“Too many communities in Greater Boston have been plagued with disinvestment and unhealthy homes for generations,” said Maggie Super Church, Vice President of Healthy and Resilient Communities at Conservation Law Foundation. “Old, entrenched investment models for housing and small business exclude low-income communities and worsen disparities in health and sustainability. This investment from Dana-Farber will lead to healthier, more resilient neighborhoods and we can’t wait to get to work.”
2021
The Future of Development is Community-Led
On Talbot Avenue in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood, a new apartment building is bucking the gentrification trend. Developed in partnership with the people already living in the area, 191 Talbot Avenue adds 14 new homes to Dorchester’s housing stock. Rents here lock at rates below market price, allowing neighbors to stay in their community.
2021
EPA Grant Helps People, Industry, and the Environment Thrive
In 2020, the EPA awarded CLF a DERA grant to partner with New York Cruise Lines, Inc. Grant recipient shares how this $1.8 million grant makes a difference for the community, the environment, and the cruise industry.
Housing Can Remedy Public Health Disparities
As the first project funded by CLF’s Healthy Neighborhoods Fund, Chelsea Flats showcases inclusive and sustainable development.
2021
Roadmap: 10 Steps to Investing for Equitable Impact on Community Health and Sustainability
This report provides an overview of our experience with the Healthy Neighborhoods Equity Fund (HNEF). We hope to inform other efforts investing in housing and retail in ways that can lead to equitable changes in neighborhood health and environmental conditions.
2021
Building Communities That Thrive: A Conversation with Dr. Thea James
It’s tempting to boil down good health solely to factors like medical care, healthy food, and exercise. However, many other dynamics, like historic redlining and racial segregation, along with substandard housing, air pollution, crumbling infrastructure, and lack of access to jobs, healthy food, and green space, all play a role. Perhaps no one understands the interplay of these factors better than those who work in healthcare, including Dr. Thea James, who serves as Boston Medical Center’s Associate Chief Medical Officer, Vice President of Mission, and Director of the Violence Prevention.
2020
Biden Win Sets the Stage for a Greener Future, But Local Action Is Still Vital
The presidential election result is a welcome relief – especially amid the ongoing stresses of an unrelenting pandemic, hobbling economic hardship, and an overdue racial reckoning. We all deserve to take a moment and celebrate that. But even as we see the core values of our democracy vindicated after relentless voter suppression efforts, now is not the time to grow complacent.
2020
CLF Leverages Funds to Improve Public Health and Strengthen Local Businesses in New York
CLF forges partnerships with maritime companies to leverage a creative funding solution for clean air: the EPA’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA).
2020
Op-ed: Health care organizations should support access to healthy food
Covid-19 has laid bare the profound impact that your neighborhood has on your health. People in low-income communities of color with higher levels of pollution and overcrowded housing are being sickened and killed by the virus at much higher rates.
2020
Transit-Oriented Development and Health: Update to the 2013 Health Impact Assessment to Inform Healthy Neighborhoods Equity Fund II
This new rapid Health Impact Assessment (HIA) explores how transit-oriented development impacts health and contributes to social, environmental, and economic changes. A collaboration between the Metropolitan Area Planning Council and Conservation Law Foundation