Ann Blake
Dr. Ann Blake combines thirty years of experience finding safer chemicals and materials in over a dozen different global sectors of consumer product manufacturing with her passion for economic and environmental justice and systems approaches to the task of building resilient local and regional economies. Dr. Blake was Founder and Principal of Environmental & Public Health consulting for twenty years, focusing on disproportionate exposures among workers in manufacturing and service sectors. From 2015 to 2020 she was part of the leadership team for the Cancer-Free Economy Network.
Dr. Blake holds a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, and a Ph.D. in molecular genetics and neural development from the University of Oregon.
Dr. Blake is a member of the Green Ribbon Science Panel created by the California legislature to advise California EPA on the implementation of California’s Safer Consumer Product regulations. She has created curriculum on green chemistry and alternatives assessment for the University of California Berkeley Extension Program and the University of Washington Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences. With Eric Toensmeier, she co-authored Perennial Industrial Crops: Green Chemistry and Carbon Sequestration, in the 2019 Springer Handbook of Ecomaterials.
In addition to managing the Foundation's grantmaking and staff, Dr. Blake leads our consultancy work with client foundations. Areas of focus for these portfolios include chemical policy, global grassroots movement building, environmental health and justice advocacy and international trade.
In her spare time, Ann is an avid hiker, gardener, textile artist, vocalist and upright jazz bass player.
Ann can be reached at ablake (at) jaf (dot) org.
The Jenifer Altman Foundation is a private foundation that supports creative work in health, education, the environment and justice. Our principal interest is in working with philanthropic and nonprofit partners to advance strategic initiatives in environmental health and justice. Areas of focus for client foundation portfolios include chemicals policy, global grassroots movement building, environmental health and justice advocacy and international trade.
Since attending my first HEFN meeting in 2019 as a field partner, I have been deeply impressed by the dedication of this community environmental health and justice, and wanted to both deepen and expand those conversations. I’m also continuing a long tradition of JAF leadership at HEFN!
In continuing to highlight the issue of health across multiple contexts in philanthropy, including climate, food, and emerging technologies, as well as centering the voices of the most impacted communities.