Focus Area: People & Justice

Oct 20, 2025

Five Things You Need to Know About Lead Poisoning

Lead poisoning remains a hidden danger in homes, pipes, and soil across New England. The good news? It’s 100% preventable. Learn the facts about lead exposure – and how we can protect families from this toxic threat once and for all.

Close-up of a gloved hand holding a blood vial labeled "Lead (Pb) - Test," surrounded by test tubes, a syringe, and a stethoscope on a medical report – illustrating how lead poisoning is diagnosed through blood testing.
Oct 14, 2025

Painting a Safer Tomorrow

Decades after lead paint was banned, thousands of New England homes still pose a hidden danger – especially to children. Learn about the ongoing risks of lead exposure, the policy gaps that allow it to persist, and what communities can do to ensure safe, healthy housing for all.

A row of aging New England triple-decker homes in Dorchester, Massachusetts, with peeling paint and weathered porches—representing the hidden threat of lead paint still present in many older housing units built before 1978, where families remain at risk of lead exposure due to insufficient testing and remediation.
Sep 24, 2025

Environmental Justice Starts with Community Power

In South Providence and across New England, neighbors are proving that environmental justice starts with community power. From blocking polluting projects to shaping new laws, families and advocates are shifting the balance of power – building healthier, fairer futures for everyone.

Aerial view of the Port of Providence in Rhode Island, where industrial facilities sit near neighborhoods and green spaces, highlighting local environmental justice issues.
Sep 23, 2025

New Bedford Residents Win Fight Against Waste Transfer Station

After years of organizing, New Bedford residents won a major victory: the Board of Health rejected a massive waste transfer station that threatened public health and piled pollution onto already overburdened neighborhoods. Their persistence shows the power of community to stop harmful projects — and win environmental justice.

View of New Bedford harbor with a white lighthouse in the foreground, sailboats on the water, and the city skyline with colorful buildings under a partly cloudy sky.
Sep 22, 2025

Simran Patel

Simran is the Paralegal & Boston Office Operations Assistant supporting the Environmental Justice team. She received her B.A. in International Relations and Environmental Studies from Tufts University. In her free time, Simran enjoys reading, art, and planning her next travel adventure.

Simran Patel headshot
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
Sep 15, 2025

Adam Reynolds

Adam Reynolds is an Environmental Justice Fellow at CLF. He works to address cumulative impacts in overburdened communities in Massachusetts and throughout New England. Adam supports the work of leaders who have long fought to reduce pollution in New England’s most impacted communities by ensuring that existing laws are effectively implemented and pushing for better… Continue reading Adam Reynolds

Adam Reynolds headshot