Elizabeth McDade is Program Director of RENEW (Rochester ENergy Efficiency and Weatherization) Climate Fund, a program of Rochester Area Community Foundation Initiatives, Inc., and has worked in education, advocacy, coalition building, and environmental justice around health and housing for nearly two decades. Elizabeth works with the Coalition to Prevent Lead Poisoning, an education and advocacy organization and a national model for how communities can collectively work together to address seemingly impossible challenges and make significant change, and is certified by the EPA in Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) and is credentialed in HUD’s Healthy Homes Rating System, Lead Wipe Sampling Technician, Essentials for Health Housing Practitioners, and Implementing Healthy Homes Programs and Combating Indoor Environmental Hazards. Elizabeth is a consultant to the University of Rochester Medical Center Finger Lakes Children's Environmental Health Center and with two URMC healthy-home studies—CARE and ROC HOME. Elizabeth grew up in the 19th Ward and is a Rochester City School District graduate. She holds a BA and BFA from SUNY New Paltz and an MFA from Visual Studies Workshop. In 2020, Elizabeth completed the Yale School of Public Health certificate program in “Climate Change and Health.” She speaks Italian fluently and plays the bagpipes with Feadán Òr Pipe Band.