Through the Climate Change, Health & Equity (CCHE) initiative, The Kresge Foundation aims to build the capacity of health care and public health to promote equitable climate-resilience in their operations and practices, mobilize health care and public health practitioner engagement in climate advocacy, and strengthen community-based leadership to accelerate implementation of equitable policies and practices that advance climate resilience and reduce health risks.

In a February 2024 memo, CCHE initiative evaluation partners Ross Strategic dive into cross-sector partnerships for advancing equitable climate resilience and health equity and take a closer look at community-based organizations’ partnerships with academic institutions, research entities, local government and other local power-holding entities.

Through concerted, long-term efforts, community-based organiziations (CBO) network partners have been organizing and mobilizing community advocates while simultaneously working with institutional partners. This memo describes their progress and the ways in which research and government partnerships have contributed to equitable climate resilience.

Examples from across the CBO network partners cohort demonstrate signals of progress stemming from research and local government partnerships, while two deeper-dive examples demonstrate how these discrete signals of progress add up to broader narrative and culture shifts in Miami-Dade County, Florida, and Sunset Park, New York City.