The National Center for Healthy Housing Receives Kresge Foundation Grant

COLUMBIA, Md., Jan. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) has been awarded $750,000 over the next three years from The Kresge Foundation to continue its work to tackle key social determinants of health for families across the country.

"NCHH is grateful to The Kresge Foundation for its continued support, which has helped us raise awareness of the importance of healthy housing and elevate healthy housing on the political and policy agendas," said Rebecca Morley, executive director of the National Center for Healthy Housing. "Importantly, this grant will provide continued support for National Safe and Healthy Housing Coalition and enable us to build a grassroots network to drive demand for better quality housing for all families."

NCHH and The Kresge Foundation have a shared commitment to improving health through better quality housing and neighborhoods. Funding from The Kresge Foundation in 2009 supported creation of the National Safe & Healthy Housing Coalition, composed of leading nonprofit and agency advocates in affordable housing, public health, environment, and energy efficiency. The group of experts drafted the first National Healthy Housing Action Plan outlining its commitment to develop national healthy homes standards, and broaden the base of funding for healthy housing.

In its first year, the Coalition was able to achieve several legislative milestones - sections of Senator Reed's Healthy Housing Bills (H.R.3793 and H.R. 3891) and the Code Administration Grant Act (S.970; H.R.2246) were added to the Senate-Committee-passed Livable Communities Act. The Coalition also played an important role in driving back efforts to derail the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule (RRP).

With the new grant, NCHH will advance the National Healthy Housing Action Plan by extending healthy housing advocacy and engagement to the community and neighborhood levels with the creation of the Grassroots Advocacy Network for Healthy Housing. Recognizing that housing is inherently local, effective solutions to the challenging problem of health and safety hazards in the home involves work by and with local communities. Under this model, community members will collaborate to develop effective strategies to advocate for local policy changes.

"The Kresge Foundation's Health program understands that the quality of an individual's health is determined, in large part, by where he or she lives," said David Fukuzawa, program director for The Kresge Foundation. "The National Center for Healthy Housing is leading the fight for healthy housing from Capitol Hill to underserved neighborhoods and we are pleased to support their continued work to better the health and the environments of our nation's most vulnerable families."

To learn more about the National Center for Healthy Housing, please visit, www.NCHH.org. To learn more about The Kresge Foundation, please visit, www.kresge.org.

The National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) is the only national scientific and technical non-profit organization dedicated to creating healthy and safe homes for America's children through practical and proven steps. NCHH develops scientifically valid and practical strategies to make homes safe from hazards, to alert low- income families about housing-related health risks, and to help them protect their children.

The Kresge Foundation is a national, private foundation that seeks to influence the quality of life for future generations by creating access and opportunity in underserved communities, improving the health of low-income people, supporting artistic expression, assisting in the revitalization of Detroit, and advancing methods for dealing with global climate change.

SOURCE National Center for Healthy Housing