Health and Environmental Funders Network 2018 Annual Meeting

About

The Environmental Health and Justice Majority: Raising Voices, Building Power

Majorities that would support environmental health and justice goals are activated and mobilized. But majorities do not automatically translate into power for change. Allies and assets are energized, but they are dispersed and focused on many priorities.

Funders, donors and philanthropic advisers are invited to explore ideas around which to rally our numbers at the Health and Environmental Funders Network 2018 Annual Meeting from Nov. 28–30. Join us in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a city grappling with environmental health challenges—past and present. The region is a polluting industry stronghold where petrochemical companies are planning a major expansion. It is also a hub of innovation, technology and grassroots activism calling for a cleaner, healthier future.

Come early for a Nov. 27 working meeting of national funders interested in philanthropic collaboration to prevent lead poisoning.

This year’s program will offer a deep dive into two areas where many dispersed concerns are converging and could build a healthy, multiracial majority:

Track 1: Petrochemicals, Plastics, and Fossil Fuels: Plugging Many Interests into a Force for Change
Cheap shale oil and gas are fueling an explosion of petrochemical and plastics production, with Appalachia as a primary production center. The impacts of this exploding development are deep and diverse. We’ll explore unprecedented opportunities for collaboration across areas of impact—health, air, water, climate change, toxics, environmental justice, fracking, indigenous rights, just transition, and other interests—including through a local learning tour and from frontline fighters. Funders will participate in an extended problem-solving/strategy discussion with advocacy leaders to brainstorm and share intelligence.

Track 2: Disrupting Pollution: Technology-Boosted Community Action on Air and Water Quality 
With Pittsburgh leading the country in several of the most serious environmental exposures, it is not surprising that the region has spawned advocacy and technology that can monitor the movement of an emission plume over neighborhoods, track asthma among school children, and allow thousands of citizens to create a citywide map of environmental contamination by using a simple app. Explore the possibilities of state-of-the-art environmental health and justice advocacy and organizing. See first-hand how some of the technology works and hear from advocates—from Pittsburgh and around the country—about how they are disrupting polluting systems as a force for healthy communities.

This tour will highlight local work in Pittsburgh and other U.S. communities, finishing with discussions of takeaways for funders and strategies to accelerate progress in and across communities.