Longtime Appalachian activist and philanthropist Margo Miller is the recipient of Health Care Without Harm’s highest honor, the 2023 Environmental Health Hero Award.
Miller is being honored for her tireless efforts to leverage the collective power of community to support philanthropic initiatives that advance social, economic, racial, and environmental justice.
“The clarity of Ms. Miller’s vision – one that recognizes and uplifts the connections between the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities with our relationship to the natural world – is the essence of true environmental health,” says Paul Bogart, Health Care Without Harm executive director.
A daughter of Appalachia, Miller began her “good trouble” journey at the intersection of art and culture after being the first in her family to attend and graduate college. She has been a project director and administrator for a number of social justice organizations, including the Southern Partnership Fund, Project Change, the Southern Rural Development Initiative, Amnesty International, and the Kellogg Foundation.
For the past 12 years, Miller has led the Appalachian Community Fund, a grant-making nonprofit that invests in grassroots organizations in Central Appalachia that are working toward eliminating barriers of poverty and oppression and dealing with issues like extractive industry. Miller says she does this work “to ensure the legacy of social justice organizing is carried forth with the richness and courage that are hallmarks of our region.”
“As a proud Black mountain woman who calls this place home, I’m grateful to have the opportunity to work for an organization that has supported cutting-edge social work led by people whose lives have been affected by corporate forces that exploit this region’s rich resources,” Miller says.
Miller received the Environmental Health Hero award on May 25 during Health Care Without Harm and Practice Greenhealth’s annual CleanMed conference.
Margo Miller's acceptance speech after receiving the Environmental Health Award.