Boston Awards Over $1 Million in Community Clean Air Grants, Including $150,000 for Chinatown Land Trust
Boston is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Mayor Michelle Wu and the City of Boston's Environment Department have announced the selectees of the 2026 Community Clean Air Grant Program. A total of $1,028,871 from the Air Pollution Control Commission's Pollution Abatement Fund will be distributed over two years to six community projects aimed at reducing air pollution and improving public health, with a focus on low-income neighborhoods. Since 2021, the program has awarded $2,284,748 to 13 organizations; this round drew 20 proposals reviewed by a 15-member committee from nine city departments, and the next round opens in spring 2027.
The largest award, $200,000, goes to the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, which will use data from a 75-sensor network tracking heat, noise and air quality to work with businesses in Roxbury and Dorchester. The Museum of Science receives $199,974, and Mothers Out Front East Boston receives $198,352 to measure particles in 20 day care centers. The Chinatown Community Land Trust receives $150,000 to monitor indoor air in 10 historic Chinatown row homes converted from gas heat to electric heat pumps, with bilingual resident workshops. Its executive director, Lydia Lowe, noted that Chinatown is Boston's hottest neighborhood with some of the worst particulate pollution in the state. The North American Indian Center of Boston receives $184,536, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health receives $94,406.
Lydia Lowe, executive director of the Chinatown Community Land Trust, said: "Chinatown is the hottest neighborhood in Boston, and its particulate air pollution is among the worst in the state." She said the grant lets the trust measure how heat-pump conversions affect indoor air quality and residents’ quality of life; the project will also hold bilingual resident workshops and keep communicating with homeowners.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：波士顿华埠牌楼。图片来源：Alacoolwiki，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。Photo: The Chinatown Gate in Boston. Image: Alacoolwiki, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
