The agreement provides conduct ambient air monitoring of pollutants of greatest concern in communities with environmental and health outcome disparities stemming from pollution and the covid-19…

This $460,000 Project Grant awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the "Surveys, Studies, Research, Investigations, Demonstrations, and Special Purpose Activities Relating to the Clean Air Act" (CFDA 66.034) program provides funding to the Wildlife Habitat Council, Inc. to conduct ambient air quality monitoring and community engagement activities in environmental justice communities in Detroit, Michigan and the Calumet watershed region of Chicago, Illinois.

The project aims to engage community partners to install 84 air quality sensors to measure particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) and leverage this data to inform green infrastructure and forestry projects to mitigate local air pollution. The grantee is collaborating with five sub-recipients, including Alkebu-LAN Village, Canfield Consortium, Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition, Communitree Support, and Northwest Indiana NEO Academy, to provide community outreach, training, and educational programming for students and residents on air quality monitoring and data interpretation. Anticipated deliverables include community workshops, student training, and regular progress reporting to the EPA. The overall goals are to increase air quality understanding and access to information in underserved communities, while also implementing nature-based solutions to address local air pollution challenges.

Description

The agreement provides conduct ambient air monitoring of pollutants of greatest concern in communities with environmental and health outcome disparities stemming from pollution and the covid-19 pandemic. This project seeks to engage a wide variety of great lakes regional partners, such as corporations, educational coalitions, individual educational institutions, and community centers. Partners will collaborate to monitor and improve air quality in highly impacted and under-resourced neighborhoods of detroit, MI, and the calumet watershed of south chicago, illinois. This work will expand on community capacity to monitor air quality, quantify the effects of corporate-implemented green infrastructure and other nature-based solutions on local air quality, and engage high school and college students in data interpretation to facilitate long term transfer of skills from technical partners to interested residents.activities:the activities will be used to support community and local efforts to monitor their own air quality and to promote air quality monitoring partnerships between communities that: leverage existing air quality expertise, expand use of community monitoring groups and other approaches that give the community a voice in the monitoring of the air quality, and build a foundation of trusting relationships and enhanced understanding from which sustainable solutions to community air pollution problems can be found. Specifically, wildlife habitat council will install air sensors to measure PM 2.5 and PM 10 in a variety of community chosen sites. These sites will be used to engage, train, and educate community members on monitoring air quality. Information gathered from these sites will be disseminated to help inform future green infrastructure projects. Subrecipient:1. Alkebu-LAN village - subaward funds will allow to RE-start a after-school air quality program as well as fund their operational support with the logistics of a community outreach events bringing the data to residents of their neighborhood. 2. Canfield consortium - . Subaward funds will support the operational requirements of outreach delivery to their neighborhood. 3.southeast michigan stewardship coalition - subaward funds will facilitate the deployment of semis expertise in weaving the sensor installation and monitoring process into their annual teacher learning series to allow students across the great lakes region to access the data, regardless of their status as a sensor host, through a lens of stewardship. All teachers are paid a stipend to participate, which semis will also disburse from their subaward funding. 4. Communitree support - subaward funds (to northwest indiana regional planning commission, an administrative body) will fund operational support with the logistics of a series of 3 community outreach events (1/calendar year of this project) bringing the information to the residents of the operating area across the calumet watershed. 5. Northwest indiana, NEO (neighbors' educational opportunity) academy - subaward funds will pay staff for time spent embedding data-driven curriculum into their specialized suite of nontraditional educational offerings. NEO academy is also collaborating with WHC on a 20-acre ecological restoration project engaging their students in regenerating and stewarding natural spaces on school property.outcomes:the anticipated deliverables include installing an estimated 84 air sensors, multiple community workshops, training of students on air quality, initiating green infrastructure and forestry projects in community designated areas (informed by the air quality data collected), and regular submission of progress reports to the EPA. The expected outcomes include increasing air quality understanding and information access in underserved communities, mitigation of air pollutants via green infrastructure and forestry projects, and long-lasting community engagement for air quality projects. The in