The Cancer Free Economy Network (CFEN) is a network of diverse organizations and funding partners working to achieve an ambitious overall goal: “Within a generation, we (CEFN) will lift the burden of cancers and other diseases by driving a dramatic and equitable transition from toxics to effective clean and safe alternatives.”
Founded in 2014 by the Garfield Foundation, the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, the Blue Green Alliance and the Breast Cancer Fund, the CFEN is developing a strategic plan, using a systems map built by participants to describe the dynamics among institutions/sectors/organizations/interests that influence the existence and impacts of toxic chemicals in the economy, to achieve this goal. The CFEN includes working groups organized around certain areas of the systems map – called clusters, or areas of capacity, called hubs. These working groups strive to: promote prevention of cancer and other diseases caused by chemical exposures; shift the supply and demand chains to safer chemicals and safer jobs; create diverse, “non-traditional” partners, holding equity as a highest-order principle; and develop interconnected communications, popular education, organizing, policy and fundraising strategies.
Dr. Blake served as co-lead of the Supply Cluster in 2015, and continues as a member of the Market Shift node within CFEN.