Healthy Air Network
Advocating for Air Quality since 2021
The Healthy Air Network builds community leadership on air quality, climate resilience, environmental justice and urban forestry in Massachusetts. This project began as a way to understand and address the high rates of asthma and the health inequities in Springfield and surrounding areas. The Springfield region including Hampden County was the Asthma Capital for two years; black and brown communities experience higher prevalence as well as more likely to visit the emergency room or hospital for asthma. Springfield and Holyoke are geographically segregated by race, ethnicity and income, and hard hit by environmental injustice and health inequities. We want to know how air pollution impacts our health and how to take action.
With initial support in 2021 from the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office, we set up this growing network of low-cost air sensors measuring local, neighborhood air quality. The sensors are connected to a website which provides real-time outdoor concentrations of data on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone, along with historical data.
Our goal is to empower community members by building skills to educate and advocate with the data collected, fostering resident advisor leadership, collaborative relationships with community-based organizations, and climate education with youth. We are committed to communicating data and analysis that is understandable for the lay public and actionable for community residents, organizations, and decision-makers.
Our network is led by the Public Health Institute of Western MA with technical lead Yale School of Public Health. Our early partners in Western MA included as well as municipalities, community organizations, and our Resident Advisory Board.
City of Springfield, the City of Holyoke, the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts, Live Well Springfield, PV Asthma Coalition, ReGreen Springfield, the Earthwatch Institute, and the Yale School of Public Health. The Hitchcock Center for the Environment joined the collaboration in 2022 and is now leading efforts in Franklin county and North Quabbin Region. In 2023, the Massachusetts Asthma Action Partnership convened by Health Resources in Action, received funding to join the network and expand throughout Massachusetts and New England. Goundwork Trusts from New Bedford, Lawrence and Somerville have recently joined the network.
Air Watch App is Now Live!
We’re excited to launch AirWatch, a mobile app that provides real-time, hyper-local air quality information to communities across our region. Get accurate neighborhood data, personalized alerts, and environmental updates in a simple, easy-to-use app.
Download AirWatch:
