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Air Quality and Public Health in South Sacramento – September 25th (Vietnamese/English)

Come learn about community resources to improve public health and air quality in Sacramento! There will be free food, entertainment, and giveaways!

Join residents and community-based groups on Wednesday September 25th, from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at the Millennium Event Center (560 Power Inn Rd #500, Sacramento, CA 95824) to learn about important vehicle emissions impacts to public health and air quality in South Sacramento.

Register at air-quality-and-public-health-sept25.eventbrite.com.

Sacramento residents face many health challenges due to poor air quality and some communities are more impacted than others by vehicle emission exposure due, in part, to their proximity to major roads and freeways. This community-led event is one of many efforts across Sacramento County to address and take action on public health impacts from vehicle emissions.

This event is a part of the Sacramento County Vehicle Emissions Project funded by the California Department of Justice. The effort is led by a diverse coalition conducting mobile air monitoring and assessing health impacts in the West Arden Arcade, North Highlands, South Sacramento, North Vineyard and Gardenland-Northgate areas.

This will be a Vietnamese primary language event, with English language translations. If you have other language needs or require additional accommodations, please email Kathy Saechou by end of day September 13th, 2024 at kathy.saechou@valleyvision.org.

Cleaner Air Partnership Quarterly Luncheon (August 2024)

At the Cleaner Air Partnership’s August 2024 Quarterly Luncheon, attendees learned about the benefits of urban forests and tree canopies in addressing regional air quality and climate issues, and discussed the challenges of expanding tree canopy in the region.

CAP events are an opportunity to learn about important air quality topics affecting the Sacramento region. Thank you to the generous contributors to the Cleaner Air Partnership: Sac Metro Air District, Teichert, CEMEX, SMUD, Sutter Health, Sacramento Association of REALTORS®, Placer County Air Pollution Control District, Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District, El Dorado County Air Quality Management District, and PG&E.

Many thanks to the Sacramento Tree Foundation!

Resources shared at the event are below:

Sac Tree Foundation PresentationDownload

Cleaner Air Partnership Quarterly Luncheon – August 23, 2024

Join the Cleaner Air Partnership on Friday, August 23rd from 12:00 to 1:30 PM at the Sierra 2 Center for the Arts and Community to learn about the benefits of urban forests and how the region can grow thriving and livable communities. Register here!

CAP events are an opportunity to learn about important air quality topics affecting the 6-county Sacramento region. Thank you to the generous contributors to the Cleaner Air Partnership: Sac Metro Air District, Teichert, SMUD, Sutter Health, Sacramento Association of REALTORS®, Placer County Air Pollution Control District, Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District, CEMEX, PG&E, and the El Dorado County Air Quality Management District.

All CAP events are free to attend; registration is required for food and space planning purposes. If you have any questions, email Kathy Saechou at kathy.saechou@valleyvision.org.

Community Air Protection (SNAAQ)

Project Overview

In 2017, Assembly Bill 617 was signed into law, which created the Community Air Protection Program run by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The Community Air Protection Program empowers California’s most polluted communities to monitor their air quality and guide investments to reduce carbon emissions and improve public health in frontline neighborhoods.

Through this program, CARB has awarded a series of three Community Air Grants to a group of local nonprofit organizations – Valley Vision, Civic Thread, Breathe CA Sacramento Region, and Green Tech Education – to help the North Sacramento, Oak Park/Fruitridge, and Meadowview neighborhoods monitor their air, understand how air quality impacts health, and develop a plan to reduce exposure to air pollution.

CARB has posted online announcements of the first, second, and third grants awarded to this coalition. Click here for more information and background about why these neighborhoods were selected.

This map shows the 19 communities selected in to date by CARB for the AB 617 program.

Accomplishments:

As part of the Sacramento Neighborhoods Activating on Air Quality (SNAAQ) project, the coalition has worked with residents of the project neighborhoods to accomplish the following:

Air Monitoring

  • Sited and placed 19 Clarity Node-S air monitors in locations determined by community members, with live-updating data linked to a public online portal;
  • Maintained a publicly accessible online data portal and project website with regular updates;

Coalition Building

  • Established an all-resident Steering Committee to make key decisions and guide a consequential participatory budgeting (PB) process to spend $100,000 in grant funds on aspects of the work;
  • Deferred to resident advisory committee in decision-making;
  • Developed an MOU between core partners at the outset of both projects;

Education & Workshops

  • Conducted outreach and engagement, including four multilingual listening sessions with live translation services, in English, Spanish, Hmong, and Vietnamese (the main languages spoken in our project areas);
  • Sent 29,000 physical mailers to households in North Sacramento and Oak Park/Fruitridge to gather resident priorities for clean air projects;
  • Developed Community Air Action Plans for each neighborhood, coupled with appendices, that were informed by a community-based planning campaign that included intimate, neighbor-led Environmental Justice listening circles, walking tours, and other events;
  • Partnered with Breakthrough Sacramento to develop and deploy an Air Quality & Environmental Justice educational curriculum directed at middle school-age students of color, which included hands-on activities such as building box fan air filters and training on how to advocate effectively;
  • Organized a virtual SNAAQ “Design Challenge” event in February 2022 which also served as a regional air quality policy symposium;
  • Offered monetary incentives to participating residents in accordance with community engagement best practices;
  • Stayed apprised of statewide AB 617 conversations and best practices from other communities;

Air Quality Survey Mailers sent to households in North Sacramento and Oak Park/Fruitridge neighborhoods.

Click here to view or download a Fact Sheet about the project.

Project Areas

North Sacramento: Bordered by Main Avenue in the North, Rio Linda Blvd and rail lines in the East, the American River in the South, and rail lines in the West.
Oak Park/Fruitridge: Bordered by R Street in the North, Stockton Blvd in the East, Fruitridge Road in the South, and Franklin Blvd and Alhambra Blvd in the West.
Meadowview: Bordered by Fruitridge Road in the North, Amherst Street in the East, and 24th Street in the West.

Updates

Four community listening sessions were held by Civic Thread in January 2021, which allowed residents to share their concerns about air quality in North Sacramento and Oak Park. Live translation was available in the languages specified. Click here to access the media toolkit for the sessions with flyers, social media posts, and more in all four languages.

  1. Wednesday, Jan.13, 6:00 – 7:30 PM
  2. Wednesday, Jan. 20, 6:00 7:30 PM
  3. Tuesday, Jan. 26, 6:00 – 7:30 PM
  4. Thursday, Jan. 28, 6:00 – 7:30 PM

Survey: Civic Thread also developed a survey to inform locations for air monitors and to allow residents to express their interest in serving on a Neighborhood Coalition which will review community feedback and decide on the final locations of the monitors (20 Clarity Node-S air monitors split between the project neighborhoods). Monitoring will take place for one year and inform a Community Air Action Plan for each neighborhood, which will set the stage for investments to reduce emissions and improve public health.

Equipment deployment: Neighborhood Coalition members for each project area have been determined from the applications that were submitted, and were offered incentives/stipends for their participation. Across two meetings on April 20th and May 17th, 2021, residents serving on each Coalition determined locations for the 20 air monitors (shown on this map), with a 21st being co-located with regulatory monitors at 1309 T Street. Valley Vision has identified site hosts, secured permissions, and deployed the equipment as viewable on the map below.

The deployment of equipment attracted local media attention, linked below:

Breakthrough Sacramento students using food coloring and other household items to learn about how their daily activities contribute to air pollution.

Educational curriculum: Starting in March 2021, the SNAAQ project team, PAC, and Neighborhood Coalitions developed educational curriculum designed to increase awareness of air quality and empower advocacy among underserved youth. The curriculum also includes hands-on activities where students build their own air filters out of a box fan, HEPA air filter, and masking tape, and use food coloring to learn about indoor air quality. This curriculum was deployed in July 2021 in partnership with Breakthrough Sacramento with materials and support provided by SMUD. Click here to access the full Environmental Justice and Air Quality curriculum, and reach out to Katie Smet with any questions or comments.

Air Quality Design Challenge: On February 26, 2022, SNAAQ held a successful 4-hour virtual event for residents of North Sacramento and Oak Park to learn about block-by-block air quality conditions and design solutions to improve air quality, with generous support from SMUD. Participants received $100 stipends for their participation, with residents receiving an additional $50 for lunch. Attendees selected one of three working sessions on (1) Equipment, (2) Engagement, and (3) Data Analysis to share their priorities for action in each of these areas. Input informed the development of the Community Air Action Plans for each neighborhood.

Community Air Action Plans

The main product of the SNAAQ project is a one-page Action Plan for each project area that encompasses feedback gathered throughout the process. These products were shaped by residents through the Community-Based Planning process led by Civic Thread, which included intimate listening circles led by Neighborhood Coalition members, self-guided Environmental Justice Tours, virtual community block parties, and more.

The SNAAQ project team sought to ensure all education and outreach efforts were as accessible as possible by providing live and written translations in primary languages spoken in both project areas; partnering with trusted community-based organizations; and using the PAC’s expertise of their neighborhoods to build a diverse stakeholder contact list. Recognizing technological barriers that many community members face, laptops and Wi-Fi hotspots were provided to those in need to be able to participate in the project’s virtual events. Stipends and incentives were also provided to community members who participated throughout the project in an effort to recognize their time and expertise.

The Action Plans are intended to be simple and easy-to-understand – each is backed by an Appendix which summarizes resident input into the final set of priorities, solutions, and recommended actions.

North Sacramento Project Area

Oak Park Project Area

Air Monitoring Map

Live data from the Clarity Node-S air quality monitors are viewable from the portal above. Click on a specific monitor to view current Air Quality Index (AQI) information and levels of PM 2.5 (fine particulate matter). Click here to learn more about AQI and PM 2.5.

Analysis of air monitoring data has resulted in three products, made accessible to the public via the links below:

Sacramento Neighborhoods Activating on Air Quality (SNAAQ) is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment — particularly in disadvantaged communities.

Email Adrian Rehn or call (707) 813-1913 with any questions.

Air Quality and Public Health Event in South Sacramento (June 22, 2024)

Valley Vision, United Latinos and ClimatePlan co-hosted an educational community event on Saturday June 22nd, 2024 at Valley Hi-North Laguna Library, where more than 50 community members learned about vehicle emissions impacts to public health, and what they can do to improve air quality in South Sacramento.

Thank you to Teatro Nagual, Breathe California – Sacramento Region and Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District who contributed to the success of the event!

Interested in learning more about air quality in South Sacramento? If so, attend other air quality and public health events by signing up for updates at linktr.ee/southsacvep. 

The following are resources that were shared at the event:

June 22 Presentation _VEPDownload
  • Learn more about the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District’s Clean Cars 4 All Program, where income-qualified Sacramento residents can trade in their old vehicles and receive rebates for purchasing zero or near-zero emissions vehicles or electric bikes. *The program will re-open to new applications in August 2024*. 

These educational community events are a part of the Sacramento County Vehicle Emissions Project (VEP) funded by Sacramento County Department of Public Health and the State of California Department of Justice.

Capital Region Climate Readiness Collaborative

Overview:

The Capital Region Climate Readiness Collaborative (CRC) is a multidisciplinary network of local and regional agencies, organizations, businesses and associations working together to advance climate mitigation and adaptation efforts in their own communities and throughout California’s Capital Region.

The CRC membership network encompasses the 6-county Sacramento Area. CRC is a coalition program of the Valley Vision and a member of the Alliance of Regional Collaboratives for Climate Adaptation.

What is Climate Readiness?

Climate readiness is about taking targeted action to preserve and improve our region’s economy, infrastructure, and resources while safeguarding our community members’ health, safety, and quality of life.

The Need For Collaboration on Climate Change

From heat waves to flooding to agricultural productivity, a wide range of impacts threaten the Capital region. We are already seeing changes in our climate and environment, like extreme heat events, more extreme weather events, earlier snow melt, milder winter temperatures, longer fire seasons, and water shortages. These effects disrupt multiple sectors and highlight the importance of cross-regional and cross-sectoral collaboration to effectively build resilience in our communities and businesses.

Many organizations are already responding to these key vulnerabilities, but there is much more to be done. By developing and implementing a set of comprehensive adaptation strategies, our region can increase its resilience, protect its unique resources and assets, strengthen its economy, leverage new opportunities, and ensure a healthy and prosperous future.

Our Work:

  • We are working to develop a common understanding of regional vulnerabilities and strategies to address climate impacts.
  • We identify regional priorities, planning efforts, implementation projects, replicable strategies and research needs by working with our diverse membership.
  • We provide a regular forum for local and regional leaders to learn, network and collaborate and climate resiliency efforts.
  • We provide coordination support to local and regional agencies to ensure that our region leverage resources and opportunities strategically while avoiding duplication.
  • We increase our region’s ability to identify and obtain resources to support regional priorities.
  • We provide a unified voice for the Capital Region, and its local entities, at the state and federal levels to influence policy, regulatory, and funding decisions.
  • We facilitate information and best practice sharing about addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation within the region and across the state and nation.

    Our Members: climatereadiness.info/about-us/members/

Learn More

Visit the Capital Region Climate Readiness Collaborative website for more information about CRC projects, resources, and more.

Join the Collaborative

Join a dynamic and diverse network working to create a resilient and vibrant Capital Region! We provide targeted assistance to help our members enhance their own climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts while fostering coordination and collaboration across the region.

Subscribe for News & Updates

Stay up-to-date on the latest news, funding opportunities, resources, and events to support your efforts to create a climate-smart and resilient Capital Region!

Reach out to Grace.Kaufman@valleyvision.org if you have any questions or if you’d like to be involved!

Sacramento County Vehicle Emissions Project (VEP)

Where We Were (2022-2023)

Led by a diverse coalition, the Sacramento County Vehicle Emissions Project (VEP) established a community-driven mobile air monitoring network in communities located in the West Arden Arcade, North Highlands, South Sacramento, Vineyard and Gardenland/Northgate neighborhoods to assess public health and environmental impacts due to vehicle emissions. 

In 2023, the VEP coalition, through community engagement and outreach efforts, provided residents in the neighborhoods with air quality information including the public health impacts of vehicle emissions exposure, in addition to gathering health data surveys. The project was initially funded by the Department of Justice until December 2023, but the Sacramento County Department of Public Health and the VEP coalition successfully advocated for an extension through September 30, 2024, in order to collect more air quality data and effectively share health survey findings with residents in the project areas. 

Learn about neighborhood specific health data in the community health report findings below:

Learn about county-wide health data in the report here. 

Read the full Vehicle Emissions Project summary here. 

Where We Arrived (2024)

In 2024, Valley Vision, United Latinos, and ClimatePlan led educational air quality and public health events, hosting over 150 residents from neighborhoods in Sacramento, including South Sacramento and North Vineyard. These impactful activities empowered residents with important public health and air quality resources necessary to protect and advocate for their health and clean air. Additionally, community health data and air monitoring data that were collected in 2023 were shared back with community members.

Read more about the air quality and public health events in 2024:

For more information about the educational community events in South Sacramento, please contact Kathy Saechou at kathy.saechou@valleyvision.org.

Cap-to-Cap Air Quality Team Issue Papers (2024)

Valley Vision has a long history of participating in the Sacramento Metro Chamber’s Capitol-to-Capitol program, which serves as our region’s premier Federal advocacy opportunity each year. This year’s “Cap-to-Cap” was the largest on record, with 425 leaders participating. The meat of the program is fast-paced advocacy meetings with our legislative delegation as well as committee and agency staff.

The Cleaner Air Partnership, which Valley Vision staffs, staffs two of the thirteen policy-focused “teams” focused on (1) air quality and (2) wildfire. This year, our teams elevated funding for a comprehensive suite of air quality strategies as part of the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program, climate projects of regional significance, and technical but extremely important policy fixes like letting air districts “write off” smoke from preventative prescribed fire instead of getting dinged by U.S. EPA.

Please see below for the Issue Papers our team carried this year, as well as accompanying professionally designed “leave behinds” corresponding to each paper:

CAP Wildfire and Biomass Bus Tour (April 2024)

On April 8th, 2024, Valley Vision and Placer County Water Agency (PCWA) co-hosted a full day bus tour in Placer County where participants experienced firsthand wildfire impacts and explored strategies for improving regional resilience.

Video Recap (produced by Austin Twietmeyer, Placer County Water Agency):

Cleaner Air Partnership (CAP) events are an opportunity to learn about important air quality topics affecting the Sacramento region. Thank you to the generous contributors to the Cleaner Air Partnership: Sacramento Metropolitan Air District, Teichert, CEMEX, SMUD, Sutter Health, Sacramento Association of REALTORS®, Placer County Air Pollution Control District, Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District, El Dorado County Air Quality Management District, PG&E, and Nikola Motors.

Many thanks to Placer County Water Agency, the Placer County Air Pollution Control District, and the Placer Resource Conservation District for sponsoring and co-organizing this event!

Resources shared by speakers during the bus tour are provided below:

Air Quality and Public Health in South Sacramento: Community Event (RSVP Today!)

We need your help to improve public health and air quality in South Sacramento!

Join residents and community-based groups on Saturday June 22nd, from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM at Valley Hi-North Laguna Library to learn about important vehicle emissions impacts to public health and air quality in South Sacramento. RSVP here: healthy-air-sacramento-county.eventbrite.com.

Sacramento residents face many health challenges due to poor air quality and some communities are more impacted than others by vehicle emission exposure due, in part, to their proximity to major roads and freeways. This community-led event is one of many efforts across Sacramento County to address and take action on public health impacts from vehicle emissions.

This event is a part of the Sacramento County Vehicle Emissions Project funded by the California Department of Justice. The effort is led by a diverse coalition conducting mobile air monitoring and assessing health impacts in the West Arden Arcade, North Highlands, South Sacramento, North Vineyard and Gardenland-Northgate areas.

There will be free food, prizes and live entertainment! Please RSVP today for food and event planning purposes!

If you have language needs or require other accommodations, please email Kathy Saechou by end of day June 16th, 2024 at kathy.saechou@valleyvision.org.

CAP Luncheon: Capital Region Climate Priorities Plan (March 2024)

At the Cleaner Air Partnership’s March 2024 Quarterly Luncheon, attendees learned about the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) program and opportunities to address regional air quality issues.

CAP events are an opportunity to learn about important air quality topics affecting the Sacramento region. Thank you to the generous contributors to the Cleaner Air Partnership: Sac Metro Air District, Teichert, CEMEX, SMUD, Sutter Health, Sacramento Association of REALTORS®, Placer County Air Pollution Control District, Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District, El Dorado County Air Quality Management District, PG&E, and Nikola Motors.

A huge thank you to the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District!

Capital-Region-Climate-Priorities-Plan: Slides-2024Download

CAP Technical Advisory: Portable Equipment Regulation in the Capital Region (February 2024)

At the February 14th, 2024 CAPTAC meeting, participants learned about the Portable Equipment Registration Program (PERP) at the state and local level. 

Thank you to the generous contributors to the Cleaner Air Partnership: Sac Metro Air District, Teichert, SMUD, Sutter Health, Sacramento Association of REALTORS®, Placer County Air Pollution Control District, Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District, PG&E, El Dorado County Air Quality Management District, CEMEX and Nikola.

Subject Matter Experts:

  • Kelly Weatherford – California Air Resources Board 
  • Karla Sanders – Feather River Air Quality Management District
  • Angela Thompson – Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District 
  • Emmanuel Orozco – Placer County Air Pollution Control District
  • Paul Hensleigh – Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District

Presentation Slides:

CAPTAC Portable Equipment Regulation 2.14.24Download