Monitoring Air Quality in Guadalupe & Santa Maria Focus of New CEC Grant
We are expanding our on-the-ground efforts in air quality monitoring, bilingual education, and community engagement in Guadalupe and Santa Maria Valley.
CEC was recently awarded a competitive grant for $300,000 to monitor and share findings on air pollution, wildfire smoke, and pesticide exposure throughout Guadalupe and the Santa Maria Valley.
This investment will allow CEC to expand local air quality monitoring, increase data collection, and share results so impacted communities can better understand air pollution and its health effects.
“Clean air is a fundamental right. Yet air pollution disproportionately impacts those who have been marginalized and have less access to the resources and institutional support needed to build more resilient communities. This project seeks to change that,” said Alhan Diaz-Correa, Climate Justice Associate at Community Environmental Council.
CEC’s partner, Blue Tomorrow, will lead technical air monitoring and support CEC’s community engagement activities. Other partners supporting the project include: the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District, Guadalupe Union School District, Kermit McKenzie Intermediate School, Los Amigos de Guadalupe and UC Santa Barbara Global Environmental Justice, Family Service Agency- Little House by the Park.
The grant was awarded by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to implement Assembly Bill 617 which requires the state to support on-the-ground efforts to reduce exposure to pollution and address its underlying causes. CEC’s Guadalupe Community Air Monitoring Project is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide program that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy and improving public health and the environment – particularly in disadvantaged communities.
Find out more about how CEC is making resources and institutional support accessible to all members of our community in the full press release.