these initiatives and identifying opportunities to support project development at each of the sites prioritized by the community.