Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the objectives of MATCH are to: 

  1. Engage, identify, and prioritize communities who will receive funding, assistance and capacity-building. 

  2. Develop and implement a financial and technical assistance program for select communities.

  3. Develop, implement, and leverage educational and training programming to “ inpower ” impacted residents to address climate injustices.

  4. Engage policymakers and agencies to implement strategies and policies that will help address climate injustices.

MATCH’s core community partners are acting as community hubs to provide technical assistance in their geographic area of coverage. Core partners and other community-based organizations will be able to receive pass-through grants to perform local environmental and climate justice work.

MATCH will leverage and expand current educational and training programs including the Climate Justice Fellows Program, Undergraduate EJ Scholars Program, EJ Podcast, Citizen Journalism Institute, and CEEJH’s annual EJ Symposium to ‘inpower’ residents to address their environmental and climate injustices. Additionally, by working with the UMD Environmental Finance Center, Namati, and the Mid-Atlantic Justice Coalition (MAJC), MATCH will help hub partners, grantees, and other CBOs work with agencies in the region to develop and implement culturally responsive climate solutions emphasizing both equity and justice.

The MATCH hub partners with whom T.H.E. EJ Lab has engaged most often and most intensively include: 

  1. South Baltimore Community Land Trust (SBCLT), a community based organization, which was established through over a decade of research, reflection and action initiated by high school students and residents in South Baltimore 15 years ago. Its mission is to facilitate the implementation of a new vision for community-owned development without displacement and zero waste in Baltimore, 

  2. Centro De Apoyo Familiar (CAF) (Family Support Center), a community based non-profit that serves low-income Latinx and immigrant families throughout the Washington, DC region including Prince George’s County, MD., 

  3. Empower DC,  a community based organization in Washington DC, founded in 2003, which has advanced racial, economic and environmental justice by investing in the leadership and organized political power of DC’s lowest income residents and communities, 

  4. Overbrook Environmental Education Center, founded in 2002, as a community based center dedicated to the preservation of the built and natural environments; improved public health; and the promotion of sustainable and livable communities, 

  5. Sussex Health & Environmental Network (SHEN), a coalition of stakeholders in Sussex County, Delaware. SHEN, organized in 2018 to address the underlying issues impacting communities, particularly Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) and low-wealth communities, 

  6. Sentinels of the Eastern Shore (SESH), which works on environmental justice and health issues related to industrial chicken farming in the Delmarva region.  

Moreover, Morgan State University (MSU) will serve as the coordinating HBCU hub.

Virginia State University and West Virginia State University (WVSU) will act as an HBCU hub to support work in the Appalachian region.

Media Features

Queen Shabazz’s book, A Child Is a Terrible Thing to Waste, sheds light on the silent crisis of childhood lead poisoning, drawing from her personal experience of advocating for her son’s health. In this updated edition, she explores how systemic issues like redlining and climate change exacerbate this preventable health issue, calling for urgent action to protect vulnerable communities from the lasting damage of lead exposure. Read this interview with her to learn more about her powerful mission.