Goals

The ultimate goal of this program is to build a pathway, rooted in community member engagement, that leads to direct and effective policies for reducing air pollution and exposure in underserved and overly burdened communities.

  • Fill gaps in existing county air emission inventories through a community-based research project in three neighborhoods where pollution burdens are the greatest
  • Document resident concerns about toxic hazards
  • Produce open-source, publicly-available data with the long-term objective of being used to improve air quality
  • Increase community awareness of air quality and its health impacts in their neighborhoods
  • Expand neighborhood participation in air quality monitoring and understanding its importance in guiding local policy and land-use decisions
  • Build a program that can be replicated and used by community leaders to assess air quality in underserved communities
  • Support Ventura County's Air Pollution Control District in complying with AB617: state legislation requiring community-based strategies to improve air quality in California, particularly in Environmental Justice communities
  • Determine candidate locations for further monitoring: using the information gathered by community members, locations will be suggested for follow-up monitoring, prioritization in the Ventura County General Plan Update, and as candidate locations for the placement of permanent stationary air quality monitors