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PRESS RELEASE: Kresge Foundation Awards $100,000 Grant to Dorchester Bay EDC and Fairmount Indigo CDC Collaborative Partners to Build Climate Resilience, Improve Health

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Perry B. Newman, [email protected], (617) 533-9551
Chanie Infante, [email protected], (617) 533-9582

Kresge Foundation Awards $100,000 Grant to Dorchester Bay EDC and Fairmount Indigo CDC Collaborative Partners to Build Climate Resilience, Improve Health

September 26, 2019 – Boston, Massachusetts – The Kresge Foundation has awarded Dorchester Bay EDC and its partners in the Fairmount Indigo CDC Collaborative a $100,000 grant to advance policy solutions aimed at improving climate resilience and equitably reducing health risks in low-income communities. The Collaborative is one of 15 community-based nonprofits nationwide receiving grant funding as part of the planning phase of Kresge’s Climate Change, Health and Equity initiative.

The Fairmount Collaborative is committed to addressing social determinants of health that affect the residents of Uphams Corner and other neighborhoods along the Fairmount MBTA line from Dorchester to Hyde Park. The funding will support the work of the Collaborative, its community development partners and partners from other disciplines and sectors to develop multi-year work plans that address community-defined health and climate priorities.

“Environmental implications of climate change vary according to the particular geographies of the communities along the Fairmount MBTA line, and the strength of our work will be in developing awareness and informed local advocates who can impact policy,” said Perry B. Newman, Chief Executive Officer of Dorchester Bay EDC. “Dorchester Bay is proud to participate in this important initiative to build capacity among our residents and community leaders to address the impacts of climate change in our neighborhoods.”

“Climate change is impacting people in real ways – today. The good news is that community leaders across the country are making smart choices about how they can combat climate change while improving people’s lives and well-being,” Lois DeBacker, Managing Director of the Foundation’s Environment Program said. “Our newly awarded grants will help more communities proactively tackle the health risks that climate change introduces or exacerbate.”

Following the one-year planning phase, Kresge will award multi-year grants to up to 12 planning grant recipients.

The organizations will be supported by the Institute for Sustainable Communities, which serves as the national program office for the planning phase of the community-based strategy of the Climate Change, Health & Equity initiative. ISC’s mission is to help communities around the world address environmental, economic and social challenges to build a better future shaped and shared by all.

For more information on the Climate Change, Health & Equity initiative, visit www.kresge.org/CCHE.

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About The Kresge Foundation:

The Kresge Foundation was founded in 1924 to promote human progress. Today, Kresge fulfills that mission by building and strengthening pathways to opportunity for low-income people in America’s cities, seeking to dismantle structural and systemic barriers to equality and justice. Using a full array of grant, loan, and other investment tools, Kresge invests more than $160 million annually to foster economic and social change. For more information visit kresge.org.

About Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation

Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation (DBEDC) is a community development corporation founded by local civic associations in 1979 to address the problems of economic disinvestment, unemployment, crime, community tensions and the shortage of quality affordable housing undermining Boston’s Dorchester neighborhoods. Over the last 40 years, we have worked in partnership with local leaders and stakeholders to build and preserve 1,100 units of affordable housing and over 200,000 square feet of commercial space, to engage residents in community life, and to support a robust economy through small business support and economic development. The structures we have built are physical manifestations of our work, but at its core, our work is about strengthening our community, which is made up of the people who live and work in our neighborhood.

For more information, visit the DBEDC website at www.dbedc.org, follow us on Twitter @dbedc, like us on Facebook, connect with us on LinkedIn, and subscribe to our email list.

About the Fairmount Indigo CDC Collaborative

The Fairmount Indigo CDC Collaborative is a partnership of Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation, Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation, and the Southwest Boston Community Development Corporation. The Collaborative strengthens diverse communities linked by the Fairmount/Indigo Rail Line as viable homes and places of opportunity for people of low- and moderate-incomes. The Collaborative seeks equity through increased affordable housing, accessible public transit, pathways to good jobs and financial resilience, new commercial enterprises, sustainability innovations, expanded open space and opportunities for active living, and vibrant public places. The Collaborative organizes local residents and businesses and coordinates action with many neighborhood partners, public agencies and social investors.

Information on the Fairmount Indigo CDC Collaborative can be found at https://fairmountcollaborative.org/.

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