Today the National Academy of Medicine’s (NAM) Climate Communities Network (CCN)—a dynamic effort to co-develop and drive local solutions to climate-related health inequities—announced that 18 Members and 11 Strategic Partners are participating in the project’s inaugural cohort. Together, they will amplify community voices and living experiences and leverage community expertise to address the structural drivers of climate-related health inequities at the local level.
Many U.S. communities do not have equitable access to the resources and infrastructure needed to keep people and neighborhoods healthy, particularly in the context of the worsening climate crisis. These communities are also often not engaged as equal partners in the decisions that affect their health and well-being. In response to this, the NAM established the CCN and called for membership applications from local leaders representing community-based organizations that serve areas disproportionately affected by health-related impacts of climate change. Strategic Partners representing government, philanthropy, academia, and industry were invited to work alongside the selected Members to catalyze innovation, inform policy, drive resources, and co-design solutions.
As part of the CCN, Members will share their community’s stories, expertise, and experience; elevate work in their community or organization to address climate-related health inequities; access partnerships and tools to advance solutions; help inform climate-related policy, research, and other interventions; and influence the direction of the NAM’s climate work. Fundamentally, the CCN aims to shift power and provide a platform for communities disproportionately impacted by climate change and related health inequities. Together, Members and Strategic Partners, facilitated by the NAM, will become a community of practice, and Strategic Partners will play a critical role in co-designing and bringing to fruition community-determined solutions to climate-related health inequities.
“We must work collectively to achieve health equity, and the CCN is a powerful model for connecting local leaders and partners to advance community priorities,” said NAM President, Victor J. Dzau. “We are thrilled to welcome the new CCN Members and Strategic Partners. Their collaborative work through this NAM program will be essential in developing community-focused solutions to climate-related health inequities.”
Meet the CCN Members:
Bay Area Women Coalition, Incorporated
Leevones Fisher
Boston Medical Center
Cory Pouliot
CDU-KEDREN Mobile Street Medicine (Kedren Community Health Center & Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science)
Jerry P. Abraham
Centro Fronterizo del Obrero (dba) La Mujer Obrera
Cemelli de Aztlan
Chico State Enterprises
Blake Ellis
Dade County Street Response
Armen Henderson
Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice
Laprisha Berry Daniels
Hollygrove Dixon Neighborhood Association
Raymond Sweet
La Clínica de La Raza, Inc.
Lily Kelly
Lifelines Counseling Services
Chandra Brown
Maryland Latinos Unidos
Gabriela Lemus
Micah Six Eight Mission
Cynthia Robertson
Mycelium Youth Network
Lil Milagro Henriquez
Nordson Green Earth Foundation
Sheetal Rao
The CLEO Institute
Joanne Pérodin
The North Carolina Museum of Life and Science
Max Cawley
University of Puerto Rico
Maria del Carmen Zorrilla
University of South Alabama Center for Healthy Communities
Ashley Williams
Meet the Current CCN Strategic Partners:
American Geophysical Union
Rajul Pandya
American Public Health Association
Katherine Catalano
Aspen Institute
Lola Adedokun
Association of American Medical Colleges – Center for Health Justice
Anthony Nicome, Phylicia McCalla
AstraZeneca
Francesca Plendl, Bridget Therriault
Environmental Defense Fund
Margot Brown
Gulf Research Program
Daniel Burger
HHS Office of Climate Change and Health Equity
Ta Misha Bascombe, John Balbus
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Sonia Angell
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Indigenous Health
Donald Warne
University of California, Center for Climate, Health, and Equity
Sapna Thottathil
About the Grand Challenge on Climate Change, Human Health, and Equity
The CCN is a part of the NAM’s Grand Challenge on Climate Change, Human Health, and Equity, a multi-year global initiative to improve and protect human health, well-being, and equity by working to transform systems that both contribute to and are impacted by climate change. Learn more at nam.edu/ClimateChange.
Join our mailing list to stay updated on the CCN and the NAM’s climate and health work.
