The congressional budget deal announced today to fund the U.S. government through Sept. 30, 2023, will support efforts to restore the Great Lakes, protect community drinking water, and safeguard public health for the millions of people in the eight-state region of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

The Great Lakes region has 43 Areas of Concern (AOCs). Each AOC has a group of community members who provide their expertise to discussions of cleanup and their time to related volunteer activities. To learn more about this important form of public engagement, we spoke to activist and organizer with Sierra Club Michigan, Erma Leaphart.

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition joined 67 of our member organizations writing to urge Congress quickly come to an agreement on a final fiscal year 2023 appropriations package that enhances the federal government’s support for Great Lakes restoration and clean water priorities.

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition joined 67 of our member organizations to urge the Administration fully fund the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) at no less than $425 million in the President’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget request.

Hundreds of advocates for the Great Lakes are preparing to gather in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 18-19, for the 2022 Great Lakes Conference, put on by the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition.

The majority of Wisconsin’s lead poisoning cases are from Milwaukee’s north and south sides, where the local populations are predominantly Black and Brown. From this crisis, Milwaukee has also become home to a grassroots collective working to get the lead out of the city: The Coalition on Lead Emergency (COLE).

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is pleased to see climate legislation moving forward by way of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.