Initiatives

This year we shared stories from families like Walker’s, Jamie’s, and Shemane’s that teach us it doesn’t matter what state you live in or how big your home is – every single one of us can experience the negative effects of poor indoor air quality.

These indoor pollutants are often odorless, colorless, and invisible to the naked eye. What's worse – it often takes people years to make that connection between their health and home, if they ever make it at all.

This needs to change.

That’s why Change the Air Foundation is dedicated to four major initiatives: education, policy & advocacy, research, and financial assistance.

Why Education?

We know that without access to credible and actionable information, it will be difficult for most people to make the connection between their health and their home, and challenging for their doctors to reach the correct diagnosis and determine the best course of treatment. Finally, we know there is a great deal of inaccurate and unsafe information out there on how best to inspect, test, and remediate homes that have mold, water damage, and other indoor pollutants. Ineffective and unsafe practices are used in our homes and buildings far too often.

This needs to change. Your support helps put reliable information and resources in the hands of those who need it most.

We aim to:

  • Connect people with reliable, accurate, and actionable information;
  • Empower members of our community to make informed decisions when working with professionals and making choices for themselves and their families;
  • Provide scholarships to courses for the nonprofessional on understanding, identifying, and addressing common sources of water damage, mold and other indoor environmental contaminants;
  • Provide educational materials and support to health care practitioners regarding environmentally acquired illnesses; and
  • Distribute educational materials for the real estate, insurance, and construction industry aimed at buying, selling, insuring, and building healthier homes and buildings.

Why Public Policy & Advocacy?

Indoor air quality is not regulated by the federal nor most state governments. This means that there are few, if any, legal safeguards in place to protect you from the effects of mold, mycotoxins, VOCs, and other indoor pollutants. For example, in most states (47!), the mold remediation company you hire is not required to follow accredited industry standards on mold remediation. This means you, your family, and your home may be subject to insufficient and even unsafe remediation practices.

This needs to change. Your support helps us advocate for policies and standards that will make our indoor air safer.

We aim to:

  • Educate leaders at every level of government about the dangers that water damage, mold, and other indoor air pollutants pose to public health;
  • Advocate for updated laws, regulations, and policies within the United States that help ensure the basic right of every person to breathe clean air in every home and building; and
  • Empower our members to use their voices and help grow our community to support meaningful reforms that will better protect all of our communities.

Why Research?

From conception to the grave, our indoor air can keep us healthy or make us sick.  Many indoor pollutants are odorless, colorless, and invisible to the naked eye making them difficult to identify and remedy. As a result, they are often overlooked as potential triggers behind a wide range of health conditions. Credible and actionable research needs to be conducted and distributed to the public, health care practitioners, policy makers, and those in related industries. The way we heal our bodies and build and maintain our homes needs to be based on the most up-to-date science. Poor indoor air quality is a neglected, dismissed, and underfunded public health issue.

This needs to change. Your support helps us analyze, simplify, distribute, and fund research that answers important questions and finds solutions to problems created by indoor air quality.

 

We aim to:

  • Develop evidence-based position papers to support our educational and policy initiatives and help build our advocacy network.
  • Simplify complex topics related to indoor air quality so that anyone can implement practical, safe, and effective interventions.
  • Partner with and provide grants to passionate researchers, scientists, medical professionals, and organizations whose research focuses on improving the lives of those impacted by their indoor environment.
  • Highlight the hidden costs of poor indoor air quality and the associated negative health effects, so public health policy makers, industry, and the public can make properly informed decisions.

Why Financial Assistance? 

Living in unhealthy buildings can create a significant physical, emotional, and financial burden.   The cost to inspect, test, or remediate a home for mold, water damage, and other indoor air pollutants can get costly. Further, insurance often covers very little, if any, of the cost. This puts a substantial and, in some cases, insurmountable burden on the renter or homeowner. Many people are simply left with no resources or options to understand how their homes may be contributing to their health symptoms.  No one should have to wonder if the air in their home, schools, or buildings is making them sick.

This needs to change. Your support helps put reliable information and resources in the hands of families like Walker’s and those that need it most. 

We aim to:

  • Provide financial assistance and support to qualifying homeowners or renters so they can inspect and test their homes for indoor pollutants like mold and water damage that may be impacting their health and their home.    

On average, we spend 90% of our time indoors. Poor indoor air quality affects all of us. But you can make a difference by donating here.

Strategic Plan

You can learn more about our initiatives over the next 18 months by downloading our strategic plan here.