UPDATE: Foundation Announces Elimination of Objective
As we stated at the launch of the objective to Reduce Environmental Burdens, it would only be pursued if a suitable tool could be developed that would capture meaningful improvements in cumulative environmental burdens.To make this objective viable, we needed a measure of improvement that could be catalyzed with Foundation investments. Since then, we have found that a wide variety of measurements exist but there is not one that can capture the diverse priorities of our stakeholders and provide us with the accountability we need.Therefore, after careful consideration, the Foundation has decided that the Environmental Burdens objective will cease to exist as an independent funding area.Efforts to alleviate environmental burdens remain a crucial part of the Foundation’s Environment and Public Space strategy. Please review our other Environment and Public Space objectives for current funding opportunities. |
For context, this is the information we previously shared about this objective:
By 2035, meaningfully reduce environmental burdens confronting Greater Philadelphia communities as measured by an Environmental Burden Index.
The quality of life in many communities in the Philadelphia region is driven by the patterns of investment and disinvestment that reflect our nation’s history of racial discrimination. These patterns have resulted in many communities being disproportionately confronted with natural and built environments that are vulnerable and impoverished. A variety of mapping exercises have demonstrated the very specific ways in which environmental harms overlap and accumulate in these communities.
In order to measure and monitor change in the cumulative and overlapping burdens borne by communities in Greater Philadelphia, we are exploring the development of an Environmental Burden Index.
If a suitable tool can be developed, we will support efforts to decrease those aggregate burdens, and we will use the tool to measure and monitor our progress. A final decision about an appropriate measurement tool will be made by the fall of 2025.
