Environmental Justice · California

Clean and Healthy Air for ALL.

The AIRE Collaborative builds a common foundation for community-engaged air emissions reduction strategies and scientifically-accurate air monitoring with environmental justice communities in California.

We believe that everyone has the right to clean and healthy air.

6

Community-based organizations

AB 617

Statewide implementation

Decades

Of grassroots experience

AIRE Collaborative members at a panel
Community air monitoring app
About the collaborative

Communities leading the fight for cleaner air

The Allies in Reducing Emissions (AIRE) Collaborative is a collaborative of environmental justice organizations that have decades of experience monitoring and reducing emissions in communities disproportionately impacted by air pollution in California. Members of AIRE have years of grassroots experience implementing innovative approaches that improve public health by responding to environmental risks, threats, and hazards. AIRE members are leaders in the design and implementation of air monitoring networks that produce local level air quality information to inform actions to protect health. Affected communities and AIRE partners have used this information to advocate for policies that reduce emissions and exposure to air pollution.

Our members

Who we are and how we got started

The AIRE Collaborative was formed to coordinate local community-based efforts in developing a statewide strategy for applying to, and leading, the process of AB 617 implementation.

AB 617 (C. Garcia, Chapter 136, Statutes of 2017) seeks to ensure that all Californians benefit equitably from our State's air quality and climate efforts, especially those who live in the areas of California most severely impacted by air pollution. This statewide effort includes community air monitoring and community emissions reduction programs.

AIRE's goal is to unify community-led efforts to establish community air monitoring networks and projects to inform policy implementation by local air districts, the California Air Resources Board, and the State Legislature.

We can help

What the AIRE Collaborative has to offer

Community air monitoring device

AIRE members are local environmental justice issue experts with years of experience developing community air monitoring networks and emissions reduction programs. Having membership representation from around the state allows AIRE to know and understand similarities and differences across different regions in California.

The AIRE collaborative is happy to offer advice to community based organizations across the state. Whether you may or may not be funded by an AB 617 grant or are just looking for opportunities to learn more about what we do, we are happy to consult with you in a number of different ways including:

  • Documenting and filing concerns with local air districts
  • Setting up partnership agreements and communicating with air district staff
  • Implementing community air monitoring projects with low cost sensors
  • Working with academic researchers to field test emerging technologies
  • Volatile Organic Compounds and Methane Monitoring
  • Establishing a community steering committee
  • Applying for additional funding
  • Using air monitoring data to inform action and reduce exposures
  • Facilitating trainings and/or workshops on air monitoring
  • Analyzing Air Quality Data
Initiatives

The “Our Stories” Project

In the Fall of 2020, members of the AIRE Collaborative created digital stories with the support of the StoryCenter on our experiences with pollution and our work to improve air quality in environmental justice communities across California. AIRE members participated in a series of virtual workshop sessions with StoryCenter staff to develop the scripts, create audio recordings, and select images for these stories. They are told in the voices of AIRE members leading community air monitoring and organizing efforts — lifting up how the air we breathe shapes the lives and livelihoods of residents in our communities.

AIRE Digital Stories · StoryMaps
Get in touch

Learn more about the AIRE Collaborative

For more information, please contact our special projects coordinator at Comité Cívico del Valle, Edgar Ruiz.

edgar@ccvhealth.org

The AIRE Collaborative is made up of

  • Casa Familiar
  • Central California Environmental Justice Network
  • Coalition for a Safe Environment
  • Comité Cívico del Valle
  • Latino Environmental Advocacy Policy Institute
  • West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project