LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS. HEALTHY COMMUNITIES.
V PRO^
Fall 2007
Grace Hill Clean Air Project
The Grace Hill Clean Air Project (GilCAP) involves the St. Louis
neighborhoods located along the west; side of the Mississippi River to
the north of the city and adjacent to downtown St. Louis to the south.
This area is primarily low-income, ethnically and racially diverse,
bisected by highways, and interspersed with industry. Approximately
20 percent of the area's population earns less than $10,000 per year,
and many individuals lack a high school diploma and are considered
single heads-of-households.
GHCAP is an outgrowth of the Community Air Project (CAP), which
was founded in 2000 to identify and address environmental issues in
the area. CAP identified air quality as the community's primary
environmental health concern, conducted air monitoring, identified air
pollutants as the highest priority, and developed a portfolio of projects
to reduce these pollutants. With CARE Level II funding, GHCAP is able
to implement projects identified by CAP, continue building additional
partnerships, and increase community involvement.
Step 1: Joining Together
With its clear objectives and dedicated staff first established under
CAP, GHCAP received a CARE Level II grant and has retained CAP's
original partners, as well as attracted numerous businesses,
organizations, and agencies as new partners. GHCAP maintains strong
community involvement through meetings, activities, and events, and
the project conducts quarterly stakeholder meetings and interim
meetings to report on the status of efforts involving partners and
community members.
Step 2: Identifying Problems, Solutions
CAP used the results of a "Listening Tour" organized by EPA, which
identified air quality as the community's primary environmental
concern. CAP then conducted air monitoring, developed health
benchmarks, and analyzed the data, ultimately identifying and
prioritizing six air pollutants of highest concern: acetaldehyde,
formaldehyde, benzene, arsenic, chromium, and diesel particulate
matter.
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Step 3: Implementing Solutions,
Reducing Risks
GHCAP works on five main projects:
•Pollution Prevention with Businesses:
GHCAP conducts workshops to educate metal
finishers, electroplaters, and auto body shops on
pollution prevention in the workplace, GHCAP
also has worked to reduce coal dust blowing from
a coal yard into the adjacent. Laidlaw school bus
yard, which was impacting bus drivers and
children. Working with the Missouri
Department of Natural Resources, the coal yard
changed its work practices to reduce pollution.
• Idling Prevention: With GHCAPs assistance,
the St. Louis Public School Board passed a
resolution establishing a "No Idling Zones''
campaign in all 88 district schools. The
campaign consists of bright green striping along
curbs and colorful signage where buses and
parents drop off and pick up children, and
educates students, parents, and bus drivers
about the benefits of not idling. As of June 2007,
600 bus drivers had signed cards pledging not to
idle their vehicles.
• Hotline: The Clean Air Hotline is GHCAPs 24
hour/7 days a week phone line for citizens to call
when they see, smell, or taste something of
concern in the air. Project staff forwards the
calls to the proper authorities and follows up
with the caller.
•Green Cleaners: Because no "green"
household cleaning supplies are commercially
available in low-income neighborhoods, GHCAP
has produced and distributed, free of charge,
more than 1,000 bottles of its own household
green cleaner.
•General Education: GHCAP offers an adult
education course each calendar quarter that
teaches students how to reduce pollution and its
associated health risks in their homes.
St. Louis, Missouri
Step 4: Becoming Self-
Sustaining
GHCAP continues to reach out to the
community through ongoing discussions with
partners focused on creating a "no idling" state
law and strengthening green initiative policies
within the city of St. Louis. In addition, several
partners are on board to implement key pieces
of GHCAP. For example, I lie St. Louis
Department of Public Works Maintenance
Department will assist with maintaining the
No Idling Zones campaign and will continue
bus driver education at the Laidlaw Bus
Company.
Partners
Grace Hill Settlement House • City of St.
Louis Air Pollution Control • Laidlaw Bus
Co. • Mallinckrodt Co. • Metropolitan Sewer
District, Bissell Plant • Missouri Department
of Natural Resources • St. Louis
Association of Community Organizations •
St. Louis City Mayor Francis Slay • St. Louis
Public Schools and School Board • St.
Louis Regional Asthma Consortium • U.S.
EPA Region 7 • Many others
Gwen Yoshimura, U.S. EPA Region 7 Project Lead
U.S. EPA Region 7
(913) 551-7073
yoshimura.gwen@epa.gov
Douglas Eller, CARE Project Lead
Clean Air Project, Grace Hill Settlement House
(314) 584-6703
douglase@gracehill.org
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