Health and Environmental Justice

Within Health and Environmental Justice (HEJ), we acknowledge that health and quality of life are influenced by where you are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age. Improving health outcomes requires an inclusive and thoughtful approach that supports a whole person within their community.

The average grant amount is between $5,000 and $15,000. Grants for larger amounts can be considered. However, for those, please contact our staff to discuss the project in advance of submission.

Our approach focuses on:

• Supporting programs, advocacy and system change efforts that address health disparity
• Increasing access to safe and affordable housing
• Improving food systems to ensure access and affordability
• Improving health systems to ensure access, culturally responsive practices, and affordability
• Applying an Environmental Justice lens to projects that seek to clean up land, air and neighborhoods in order to positively impact health

Efforts we support include:

• Behavioral health, chronic disease management, disease prevention, maternal and infant health, and physical health.

• Housing advocacy efforts to address safety and eviction, safe housing, including home repairs, homeless outreach, and case management.

• Supporting food pantry programs, waste reduction, and basic needs such as clothing, beds, mattresses, and diapers.

• Transportation and language services for patients in need, cultural competency training for staff, and prescription assistance.

• Reducing environmental disparities across communities, tracking air quality, planting trees in urban areas, and creating community gardens.

Related data points:

* Data sources below include DataHaven’s Waterbury 2021 Equity Profile and Greater Waterbury Health Partnership’s 2023-2026 Community Health Needs Assessment.

• Waterbury has the highest live birth rate and highest infant mortality rate in Connecticut.
• Access to prenatal care varies by community. In Waterbury over 18% of pregnant women received late or no prenatal care, this number increases for Black and Latina mothers.
• Children in Waterbury are disproportionately affected by asthma. Slightly more than 21% have been diagnosed with asthma compared to the 15% in Connecticut and 13.4% in the nation.
• In 2016, out of cities with at least, 100,000 residents, Waterbury had the highest eviction rate in the Northeast and it is the 22nd highest in the nation.
• 43% of residents in the Foundation’s region who make $15,000 or less report not having enough money to buy food for their families