FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Beth Bingham
bbingham@ghhi.org
443-692-8317
Green & Healthy Homes Initiative Awarded $50 Million EPA Environmental
Justice Thriving Communities Grant
Baltimore, MD, December 20, 2023—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
today awarded the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI) a $50 million grant as part of
its Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program (EJ TCGM). GHHI is
one of just 11 organizations selected nationally to provide pass-through grant funds via
subawards to community-based nonprofit organizations and other eligible subrecipient
groups representing underserved and disadvantaged communities to build capacity to
advance environmental justice.
“We are honored to be selected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to lead
Region 3’s Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program. GHHI
brings to this Program our deeply rooted commitment to and understanding of the value of
building community-based capacity to address and reverse the effects of historic
disinvestment in environmental justice communities,” said Ruth Ann Norton, President and
CEO of GHHI. “We applaud the EPA for its thoughtful commitment to understanding the
need for capacity building support. The work to address environmental justice issues
reflects our own understanding as a nation that every American deserves the opportunity to
live in healthy and climate resilient communities.”
The diverse partners joining with GHHI on this effort in EPA Region 3 include Black
Millennials 4 Flint, BlocPower, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Children’s National Hospital,
Chisholm Legacy Project, Coalition for Green Capital, Delaware State University, Howard
University, Invest Appalachia, JustFund, NAACP Maryland, New Ecology, United Parents
Against Lead, Virginia Humanities, Virginia Poverty Law Center, and Women for a Healthy
Environment.
“It is a privilege to lead and work alongside these groups whose dedication to lifting up
disadvantaged communities and ensuring better health, economic, and social outcomes is
as unwavering as our own,” said Norton. “The EJ TCGM program provides an
unprecedented opportunity to leverage the investments made possible by the Inflation
Green & Healthy Homes Initiative
Reduction Act to make tangible and transformative differences in communities throughout
the region and across the country.”
GHHI will serve as the EPA Region 3 Grantmaker for the EJ TCGM. Leveraging its 30-year
experience in health and environmental programs, GHHI will use a strong participatory
governance framework to build capacity in underserved areas, ensuring robust fulfillment of
TJ TCGM’s goals. The organization and its partners will engage the community through a
stakeholder advisory board, partnerships, and mechanisms for providing direct feedback to
adapt frequently to the needs of communities, particularly those from disadvantaged or
underserved areas.
“We are proud of GHHI for being selected as the EPA Region 3 Environmental Justice
Thriving Communities Grantmaker,” said Joy Thomas Moore, Chair of the Board of
Directors at GHHI. “The organization has three decades of experience working in and with
communities to build capacity and address the social determinants of health and equity.
GHHI works everyday with community-based organizations across the country to help them
access and leverage funds that enable them to create positive change, so we are wellpositioned to lead this EPA effort to reduce barriers to access federal EJ funds.”
“This program will invest tens of millions of dollars into underserved communities in the MidAtlantic Region, helping people that have typically been on the outside looking in. The
projects that come out of this program will clean up communities, revitalize neighborhoods,
and create a strong and vibrant workforce,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator
Adam Ortiz.
Learn more about the Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmakers here.
About the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative
The Green & Healthy Homes Initiative is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to
addressing the social determinants of health, opportunity and equity through the creation of
healthy, safe and energy efficient homes. By delivering a standard of excellence in its work,
GHHI aims to eradicate the negative health impacts of unhealthy housing and unjust policies for
children, seniors and families to ensure better health, economic and social outcomes in
historically disinvested communities – with an emphasis on communities of color.
GHHI has project offices in Maryland, Mississippi, Tennessee, Michigan, Rhode Island,
Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, and leads programs in states and communities across the
country, including New York, California, Ohio, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and others.