Advancing racial and health equity and opportunity

through healthy housing

On this #Giving Tuesday, we ask you to support the work of the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative. Your donation will help us create better health and better opportunities for children, seniors and families living in lower income communities by creating healthier housing.

In 2020, families across the nation have been asked to shelter at home to protect ourselves from COVID-19. At no time could the health of our homes be more important.

Yet, over 30 million families wake up every day with their health threatened by environmental hazards in their homes.

Peeling, chipping, flaking paint in older housing creates toxic lead dust that permanently impairs brain function, learning abilities, behaviors, educational outcomes and long-term earning potential. Lead exposure also creates lifelong health issues that can lead to hypertension, cardiac disease and early mortality. Children poisoned by lead have their futures and their opportunities in life cut short before they ever enter kindergarten.

Many of these same homes are often energy inefficient and poorly weatherized, leading to exacerbations of asthma and other respiratory illnesses that disrupt school and work attendance. These and other home-based environmental health threats undermine not only the health of our most vulnerable children, seniors and families but cause housing instability and deep racial disparities.

We should not and cannot continue to normalize these housing conditions and ineffective housing policies that rob children and families of their ability to reach their full potential. We have long known the problem and the solutions and our work has shown the ability to dramatically reduce the rates of lead poisoning, asthma and injury while improving energy efficiency.

GHHI is helping to ensure the delivery of effective, evidenced-based housing remediation measures at the community level while pushing for policy changes that deliver more equitable health, economic and social outcomes.

Thank you for your consideration and your support,

Ruth Ann Norton

President and CEO

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