Providing Climate Change and Health Community Support in the Midwest and Gulf Region

Background

Our health is linked to the world around us, and today’s climate and health challenges are impacting us all. In communities across the country, extreme weather is causing health threats, including worsening air quality, food insecurity and added stress and anxiety that affects our mental health. Though all of us will be impacted, not everyone is equally at risk. Marginalized communities—those that have experienced historical and current disinvestment and have inadequate health and economic infrastructure—are the least prepared to protect people from climate-related health impacts, such as extreme heat, wildfires and flooding.

Read our blog announcing our support for these community-based organizations.

Project

The CDC Foundation, in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies and the Gulf Research Program at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, is announcing support for 16 community-based organizations (CBOs) in the Midwest and Gulf South to engage in climate- and health-related work over three years.

Beginning in September 2024, the organizations chosen to receive funding will develop climate adaptation plans and work to bolster communities against the negative health effects of changes in our climate. The CBOs are located across nine states and include nonprofits, environmental coalitions, community centers, and resident-led organizations that connect people to health care and other essential services. These trusted local groups understand the health challenges their communities face and will tailor their work to the needs of their region, focusing their efforts on addressing environmental injustices and health inequities as they support communities that are the least prepared and the most impacted by climate-related health risks. Throughout the project, the CBOs will receive training and ongoing technical assistance from the CDC Foundation and NCEH staff.

Learn more about each of the organizations by checking out their websites.

Midwest/Great Plains Cohort