Little Lungs, Big Futures is an alliance of community-based organizations, led by the Eco-Healthy Child Care® (EHCC) program (an award-winning program of the Children’s Environmental Health Network).
Little Lungs, Big Futures equips child care providers with training, technical assistance, indoor air quality monitoring, and practical improvements. Working alongside CEHN, local partners provide trusted, on-the-ground technical assistance that helps early childhood programs improve indoor air quality, reduce exposure to harmful pollutants, and build resilience to growing threats such as wildfire smoke, extreme heat, and poor outdoor air quality.
Through Little Lungs, Big Futures, Medify Air, Eco-Healthy Child Care®, UPS Foundation, and College HUNKS Hauling Junk & Moving® embarked on a landmark collaboration in 2026, helping child care providers create healthier indoor environments for young children.
Medify Air donated 175 Medify MA-1000 commercial air purifiers to CEHN through its Healthy Air Program, along with nine replacement filter sets per unit, valued at over $1.1 million. The donation is the largest in Medify Air’s history and the largest in-kind corporate contribution ever received by CEHN. CEHN, in turn, distributed the products to child care centers nationwide through its network of trusted community partners. The gift is helping create healthier early learning environments where children can breathe cleaner air, learn, and thrive. UPS Foundation and College HUNKS Hauling Junk & Moving® delivered the equipment to community partners and participating child care providers at no cost, through donated transportation and distribution services.
Did you receive a donated air purifier?
MA-1000 instructions and information for recipients of donated machines.
Media Inquiries
To learn more about this partnership, read the press release, check out the multi-media press package, or contact Hannah Wilkerson (hannahw[at]cehn.org (202) 573-9910)
Poor indoor air quality has been linked to asthma, respiratory illness, missed school days, and impaired learning. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates Americans spend approximately 90% of their time indoors, where air can often be significantly more polluted than outdoor air.
Nearly 11 million young children attend child care in the United States, making these environments one of the most important—and often overlooked—places to protect children’s health.
Children are uniquely vulnerable to environmental hazards. Their lungs and brains are still developing, they breathe more air per pound of body weight than adults, and many spend more than 40 hours each week in child care settings. Today, more than 40 percent of school-age children live with at least one chronic health condition, many of which are influenced or exacerbated by environmental exposures. Meanwhile, more than 86,000 industrial chemicals are in commerce in the United States, most of which have never been adequately tested for children’s health impacts.
Learn more in the Eco-Healthy Child Care® Air Quality Factsheet.
The Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN) and Eco-Healthy Child Care® (EHCC) teams are collaborating with environmental justice community partners to enhance the health and safety of early learning child care facilities in underserved communities. This project focuses on educating child care providers about children’s environmental health, distributing valuable resources, and fostering partnerships between national and community-level organizations to build a scalable and sustainable initiative. Our goal is to create safer, healthier environments for both children and caregivers.
Key Activities:
Are you a Little Lungs, Big Futures Community Partner or Child Care?
Resources, recordings, meeting notes, and other information for community partners and child care providers enrolled in the initiative.
Partnership for Southern Equity
Atlanta, GA
Founded in 2008, PSE is a nonprofit organization that advances policies and institutional actions that promote racial equity and shared prosperity for all in the growth of metropolitan Atlanta and the American South. Through forums, research, and organizing efforts, PSE brings together the regional community to lift up and encourage just, sustainable, and civic practices for balanced growth and opportunity.
Latinas Contra Cancer
Santa Clara County, CA
Latinas Contra Cancer is working create a more equitable and accessible health care system for the Latino community around issues of cancer prevention, detection, treatment and survivor support by eliminating the barriers to quality health care facing the Latino community.
Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals
Flagstaff, AZ
Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) was created to act as a catalyst among tribal governments, research and technical resources at Northern Arizona University (NAU), various federal, state and local governments, and the private sector, in support of environmental protection of Native American natural resources. ITEP was established at NAU in 1992, in cooperation with USEPA. ITEP accomplishes its mission through several programs. ITEP strengthens tribal capacity and sovereignty in environmental and natural resource management through culturally relevant education, research, partnerships and policy-based services.
Green Door Initiative
Detroit, MI
The Green Door Initiative (GDI) works to ensure that every person is environmentally literate and capable of practicing and promoting sustainability as a life style. GDI has several programs toward this goal, including green jobs trainings, community-based participatory research in environmental health, land use development, youth leadership development, civic engagement and environmental restoration.
Air Alliance Houston
Houston, TX
Air Alliance Houston is a non-profit advocacy organization working to reduce the public health impacts from air pollution and advance environmental justice.
Low Income Investment Fund
San Francisco, CA
The Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) is a nonprofit community development financial institution (CDFI) that mobilizes capital and partnerships to expand access to funding for more Americans. We invest, partner and advocate based on our belief that high-quality affordable housing, early care and education, educational opportunities and good jobs are key to individuals’ and communities’ well-being.