Our History
The Environmental Finance Center at Wichita State University was established in 2010
to assist the US Environmental Protection Agency with targeted assistance to states,
tribes, local governments and businesses. The Environmental Finance Center’s work
focuses on providing innovative solutions to help manage the costs of environmental
financing and program management.
The Environmental Finance Center is housed in the Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs
at Wichita State University. This strategic placement of our center builds on the
school’s 50-year history of providing quality financial and management support to local governments.
The EFC began with one full-time employee. Over the past 15 years, the Center has
grown to support 15 full-time staff members and 3 part-time project associates. In
addition, the WSU EFC’s university-setting enables access to faculty expertise that
is applied to various projects and research initiatives.
Our EFC primarily focuses on projects supporting EPA Region 7 states (Iowa, Kansas,
Missouri and Nebraska). However, over the past decade, the EFC’s reach has expanded significantly to include project work, partnerships
and presentations in every state in the nation.
The Environmental Finance Center is primarily funded by federal grants. Over the years,
we have leveraged additional revenue in the form of state and local government contracts,
as well as partnerships with nonprofit organizations and foundations.
