Focus Area: Healthy Communities

Sep 30, 2025

Cleaning Up Lake Champlain

Toxic litter is fouling our waters. Lakekeeper Julie Silverman is fighting to clean up and protect Lake Champlain.

Julie Silverman, wearing waders, gloves, and a CLF hat, collects debris from Lake Champlain
Sep 25, 2025

Climate-Friendly Housing, Built for the Commute

Two minutes. That’s all it takes to reach the MBTA commuter rail station from the new apartment complex at 191 Talbot Avenue in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. And in many respects, that quick walk is life-changing.

Sep 24, 2025

Aruni Ranaweera

Aruni Ranaweera is CLF’s Community Resilience Policy Fellow, focusing on ensuring public priorities are reflected in how coastal resilience infrastructure is planned and designed. Before joining CLF, Aruni worked at Partnerships for Parks, the New York City Parks Department’s environmental justice community engagement program where she organized neighborhood coalitions around issues of health and community… Continue reading Aruni Ranaweera

Headshot of Aruni Ranaweera
Sep 17, 2025

New Bedford Board of Health Rejects Trash Facility

Neighbors organized, educated, and supported one another every step of the way. No one should have to fight this hard just to be safe in their own neighborhood – but they did, and they won.

trash can filled with plastic waste
Aug 21, 2025

The Fight Against Toxic Air

“We carry a huge air pollution burden, indoors and outdoors,” says Rusty Polsgrove, associate director of Arise for Social Justice, a Springfield environmental justice organization dedicated to defending the rights of the city’s low-income residents. Polsgrove says that Springfield, with its historic districts, diversity, and easy urban-suburban amenities, has been unfairly saddled with an environmental problem that can overshadow the city’s many positive attributes.

aerial view of Springfield, MA
Jul 09, 2025

Two Stories, A Scent of Déjà Vu

Across regions, people are standing up for their health, culture, and environment – pushing back on unjust waste infrastructure and reclaiming power over their communities’ futures. In Old Town, Maine, and New Bedford, Massachusetts, residents are confronting a familiar pattern – and showing what it takes to break the cycle and build lasting change.

Aerial view of Juniper Ridge Landfill in Maine, central to ongoing environmental justice concerns.