Kresge awards grant to Go Austin Vamos Austin for work on climate resilience and improving health outcomes

$100,000 grant will support GAVA's OGP efforts

The Kresge Foundation awarded Go Austin Vamos Austin $100,000 to advance policy solutions aimed at improving climate resilience and equitably reducing health risks in low-income communities in America’s cities.  

GAVA's work is the center piece of one of Austin's four OGP Action Plan commitments with the Office of Sustainability, focusing on climate resilience in southeast Austin.

The grant strengthens community-based leadership, one of three strategies outlined in Kresge’s Climate Change, Health & Equity (CCHE) initiative, reinforces the foundation’s belief that climate change is the greatest public health threat we face in this century.

David D. Fukuzawa, managing director of Kresge’s Health Program, notes that climate change is already harming human health and well-being.

“High heat, more volatile and extreme weather events and rising sea levels degrade air and water quality, threaten food supplies and put people’s homes in danger. Low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately at risk due to existing social, economic and health inequities, and the dangers to which they are exposed will only become worse in the coming years. We at Kresge fully recognize that climate change is the newest – and arguably most important -- social determinant of health,” Fukuzawa said.

Community-based and locally led solutions that address the interplay between climate change, health and equity are critically needed, Lois DeBacker, managing director of the foundation’s Environment Program, said.

“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. They’re planting trees in neighborhoods that have too much concrete to provide cooling during heat waves. They’re adopting strategies to reduce urban flooding and the health dangers it presents,” DeBacker said. “Our newly awarded grants will help more communities proactively tackle the health risks that climate change introduces or exacerbates.”

With this funding, GAVA will work with identified partners from other sectors to develop multi-year work plans that address community-defined health and climate priorities.