Press Release: Kresge Foundation awards grant to Consortium to combat climate change, improve community health

October 28, 2025

Contact:                                                        
Savannah Martincic, The Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, smartincic@ms2ch.org

The Kresge Foundation has awarded the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health a grant to address climate change and protect people’s health in communities disproportionately affected by extreme heat, flooding, air and water pollution, and chronic and infectious disease.

The Consortium is one of 32 organizations nationwide receiving grant funding as part of The Kresge Foundation’s Climate Change, Health and Equity initiative.

“At a time when many foundations are reducing their support for this work, we are profoundly grateful to The Kresge Foundation for its ongoing leadership,” said Dr. Lisa Patel, executive director of the Consortium. “Protecting our communities from fossil fuel pollution and worsening extreme weather disasters depends on more funders joining this commitment.”

With this funding, the Consortium will work to strengthen local organizing and collaboration, advance leadership through our Climate and Healthy Equity Fellowship, and build connections for power-building and national amplification.

“The human health impacts of climate change are profound, and while climate change affects us all, it hits some communities harder than others. The pollution that creates dangerous heat waves and severe storms causes the most harm in communities already experiencing persistent health inequities, like lack of access to safe housing and quality health care, as well as chronic illnesses and respiratory disease, said Shamar Bibbins, Kresge Environment Program managing director. “Equitable solutions must be driven by the communities most affected, and doing so in partnership with trusted health practitioners and institutions can amplify local innovations and build broader momentum for change.”

“Long-term change in cities requires strong and sustained cross-sector partnerships. Working together, we ensure that all of us, no matter who we are or where we live, have the opportunity to be healthy and to thrive. Climate action is fundamentally a public health imperative—offering transformative opportunities to reduce mental health burdens, chronic diseases, and infectious disease spread while advancing health equity for all,” said Monica Valdes Lupi, Kresge Health Program managing director.

For more information on the Climate Change, Health & Equity initiative, click here.

About the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health 
The Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health brings together America’s top medical societies to inform the public and policymakers about the health harms of climate change and the health benefits of climate solutions. Its members represent over 700,000 clinical practitioners.