YBI Receives $35K Grant to Support Green Career Education

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – YBI, formerly known as Youngstown Business Incubator, will use a $35,000 grant to replace its virtual reality headsets and add content to provide information on green and sustainable careers, a YBI official said.

The grant from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is one of six it announced Thursday from its environmental education fund totaling $150,000, according to an Ohio EPA news release. The funds will go to projects focusing on engaging students in agricultural technologies, environmental careers, terrestrial and aquatic habitat quality and solving real-world challenges. 

The grant will support YBI’s Beyond the Classroom: Virtual Reality Exploration of Environmental Careers program.

“We take the virtual reality headsets into different classrooms and we use them for career exploration,” said Megan Payich, director of YBI’s Explore VR program.

The state fund provides grants yearly for environmental education projects serving kindergarten through college students, the public and the regulated community, according to the Ohio EPA news release. The grants are funded with a portion of the civil penalties Ohio EPA collects for violations of Ohio’s air and water pollution control laws.

Approximately half of YBI’s grant will go toward the purchase of 30 new VR headsets that will replace equipment it has had since 2022, which is beginning to show wear and tear, Payich said. The funds also will be used to create additional career exploration content that focuses on green and sustainable careers, “all with a local focus,” she said.

“We’re really trying to show students the different options,” she continued. “So say we’re doing a video of FirstEnergy – maybe we’re showing a technician that’s actually out on the field; maybe we’re showing someone that’s more on the back end.”

The program will start Jan. 1, with planning the videos and creating the content, she said. Around summer and early fall, content will be rolled out as it is approved by the companies involved, she said.

Letters of intent for the next grant round are due to the Ohio EPA no later than Jan. 9, 2026, and applications are due no later than Jan. 16. Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact the Ohio Environmental Education Fund or call 614 644 2873 to discuss project ideas.