New initiative will invest in Midwest environmental justice organizations and advance climate justice & health equity
Minneapolis, MN — June 16, 2026 — The Center for Earth, Energy and Democracy (CEED) is announcing the launch of the Midwest Climate & Health Equity Hub, a new regional initiative designed to support and connect organizations working at the intersection of environmental justice, climate justice, and public health across the Midwest.
Rooted in CEED’s long-standing mission to ensure impacted communities have the knowledge, data and resources to lead climate solutions, the Midwest Climate & Health Equity Hub represents a strategic investment in the region where climate impacts, public health disparities, and energy burdens are increasingly converging.
“The Midwest is not starting from scratch — communities here have been leading on environmental justice, energy, and health for years,” said Sarah Rudolf, Midwest Program Director at CEED. “The Midwest Climate & Health Equity Hub is about investing in that leadership, connecting it across the region, and helping tell a more complete story about what climate work looks like in practice.”
Often overlooked in national climate conversations, frontline communities across the Midwest face intensifying climate impacts such as extreme weather and worsening pollution, leading to higher rates of asthma, heart disease, cancer and other serious illnesses. These climate and health inequities are exacerbated by a widespread energy affordability crisis, resulting in a lack of adequate heating and cooling and unequal access to healthcare, particularly in Black, Brown, Indigenous and low-wealth communities.
The Midwest is a region with innovative, community-driven solutions that have yet to receive broad visibility. The Midwest Climate & Health Equity Hub aims to elevate and align this work, while building the infrastructure needed to drive lasting systems change.
Over the next two years, CEED will sponsor two regional cohorts (2026 and 2027), each bringing together 5–10 organizations from across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. The Hub’s first cohort will focus on a critical and often misunderstood issue: energy affordability as climate & health equity.
Across the Midwest, energy affordability programs are typically framed as social services — essential, but often disconnected from broader climate and health strategies. CEED and its partners aim to shift that narrative.
“The goal isn’t just to address the health impacts of the energy affordability crisis, it’s to build stronger, healthier communities where families can afford their utility bills, breathe clean air, and have a real say in decisions that affect their neighborhood, ensuring a fairer future for everyone,” said KD Chavez of Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) and a member of the coordinating body of the Midwest Climate & Health Equity Hub. “Through the Hub we will bring people together – neighbors, local groups, and experts – to share smart solutions, learn from one another and help ensure all know how critical this work is for communities in the region. This shared effort housed within the environmental justice field will build stronger communities and a better future for us all.”
In addition to CEED, the coordinating body of the Midwest Climate & Health Equity Hub includes regional leaders representing Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) and Climate Justice Alliance (CJA), who serve as strategic advisors on climate and environmental justice while also helping strengthen connections across Midwest-based networks and partners.
Center for Earth, Energy & Democracy (CEED) was founded in 2011 to advance energy democracy and social justice in environmental policy. We organize at the state, regional, and national levels to build power with organizations serving Black, Indigenous, People of Color, low-income and frontline communities, ensuring their voices are heard in climate decision-making.
Support for the Midwest Climate & Health Equity Hub is provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of RWJF.