Regional Efforts

Hampden County

The Healthy Air work in Springfield, Holyoke, Westfield and Hampden County is led by the Public Health Institute of Western MA/Pioneer Valley Asthma Coalition with participation from Live Well Springfield, the  cities of Springfield and Holyoke, ReGreen Springfield, Nuestras Raices, Westfield RAFT, and  Hitchcock Center for the Environment.  

We convene an Advisory Board of Community Resident Advisors and partner organizations to provide guidance to ensure that the process, actions, and outcomes will be informed by voices of the community members most impacted by poor air quality. Our focus is building capacity of resident advisors to participate and share leadership in understanding air pollution and addressing the impacts of climate change.

We are currently recruiting new Resident Advisors to participate in our projects for the next year. 

• Developing a Healthy Air Network App.  We will be using a human-centered design process to build an app that will make our Healthy Air information more accessible to our community members.
• Public Transit and Air Quality. We have received a T4MA grant to analyze links between poor air quality and transit and develop and implement a messaging campaign to promote public transit.  

Sign up to learn more about these projects or contact Francheska Bermudez. 

Hampshire County/Franklin County/North Quabbin

The Hitchcock Center for the Environment is working to expand the reach of the Healthy Air Network into rural communities in the Connecticut River Valley in Hampshire County and Franklin County, with a focus on the North Quabbin region. 

This rural region includes a diverse geography, including river valleys with inversions, densely settled villages and small industrial centers, and remote rural areas at higher elevations. There are community concerns about health risks related to air pollution, including from wood burning and wildfire smoke. In addition, there are concerns about whether regional air quality monitoring captures the full extent of pollution, especially given spatial variation due to geographic features (such as valley areas prone to temperature inversions which trap pollutants).  

We will be increasing air sensor coverage in the North Quabbin region which encompasses the 9 towns of Athol, Orange, Erving, New Salem, Petersham, Phillipston, Royalston, Warwick, and Wendell. Sensors will be mounted on the exterior of public buildings such as town offices, non-profit organizations, public schools, small airports, community health centers, and libraries. There is currently only one air quality sensor in the North Quabbin region, located in Athol at the Millers River Environmental Education Center.

The Hitchcock Center is developing educational materials related to air quality, extreme heat, and health for students, community residents, public health providers, and community organizations. We are also recruiting and supporting youth action teams and youth leaders through the Western Mass Youth Climate Summit (WMYCS). Now in its seventh year, this participant-driven educational conference for middle and high school youth creates opportunities for learning, dialogue, and action on climate change. As a culminating project, student teams develop an action plan for their school or community, to be implemented in the coming year with support from peer youth leaders. We will be developing an action planning toolkit to support youth projects on the intersection of climate change, air quality, extreme heat, and health.

Contact Billy Spitzer for more information.

Massachusetts Asthma Action Partnership
The goal of Massachusetts Asthma Action Partnership/Health Resources in Action partnership is to improve environmental health in Massachusetts communities, with a focus on three Environmental Justice (EJ) communities that face significant challenges, such as pollution, racial and health disparities, and high rates of asthma and other chronic conditions. To achieve this, HRiA will provide funding and air quality sensors to three community or faith-based organizations in different EJ communities; involve these groups in a Learning Community and offer opportunities to join committees focused on data, research, communication, and evaluation; feature funded organizations on the Healthy Air Network website, while also sharing their stories. Lastly, HRiA will host a summit to present findings and experiences from the air quality efforts. Contact Geri Medina for more information.