Join Maryland Philanthropy Network's Health Funders Affinity Group and Green Funders Affinity Group as they host Ben Zaitchik, PhD, chair and professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, who will give an update on the promising work of the Baltimore Social-Environmental Collaborative. Two years into a five-year, $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, Dr. Zaitchik and his team of researchers are aiming to create Baltimore as one of the world’s most climate resilient cities.

Over the past six years, Baltimore has endured one of America’s deadliest drug epidemics. Black men in their mid-50s to early 70s are experiencing fatal overdoes at a significantly higher rate than any other group. While just 7 percent of Baltimore City’s population, they account for nearly 30 percent of drug fatalities – a death rate 20 times that of the rest of the country. Black men of that age in Baltimore city are more likely to die of substance overdose than from cancer or even Covid-19 at the height of the pandemic. Join Maryland Philanthropy Network to collaborate with colleagues to learn about harm reduction programs, challenges in implementation, and intervention methods to prevent fatal outcomes.