The project is focused on the participation of the residents of the St. James Baptist Parish and the St. Johns Baptist Parish, where 29 petrochemical plants continue to pollute and endanger frontline communities in the 5th District whose population is 90 percent Black.
This project empowers local residents by supplying them with air monitors and teaching them how to use them, as well as compiling air quality data that their local authorities have repeatedly refused to make public. That said, locals in St. John and St. James will thus have more control to drive the conversation about making sure they have safe air to breathe.
The project has already installed air monitors in key locations through the parishes, created a community watch group to monitor air readings, created and facilitated a coalition of local groups, and held community webinars to educate locals on the work and how others can get involved. With so much success already, we are so excited to see what happens next.
