Goal: Achieve air quality levels that support equitable asthma prevention and control, and improve the overall health of Massachusetts residents.
Objective 1: Support policies and legislation that affirm MA citizens’ constitutional rights to clean air by 2026.
Strategy 1: Educate diverse partners about policies and proposed legislation that promote environmental justice.
Strategy 2: Support policies and practices that promote environmental justice.
Strategy 3: Increase awareness of existing state laws that promote healthy air quality and environmental justice.
Strategy 4: Educate diverse partners about the connection between climate change and increased asthma triggers.
Partner Led Strategies:
Strategy 5: Advocate for proposed legislation that promotes environmental justice.
Strategy 6: Advocate for stronger enforcement of existing state laws that promote healthy air quality and environmental justice.
Objective 2: Implement real-time local air quality monitoring to support healthy conditions for those with asthma in all 11 identified communities in MA by 2026.
Strategy 1: Identify best methodology and resources to promote local real-time air quality monitoring.
Strategy 2: Support efforts to develop and install real-time local air quality monitoring programs.
Strategy 3: Access and analyze data from local real-time air quality monitors to understand local air quality conditions and compare data with other MA communities.
Strategy 4: Recommend placement of additional federal air quality monitors in environmental justice communities, based on data from local real-time air monitors.
Partner Led Strategies:
Strategy 5: Advocate for funding and resources to develop and install real-time local air quality monitoring programs.
Strategy 6: Advocate for placement of additional federal air quality monitors in environmental justice communities, based on data from local real-time air monitors.
Objective 3: Foster communication among outdoor air quality partners in MA to identify and promote best practices related to real-time local air quality monitoring to empower communities burdened by asthma by 2026.
Strategy 1: Identify best practices related to data interpretation and communication techniques for real-time local air quality monitoring.
Strategy 2: Improve collaboration among air quality partners to promote data coordination, access, and aggregation.
Strategy 3: Support a shared learning community for those conducting real-time local air quality monitoring to share methodologies, interpretation, and public messaging.
Strategy 4: Encourage open data sharing of air quality data and metadata for communities and researchers.
Strategy 5: Encourage the creation of standard data products (maps, AQI reports) and integrate satellite imagery into analysis and products.
Objective 4: Empower individuals and communities inequitably burdened by asthma to take appropriate action to avoid unhealthy air by 2026.
Strategy 1: Document, to the extent possible, the number of days that AQI is above 50 for communities experiencing high asthma burden.
Strategy 2: Elevate use of available data from local real-time air monitors and federal air quality monitoring by effected communities.
Strategy 3: Develop an educational program for people with asthma (and at higher risk of asthma) to increase knowledge and awareness about local air quality and in their ability to reduce personal exposure during spikes in poor air quality.
Strategy 4: Ensure support is available for those vulnerable (e.g. essential workers) who cannot avoid exposure to unhealthy air.
Strategy 5: Create a guide to accessing local AQI data and companion interpretation on what it means for health, in particularly asthma, and what actions people with asthma can take to protect themselves from poor air quality.
Objective 5: Mitigate near roadway exposure and industrial site pollution that affects the air quality in schools, housing, daycare, nursing homes, and other indoor environments to meet national ambient air quality standards by 2026.
Strategy 1: Identify and promote evidence-based practices and policies regarding mitigating near roadway exposure and industrial site pollution.
Strategy 2: Educate city planners and Boards of Health about impacts of near roadway exposures and best practices for zoning and mitigation.
Strategy 3: Educate partners on the importance of retrofitting/improving/replacing HVAC systems to mitigate air pollution.
Strategy 4: Recommend the incorporation of community design elements to control indoor exposure to near roadway exposure and industrial site pollution.
Partner Led Strategies:
Strategy 5: Advocate for funding to retrofit/improve/replace HVAC systems to mitigate air pollution.
Strategy 6: Advocate for resources and policies to incorporate community design elements to control indoor exposure to near roadway exposure and industrial site pollution.
Objective 6: Achieve zero emission transportation for 15% of public and private vehicles, consistent with Governor Baker’s Zero Emission Vehicle Action Plan for MA, starting with those that serve or pass through the 11 identified communities by 2026.
Strategy 1: Recommend electrification of school buses, trucks and commercial buses that serve and/or pass through the 11 communities of focus.
Strategy 2: Recommend for electrification of public transportation that serves and/or passes through the 11 communities of focus.
Strategy 3: Support and promote policies that maximize the use of public transportation, including capital investment in infrastructure.
Strategy 4: Recommend the development of Active Transportation Plans in the 11 communities of focus.
Partner Led Strategies:
Strategy 5: Advocate for policies and funding for electrification of school buses, trucks and commercial buses that serve and/or pass through the 11 communities of focus.
Strategy 6: Advocate for policies and funding for electrification of public transportation that serves and/or passes through the 11 communities of focus.
Strategy 7: Advocate for policies that maximize the use of public transportation, including capital investment in infrastructure.
Use of the term “stakeholder”: The Asthma Prevention and Control Program has shifted away from the use of the term “stakeholder” to describe those who have an interest or concern in a particular topic due to its harmful ties to western colonialism and impact on indigenous communities. We acknowledge that at the time of publication of the full 2022-2026 Strategic Plan for Asthma in Massachusetts the term “stakeholder” was used in this document. Honoring an ongoing commitment to principals of racial equity and an ongoing evolution towards inclusivity in the language and concepts we use, future publications and materials developed by our program will continue to reflect this conscious shift towards more inclusive language.
All advocacy activities listed below will not be conducted by MA DPH or any partner organizations using state and/or federal funding.