11-2B Chinatown Resident Association
Grant Round:
2011 Fall
Grant Program:
Boston Grants
Grant Type:
Other Grants
Grant amount requested:
10,000.00
Grant amount awarded:
$5,400.00
Attachments
Please provide a brief description of the project for which you seek funding.
The Chinatown Resident Association proposes to launch a Highway Pollution Education Project focused on raising environmental health awareness and promoting changes to protect Chinatown residents’ health. For more than 50 years, Chinatown residents have lived at the junction of two major highways, the Interstate 93 and the Massachusetts Turnpike. Chinatown youth play basketball in front of the I-93 on-ramp on one side of the neighborhood, and on a land-bridge above the Mass Pike on the other side of the neighborhood. This July, the Chinatown Resident Association (CRA) and the Chinese Progressive Association will join Tufts University Medical School’s Department of Public Health and two other community partners in a major participatory research study funded by the National Institutes of Health and called the Community Assessment of Freeway Exposure to Health (CAFEH). Entering its fourth year of a five-year project, the CAFEH study has already done detailed health and behavior surveys and clinical tests with residents of Somerville, Dorchester, and South Boston, simultaneously conducting elaborate street-level air sampling and analysis of air pollutants. The CAFEH study is particularly focused on measuring the effect of exposure to Ultra Fine Particles in the air on the cardiovascular health of near-highway residents, and it moves on to Chinatown as its final study neighborhood this summer. While excited about the opportunity to research and document air pollution in Chinatown, CRA is also aware that the CAFEH study is not designed to redress residents’ situation and must follow scientifically rigorous standards to arrive at and express conclusions from the research. Yet even initial data gathered from the first three years can help residents to become more aware of environmental health issues and to take action to protect their health. CRA proposes to launch a Highway Pollution Education Project in order to increase Chinatown residents’ awareness of the health dangers of highway pollution and to promote individual and social change to protect the community’s health. Project activities will include: 1) Developing and publishing an attractive and easy-to-read Chinese/English bilingual brochure about the potential health dangers of highway pollution and suggested ways for residents to reduce their exposure; 2) Conducting door-to-door distribution of the bilingual brochure to reach at least 2,000 Chinatown households; 3) Holding a series of 10 Chinatown block and building community meetings to discuss the risks of exposure to highway pollution, individual behavior changes that can reduce residents’ exposure, and community plans to advocate for Chinatown development practices or policies that may reduce residents’ exposure to highway air pollutants in the future. Expected outcomes of this work will include: 1) Chinatown residents will demonstrate increased awareness of the health dangers of highway pollution; 2) Chinatown residents will demonstrate an understanding of individual behavior changes that may decrease their exposure to highway-produced air pollutants; and 3) Chinatown residents will begin to advocate for Chinatown land development practices and policies to reduce residents’ exposure to highway air pollutants in the future.
Project Summary
Chinatown Residents Association received a grant in 2011 to launch a Highway Pollution Education Project to increase residents' awareness of health dangers of highway pollution and promote individual and social change.
Primary Issue Area:
Environmental Health
Please break-down/categorize the program expenses:
| Proposed Item | Estimated $ Amount | Type Of Expense |
|---|---|---|
| Part-time Coordinator | $15,000.00 | Materials |
| Office | $3,000.00 | Materials |
| Telephone | $750.00 | Materials |
| Advertising/Outreach | $1,000.00 | Materials |
| Printing/Reproduction | $3,000.00 | Materials |
| Translation | $1,000.00 | Materials |
| Supplies/Materials | $1,750.00 | Materials |
Whom does your group need to make this project happen?
Please explain how your group will engage members from your community in this project.
The Chinatown Resident Association, formed in 1999, has deep roots in the Chinatown community, with block area representatives from nine different subsections of this small urban neighborhood. Each block representative is responsible for outreach to neighbors. CRA’s strength has been its deep roots among the Chinese-speaking, immigrant working families that have historically formed the core of the neighborhood. In the upcoming year, with the proposed Highway Pollution Education Project, CRA also hopes to include in its outreach the sector of English-speaking residents who have only recently moved into Chinatown, in order to recruit them into the education effort and the ongoing activities of the CRA. Boston Chinatown is a 140-year old ethnic neighborhood located at the intersection of the I-93 and Massachusetts Turnpike. According to the Nielsen-Claritas Census Updates from 2008, Chinatown’s population has grown in recent years, reaching approximately 9,275 residents, of which 47% are Asian, 41% White, 7% Black or African American, and 5% other races. Approximately 41% of Chinatown residents have a household income of less than $15,000 and 53% of residents age 5 or older speak an Asian language at home, compared to 38% who speak English at home. Despite its near-highway location, Chinatown is the densest neighborhood in the city. This data underscores the importance of environmental health education for the Chinatown community, and the particular importance of Chinese language information and outreach to reach the immigrant sector. Chinese immigrant families, many of whom come from large urban areas such as Guangzhou or Hong Kong, often express the belief that “the air is good” here in the US, because of the relative lack of soot and visible smog compared to that which they may have seen in Chinese cities. Few people know that ultra-fine particulate matter, too small to be visible to the naked eye, may pose even greater health risks than the soot that we see. Therefore, while Chinatown residents are certainly aware of our proximity to the highway, most people’s attitude is that “nothing can be done” (a popular Chinese expression) about the fact that thousands of Boston’s Chinese residents live within a thousand meters of the highway. Yet even initial data from the CAFEH study is beginning to reveal that residents’ exposure to Ultra-Fine Particles in the air may vary greatly depending upon whether or not the residential unit has central air conditioning, whether the windows of the home are open during the day, and particularly at rush hour, and other behavioral factors. That is why we believe that a Highway Pollution Education Project can not only increase awareness but make a real-life impact on Chinatown residents’ health.
If your group receives a NEGEF Grow grant, how do you plan to pay for remaining expenses?
| $ Amount | Source |
|---|---|
| $10,000.00 | Contracts |
| $5,000.00 | Events |
| $500.00 | Individuals |
| $10,000.00 | Grants |
Please list these materials or services
| $ Amount | Item |
|---|---|
| $2,000.00 | Environmental Health Advisor |
Please describe what changes will occur in your community and its environment when your group's project is successful.
If the project is successful, more Chinatown residents will keep their windows closed and avoid outdoor exercise by the highways during rush hour, or take other precautions in their daily life to reduce exposure to highway air pollution. Chinatown residents will also become vocal advocates of community environmental health issues as the community prepares for new waves of development near the highways in both Chinatown and the Harrison-Albany Corridor of the South End. Chinatown residents will advocate for housing and commercial developers to install central air conditioning or other air filtration units in buildings that are close to the highway.
Please list how many people in your community your group expects to actively engage in this project.
2 000