Developing Youth Environmental Health Literacy and Civic Leadership through Community Air Monitoring in Imperial County, California

With a rapidly changing climate, new leaders must be trained to understand and act on emerging environmental threats. In California’s Imperial Valley, a collaborative of community members, researchers, and scientists developed a community air monitoring network to provide local residents with better air quality information. To expand the reach of the project and to prepare the next generation of youth leaders we developed an internship program to increase environmental health literacy and civic leadership. In the 10-week program, high school students learned about air quality science, respiratory health, community air monitoring, and policies intended to improve air quality. The students learned to present this information to their peers, neighbors, family, and community leaders. The program used participatory approaches familiar to community-engaged research to center the students’ experience. Surveys and interviews with the students were used to assess the program and found that the students became more familiar with air quality policies, increased their ability to use air monitoring resources, and increased their own confidence in their ability to effect change. With the growing threats related to environmental hazards, it is vital to prepare youth leaders to understand, communicate, and act.