Clean Air Day AQCBA Launch Event
On October 4th, we gathered to mark the launch of the Air Quality Collaborative — Bay Area (AQCBA). It was a fantastic evening filled with energy and enthusiasm, as we celebrated the Coalition for Clean Air's California Clean Air Day. We heard from various air quality thought leaders about air quality initiatives across the Bay Area.
We had a wonderful line-up of [AQCBA] speakers for the event who provided a solid overview of the program.!
- Philip Fine, Ph.D., Executive Officer at the Bay Area Air Quality Management District
- Eddie Ahn, Executive Director at Brightline Defense
- Jeff Sanchez, Director of Health Informatics at Sequoia Foundation
- Julio Garcia, Executive Director at Rise South City
- Sean Wihera, VP of Business Development and Partnerships at Clarity Movement Co.
Stay tuned for updates and opportunities to get involved in this exciting initiative and create a cleaner, healthier future for the Bay Area!
San Francisco Needs Assessment Workshop, 10/27/23
On October 27th, Brightline Defense facilitated their first needs assessment workshop at the Tenderloin Museum in San Francisco. They engaged members of Central City SRO Collaborative, and community leaders of local environmental justice organizations, including SOMCAN, the Mongolian climate network, and Marin City Climate Health Justice. Brightline Defense welcomed the group with introductions and had a thoughtful discussion about air quality concerns in the local area. Some of the highlights of the discussion included traffic pollution concentrated in the Tenderloin, concerns about indoor air quality hazards, health hazards associated with air quality, and actionable ways to reduce air pollution in the area.
Stay tuned for the next series of needs assessment workshops to take place in South San Francisco among frontline community members of San Bruno and Community Promotoras.
South San Francisco Needs Assessment Workshops, 12/2/23 and 12/9/23
On December 2nd and 9th, Brightline Defense and Rise South City staff engaged predominantly Spanish-speaking Promotoras (community health workers) and South San Francisco community members in two needs assessment workshops. Brightline welcomed the group with an overview of AQCBA and had a thoughtful discussion about air quality concerns in South San Francisco. Some of the highlights included indoor air quality concerns, including mold and gas stove hazards, and distinguishing different kinds of pollutants in the Spanish language.
Oakland Needs Assessment Orientation, 1/16/24
On January 16th, Sequoia Foundation engaged teachers from primarily Oakland Unified School District, as well as select nearby school districts, including Berkeley Unified and West Contra Costa Unified, in a virtual needs assessment orientation. This orientation provided teachers an overview of AQCBA, and introduced them to participating partners who would later take part in the air quality training, including the Bay Air Center and Clarity.
The facilitator also engaged the teachers in an open discussion, prompting the teachers with some of the questions that they later answered in a written needs assessment survey on their own time. They discussed methods for teaching air quality and related topics in the classroom, and varied experience working with real-time data in the classroom. Overall this session highlighted the unique nature of teaching air quality and related topics in a classroom setting, as opposed to and community-organizing setting.
South San Francisco Training (for Promotoras), 3/2/23 and 3/9/23
On March 2 and March 9, Brightline Defense engaged South San Francisco Spanish-speaking Promotoras and community members in an air quality training that covered Air Quality 101 (AQI, color-coding air quality classification, and criteria pollutants), indoor air quality hazards, how climatic events relate to air quality, and how to protect yourself from poor air quality. The Promotoras were also given a tri-fold brochure with summarized information on what they learned and N95 masks, to distribute to their constituents.