Air pollution can take a heavy toll on our health. These impacts are especially severe in communities close to industrial sources or exposed to high levels of transportation pollution or dust.

A 2023 report from the Washington Department of Ecology found that, in the 16 Washington communities that bore the greatest burden from air pollution, older adults are twice as likely to die from health conditions linked to breathing fine particles, and people of all ages in the communities lived an average 2.4 years less than people in the rest of Washington.

That’s the challenge, but what can we do about it?

Ecology’s Air Quality Community Grant Program, funded by Washington’s Climate Commitment Act, looked at proposed solutions in all 16 communities, and selected projects and partners that would make the greatest impact. In South King County, Ecology supported the Somali Independent Business Alliance (SIBA) on a project to identify strategies to improve air quality through community engagement, education, and a plan to reduce vehicle emissions.

This part of Washington is home to numerous distribution centers, industrial manufacturing, and transportation corridors, all of which can impact the quality of air for the people who live and work in the area. Combined with a variety of immigrant communities, a diverse mix of languages, and a wide range of knowledge and experience related to air quality, this area presented a prime opportunity to involve a partner like SIBA to lead a charge toward improvement.

The organization reached out to communities across South King County, creating educational materials about air pollution and translating those materials into 17 languages. The group also conducted community workshops to talk about the specific sources of pollution in those areas and identify potential solutions. That work was collected into a pollution reduction plan for the region.

SIBA Executive Director Nafiso Samatar said educating the public is an important part of helping them understand the significance of this work.

“Most people didn’t initially know much about air pollution or how it impacted them,” Samatar said. “But once the information was made relatable, they deeply connected with it.”

Samatar said that while SIBA’s work focuses on supporting immigrant, refugee, and members of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities in South King County, their focus on education and grounding the material in lived experience can apply across the state.

With the plan in hand, SIBA hopes to find additional funding to implement those strategies, such as helping people in low-income communities purchase zero-emission vehicles, access public transit, and invest in urban forests.

“Across the area, people shared concerns about affordability and the high cost of electric vehicles compared to gas cars,” Samatar said. “Many people want to switch to cleaner options, but we have to provide stronger incentives for EVs to become more affordable.”

This plan is just one way Ecology and partners are working to meet the goals of the Climate Commitment Act, which requires action to reduce air pollution in areas that bear a greater burden. Similar grants have supported programs like paving dirt roads outside Spokane to reduce dust and expanding access to public transit.

Nick Bourgault, the Ecology grants specialist who worked with SIBA, said the group conducted cross-cultural engagement in multiple languages.

“SIBA developed a scientifically sound and community-grounded plan to reduce air pollution in South King County,” Bourgault said. “This in-depth planning helps us make smart investments in improving air quality. Over the course of their grant work, they built a network of community leaders and set the foundations for making a meaningful impact on local air quality and public health.”

Part of a larger strategy to improve air quality

These clean air investments are underpinned by monitoring and science. The grant program is based on an analysis Ecology and the Washington Department of Health conducted in 2023 looking at health impacts from air pollution in communities across Washington. Identifying priority communities where air pollution poses serious threats to public health led to an expanded air monitoring network, which Ecology will use to track the state’s progress on improving air quality.

“This work shines a light on the complexity and importance of combining scientific, regulatory, environmental, and community health work,” said Kathy Taylor, Ecology’s Air Quality program manager. “Using demographic and monitoring data, we can pinpoint where the most pressing needs exist and empower the community to lead in delivering a solution.”