Maximizing Local Tools for Cleaner, Healthier Air

In November, the Community Data Health Initiative (CDHI) convened cross-departmental teams from six of the leading cities nationwide: New York City, Denver, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Cleveland, and Houston. These cities are demonstrating how local governments are stepping up to protect residents from the impacts of air pollution among the decline in federal funding, data, and attention to environmental health.

The convening marked the first in-person session of CDHI’s Air Quality Learning Cohort and was designed as a working session to define what progress looks like amid constraint, exchange approaches for prioritizing limited resources, and workshop active projects with peers.

Three themes emerged as cities shared what is working across different local contexts. 

1. Cities are strengthening ordinances and regulatory tools they already control

Rather than implementing new, expensive interventions that are increasingly unrealistic amid shrinking federal grants, cities are utilizing the ordinances and regulatory tools they already have to their maximal effect. During the convening, teams shared how revisiting local codes and permitting authority can yield meaningful air quality and environmental health improvements within existing city power.

Many cities are reevaluating their air codes and ordinances regarding particulate matter (PM) such as dust, odors, open burning, and smoke to toughen requirements in highly impacted zones and integrate health considerations into review processes. These modifications allow cities to better target pollution sources and strengthen enforcement without waiting for new legislation or outside federal funding. 

In Detroit, city officials are implementing new truck traffic restrictions in Southwest Detroit that reduce heavy truck travel through residential areas and on all residential streets, helping to address noise, pollution, and safety concerns raised by residents. Under changes developed through the city’s Southwest Detroit Truck Route Implementation Study, trucks are prohibited or limited on several residential corridors – including Livernois, Dragoon, Clark, Scotten, and W. Grand Boulevard –  while limited approved truck routes and local delivery access remain in place. The city is implementing these restrictions through traffic enforcement, education, and working with the City Council and local police to strengthen existing ordinances and related penalties. These new truck restrictions demonstrate how engaged residents and responsive local leaders can leverage existing authority to improve longstanding air quality issues and neighborhood quality of life.

2. Cities are creating durable, local funding mechanisms

With the recent cancellation of $8 billion slated for climate-related projects across the country, cities are leaning on creative local funding paths to fill budgetary gaps. 

Representatives from the Department of Public Health and Environment (DPHE) in Denver highlighted the success of the city’s Climate Protection Fund. In November 2020, a citizen initiative ballot was passed for a 0.25% sales tax to fund efforts to address environmental health. These tax dollars go into the Climate Protection Fund managed by the Office of Climate Action, Sustainability, and Resiliency. In 2024, the tax brought in $51 million to fund environmental health projects, according to DPHE.  

City teams also discussed emerging approaches that rely on existing regulatory and permitting authority. These include directing permit and facility fees into dedicated air quality or environmental health funds, increasing fees in highly impacted areas, and establishing special revenue funds that can be reinvested directly into emissions reduction or community-facing mitigation efforts. 

3. Cities are connecting people to data through health-centered messaging

“When it comes to children and the effects of air pollution, the timing really matters,” noted Dr. Lindsey Burghardt, Chief Science Officer at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. Exposure during sensitive developmental periods can increase lifelong risks of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, mental health conditions, and neurodegenerative disease. At the convening, city teams emphasized that grounding air quality messaging in health impacts like these is essential for helping residents understand risk and take action.

In Denver, the DPHE developed interactive educational kiosks currently installed in three community health centers around the city that share city data and information about air quality and health. Available in both English and Spanish, the kiosk includes a data dashboard showing current air quality information to help users plan outdoor activities and minimize their exposure to harmful pollutants. Furthermore, the kiosk’s interactive elements allow users to learn about pollutants, where they come from, what the city is doing to improve air quality, and resources for residents. Currently in its pilot phase, DPHE hopes to expand installation of the educational kiosks throughout the city as well as continue working on multiple streams of messaging, including working with Denver Public Schools on educational programs and workshops.

In Houston, the city’s health department developed an asthma air alert system after analyzing historical ambulance data, ambulance-treated asthma attack data, and pollution data to understand the increase in risk of asthma attacks on days of high levels of pollution. The result is the Asthma Air Aware Day Warning, which can be issued as part of the AlertHouston emergency warning system, on days outdoor air conditions are comparable to past dates when residents historically experienced a high number of asthma problems. The city also worked with medical providers and healthcare facilities to sign up for the alert system, so any emergency department with the warnings could anticipate potentially more cases of asthma attacks. Currently, 37,000 residents are signed up to receive the alerts with expansion and more asthma educational efforts planned throughout Houston.

Across these examples, a clear message emerged. Cities are not waiting for perfect conditions to act. They are maximizing existing tools, building durable funding models, and translating data into health-centered action.

The Air Quality Learning Cohort is one way CDHI supports cities navigating this shift through peer learning and practical problem-solving. We encourage cities interested in engaging with the cohort or CDHI’s broader air quality work to connect with us.