New Voices Air Monitoring Network
New Voices Are Rising partners with residents and youth across the East Bay to monitor air quality, fill data gaps, and build community awareness about the air we breathe.
About the Network
The New Voices Are Rising Air Monitoring Network is a community-based network of air quality sensors filling monitoring gaps across the East Bay. We've installed six PurpleAir monitors in environmentally burdened communities in East Oakland, East Contra Costa County, and West Contra Costa County, with plans to grow to eight monitors.
Community input from focus groups, workshops, and surveys, along with lessons learned from past monitoring projects, shapes where we place monitors. By putting monitors directly in community hands, we're building knowledge, power, and solutions for cleaner air.
Why We Monitor
This work is rooted in environmental justice: certain East Bay communities face disproportionate exposure to pollution from truck traffic, refineries, freeways, and other industrial sources. Research shows that while California’s overall air quality has improved, racial and economic disparities persist, with low-income communities and communities of color still breathing dirtier air than wealthier neighborhoods (UC Berkeley News, 2024).
Pollution is often invisible yet harmful, contributing to asthma, heart disease, and other health inequities. By collecting and sharing real-time data, we are equipping residents with tools to advocate for cleaner, healthier neighborhoods.
Explore the Data
All data from our monitors is publicly accessible. Use these tools to see what's happening in your neighborhood.
Places to Access the Data
Youth Leadership
A top priority of our project is to engage youth and community members in air monitoring. Youth are not just participants: they are leading and co-designing the project, helping select monitor locations and guiding how results are shared. Community members bring their lived experiences of pollution, ensuring the data reflects real conditions and priorities.
Get Involved
For organizations: Are you doing air quality work in the Bay Area? We'd love to collaborate.
For Future Opportunities!
For community members: Follow us on Instagram for the latest opportunities to participate:
- Surveys — Share your lived experience with air pollution
- Focus groups — Help shape where we monitor and what questions we ask
- Workshops — Learn to read data, use portable sensors, and connect air quality with community advocacy
By participating, you gain skills, contribute to local data, and help push for cleaner, healthier neighborhoods.
Stay Connected
Change is happening! Receive updates on grantee successes, upcoming grants, and opportunities to make a difference. Join our community and be a vital part of the environmental justice movement.
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