Citizens for Clean Air in Pueblo for Education, Research, Action (CCAP-ERA), is a non-profit community organization whose mission is to protect the health and quality of life of residents of Southern Colorado. It works through paid staff, volunteers, community partnerships, and grant-funded projects to sponsor public education programs, data-gathering, and activities designed to reduce human exposure to toxic substances, primarily those present in air. It also strives to promote environmental justice among the diverse citizenry of Pueblo and Southern Colorado.
In 2006, CCAP-ERA received a Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) Level I grant, sponsored by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As a recipient of the CARE grant, CCAP-ERA was guided by the EPA through the CARE process which involved first, creating a broad-based community partnership of non-profit organizations, local government, small business, faith-based groups and neighborhood associations. The next step was to identify the community’s concerns, vulnerabilities, assets and needs for immediate action. A series of community educational sessions were held at the main library about each concern or issue that arose. Finally, the public was asked to rank, according to risk, all environmental concerns in order to determine the top issues needing to be addressed. The data collected identified four indoor air quality topics as the most prominent public concerns: lead, mold, household Hazardous Waste/Chemicals and to the surprise of many in the organization the number one concern among the residents of Southern Colorado was exposure to radon gas.
Under the cooperative agreement with the US EPA a coalition of fifteen community entities was formed and called PuebloCAREs. This collaborative effort was used to address the four topics that had surfaced as community concerns. Through PuebloCAREs, a bilingual promotora was hired and became certified in residential radon measurement and mitigation. The use of a promotora is ideal for low-income, minority and or monolingual communities. A promotora should be someone who is educated on the topics of interest, familiar with, can identify with and communicate well with the members of the communities to be educated and can understand the overall resources and abilities of the targeted neighborhood. As the project moved forward education was coming to its capacity and a form of action was needed. Since testing and data analysis are not allowed under funds given or monitored by the US EPA, a different route needed to be taken.
Funding given out by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) as the State Indoor Radon Grant (SIRG) was awarded to CCAP-ERA. This funding allowed for data collection, data analysis, mapping and the purchase of radon test kits. With the aim of county wide data collection of radon test results PuebloCAREs started out by raising awareness in a low-income minority neighborhood with defined boundary lines and a total of 200 occupied houses. The targeted community was saturated with informational handouts, community presentations and phone calls on the health effects of exposure to elevated levels of radon gas. Once a significant amount of test results were collected and elevated radon level were found in the neighborhood, a plan of action and a solution was needed in order to mitigate the homes.
Many homeowners were now aware of the risks of exposure to radon gas, but did not have the income to mitigate the problem. CCAP-ERA once again turned to funding given by CDPHE, this time using a combination of SIRG and Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) funding, which comes from fines for local industrial permit violations. These allowed for the mitigation of six homes to be used for teaching demonstrations for “Do-It-Yourself” radon mitigation classes that resulted in mitigation of an additional six homes. In 2008, CCAP-ERA was awarded a CARE Level II grant which is being used for the Pueblo Clean Indoor Air Initiative in a four-county area. PuebloCAREs, now with twenty community partners, continues to focus on radon, mold, lead, and HHW/chemicals. In order to maintain momentum on radon gas exposure, education and testing, PuebloCAREs continued to offer free “Do-It-Yourself” radon mitigation classes along with free consultations with a radon professional for proper design and system installation. This combination allows for the homeowner to be educated on the radon, test his/her home, and where needed, take action at a fraction of the cost of hiring a mitigator to do the entire job. Homeowners may also request a free on-site consultation with two certified residential mitigation providers, one of whom is our promotora, to assure proper design.
Throughout the entire growth of the CARE project, the keys to sustainability have been partnerships, educating the community at large and gaining trust. Through public informational sessions, private staff meetings and training sessions, articles, free advertisements, or community events, CCAP-ERA has been able to reach over 5500 residents face-to-face. Over 1200 homes have been tested and 220 mitigated as a direct result of our efforts. Radon awareness is alive and growing in Southern Colorado. Low-income communities are no longer left in the dark about environmental health hazards, because CCAP-ERA believes in social and environmental justice. Combining funds from different sources to achieve one goal has allowed this organization to chip away slowly at the devastating effects a once unknown invisible killer.
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