06 Jun Richmond Area Public Schools to Get Air Filtration Upgrades

(Bay Area Air District via Bay City News)

By Tony Hicks
Bay City News

The Bay Area Air District Board of Directors has approved sending $4 million to communities around the region to support home and school air filtration programs.

At its Wednesday meeting, the board authorized up to $1.3 million of air filtration upgrades to public schools in Richmond, North Richmond, San Pablo and Tara Hills.

Around $1.7 million will go to expanding similar upgrades in schools in the Bayview and Hunters Point neighborhoods in San Francisco. Another $1 million will go to the air district’s home air filtration program.

“These upgrades will provide safer, healthier classrooms, which are essential to student learning and well-being,” Philip Fine, the district’s executive officer, said in a statement. “This action reflects our agency’s commitment to environmental justice by reducing exposure to air pollution for some of our most vulnerable populations.”

The air district will deliver high-efficiency air filtration retrofits and five years of filter replacements in up to 14 public schools in Richmond, North Richmond, San Pablo and Tara Hills, at no cost to the West Contra Costa Unified School District.

The work builds on previous upgrades already completed by the air district at Washington, Dover, Riverside and King elementary schools.

“This investment in clean indoor air for our students is the result of listening and responding to community voices to provide the health benefits that our children deserve,” said Contra Costa County Supervisor and air district board member John Gioia, who represents the West Contra Costa area. “It reflects our commitment to environmental justice and to improving children’s health, especially in communities disproportionately burdened by air pollution.”

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