Curious about the connections between climate justice, health equity, and the social determinants of health? At a post-conference convening after the June 2024 annual Grantmakers in Health conference in Portland, OR, funders and grantee partners will gather to share and learn about community-driven strategies at the intersection of health and climate, including community development, food systems, housing, mental health, narrative change and advocacy.

Grantmakers in Health

• GIH’s Climate and Environmental Health webpage 
• Learning What it Takes publication series from GIH and Kresge 
• Climate Change, Health, and Equity: Action Steps for Health Philanthropy 
• GIH’s 2023 Tracking the Field Survey: Climate Change Strategies  
• Investing at the Frontlines of Climate Change: A Funder Toolkit on Climate, Health, and Equity 

Learning Tour

• Cultivating Justice in a Changing Climate: A Learning Tour of Portland

Learning Stations

Climate Justice and Community Organizing

Additional resources:

• C40 Cities: C40 is a global network of nearly 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities united in action to confront the climate crisis. Mayors of C40 cities are committed to using an inclusive, science-based, and collaborative approach to cut their fair share of emissions in half by 2030, help the world limit global heating to 1.5°C, and build healthy, equitable, and resilient communities. The C40 Knowledge Hub supports this mission by offering urban practitioners, policymakers, and anyone interested in climate solutions practical steps and impactful actions for addressing climate challenges. The Research & Analysis work leverages C40’s partnerships, insights, and extensive city action database to demonstrate the power of cities in tackling the climate crisis. The Case Studies highlight successful actions in cities that have reduced climate risks and improved sustainability, targeting both the general public and policymakers. The C40 Centre for City Climate Policy and Economy provides mayors, policymakers, and city practitioners with evidence, analysis, and policy guidance for implementing effective climate action.
• Emerald Cities: The Emerald Cities Collaborative (ECC) is a national nonprofit network dedicated to fostering sustainable and inclusive economies and environments. Their People’s Justice40+ Community Benefit Playbook assists low-income, rural, BIPOC, and frontline communities in developing Community Benefit Plans (CBPs). This guide leverages federal investments from the Justice40 Initiative, the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act. It provides an overview of Justice40, details on federal spending, and step-by-step instructions for creating CBPs, covering eligibility, funding, usage restrictions, and community influence

Community Development and Built Environment

Additional resources:

• Anchors in Resilient Communities: The mission of Anchors in Resilient Communities (ARC) is to address health determinants by leveraging Bay Area anchor institutions and community partners to expand community wealth, improve health outcomes, and strengthen resilience against climate and economic disruptions. The Resource Library provides foundational resources for communities or anchor institutions starting this work, including assessments, practices, and know-how that supported ARC’s inception. It also offers materials on governance, regional food systems, anchor community collaboration, and multimedia content from public learning sessions and webinars.
• Center for Community Investment Climate:  The Center for Community Investment  helps communities develop equitable, effective investment systems that align with community priorities using the Capital Absorption Framework. This enables community partners to collaborate and achieve aspirations for all residents to thrive. The CCI Resource Library offers a variety of materials including publications, videos, case studies, and research, searchable by topics or resource types.

Narrative Change and Storytelling

Additional resources:

• Climate Change Health & Equity Messaging Framework
• Finding Common Ground: Messaging at the Intersection of Climate Change, Health Equity and Racial Justice: The Kresge Foundation—in partnership with Metropolitan Group—developed a message framework in response to a request from Kresge’s Climate Change, Health & Equity (CCHE) initiative grantees for help in communicating about climate change policies and practices in ways that advance racial and social justice and promote health equity, regardless of someone’s political ideology. A graphic resource takes lessons learned from developing the framework and shares tips on effective messaging, as well as suggestions for when and how to have a conversation about systemic racism in the context of climate instability.
• Othering & Belonging Climate Justice: The Othering & Belonging Institute (OBI) brings together researchers, organizers, stakeholders, communicators, and policymakers to identify and eliminate the barriers to an inclusive, just, and sustainable society in order to create transformative change. OBI’s climate justice work on narrative strategy, systems research, and relationship-building between academia and the public, private, and nonprofit sectors brings a uniquely holistic view guided by its climate justice principles. With an aim to grow public will to amplify imaginative solutions built on bringing everyone in, its mass liberation and climate justice toolkit and artist circle on climate displacement provide useful resources for narrative strategy at the intersection of climate justice, arts & cultural strategy, and people centered approaches in global and local contexts.

• We Make the Future Climate Justice: We Make The Future (WMTF) serves as an implementation home for the Race Class Narrative, an empirically-tested narrative incorporating both race and class that neutralizes the use of dog-whistle racism to win on salient issues. Its climate narrative work seeks to expand how people understand the impact of climate change on their lives and is based on foundational work to build a unified message that can be shared by climate advocates across the country. Guided by three urgent research questions, the WMTF climate cohort developed messaging to help mobilize Americans for climate justice. The Mobilizing Towards Climate Justice research slides, recording, and upcoming workshop are insightful, evidenced-based resources to help guide conversations and action about climate justice, narrative change and storytelling.
    

Public Health and Health Care

Additional resources:

• CHARGE Partnership: The Community Health Access to Resilient Green Energy (CHARGE) Partnership between the National Association of Community Health Centers, Capital Link, and Collective Energy is a nationwide resilient and clean energy program for Federally Qualified Health Centers. Motivated by the urgent need to tackle issues at the intersection of health equity, environmental justice, and financial and operational resiliency, the CHARGE partnership provides energy options for health centers supporting communities most impacted by poverty and racial and ethnic health inequities,  disproportionately burdened by chronic disease, and most vulnerable to grid outages. CHARGE offers education, assessment, design, installation, and financing options to help health centers operate during grid outages, reduce their carbon footprint, generate energy savings, and take action amidst climate change.

• OCCHE IRA Catalytic Program: The Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE) addresses the impact of climate change on the health of the American people through convening, coordination and collaboration for climate change and health policy, programming, and analysis. OCCHE’s Catalytic Program on Utilizing the IRA launched a 13-week webinar series to support health care providers and safety net organizations take advantage of the tax credits, grants and other resources supports made available by the historic Inflation Reduction Act. In addition to a forthcoming series of case studies, OCCHE has created a resource quickfinder for leveraging the IRA and referral guide for health professionals available through its online Health Sector Resource Hub.

Partner Resources

• Oregon’s Hidden Air Pollution Problem: Fossil Fuels in Buildings

Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility

• Climate and Health Program Brochure
• Climate and Health Washington 2022
• Prescription for Climate Action
• 2024 Climate and Health Report