Founded in 2023, the Mid-Atlantic Climate Action Hub (MATCH) is an initiative addressing the effects of environmental racism and climate change across the Mid-Atlantic region through training and advocacy.
MATCH partners in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania work with communities that are disproportionately experiencing negative effects of climate change because of historic disenfranchisement and underlying social, economic and geographic vulnerabilities.
Supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, MATCH is led by the y The Health, Environmental, and Economic Justice (T.H.E. E.J.) Lab at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. at the University of Maryland School of Public Health.
Objectives
- Engage, identify, and prioritize communities who will receive funding, assistance and capacity-building.
- Develop and implement a financial and technical assistance program for select communities.
- Develop, implement, and leverage educational and training programming to empower impacted residents to address climate injustices.
- Engage policymakers and agencies to implement strategies and policies that will help address climate injustices.
People
Dr. Sacoby Wilson
Professor, Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health (MIAEH) at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. Center for Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health (CEEJH) Founder and Director
Dr. Wilson has over 20 years of experience as an environmental health scientist focused on environmental justice (EJ) and health issues. Through CEEJH, he has worked for almost 12 years on environmental and climate justice issues in the Mid-Atlantic. He helped to establish the DMV EJ Coalition, and the Mid-Atlantic Justice Coalition (MAJC). Learn more about Dr. Wilson.
Pamela Bingham
Operations Manager
Bingham is a “social impact” environmental engineer. Her 30 years of technical expertise at the intersections of STEM, environmental justice, health, GIS, community empowerment and emergency management has informed grassroots and green organizations, higher education institutions and government agencies.
Dr. Francesca Weaks
Operations Manager
Dr. Weaks’ areas of research examines the intersection of racism, health, civil rights law, and policy in community health development. As a researcher by training and a policy advocate and practitioner by experience, she is focused on advocating for equitable community health policies by addressing systematic racism and health disparities.
Lauryn Perpall, MPH
Operations and Outreach Specialist
Perpall's focus area is in operations and community engagement.
She is passionate about leveraging education, research, and community engagement to drive health equity and positive change in public health. She is an advocate for social impact, health education, and environmental justice.
Michael Shenk
Climate & Community Engagement Specialist
Shenk’s passion for the environment and the people who call that environment home is the foundation to his continued work in Environmental and Climate Justice.
Dr. Haile Tadesse
GIS Specialist
Dr. Tadesse has extensive research experience in GIS data analysis and visualizations, remote sensing data classification and change detection, drone data analysis, watershed modeling using SWAT and APEX models, environmental science, soil science and data mining.
Bukola Agboola
GIS Specialist
Agboola is responsible for mapping, spatial analysis, research and community engagement. Her goal is to develop tools and solutions to environmental problems and social injustice using GIS and research techniques.