$120,000 EPA grant to help fight noise issues in Seattle neighborhood

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced a $120,000 Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving grant for El Centro de la Raza, a Seattle-based community group seeking to reduce noise pollution in the city’s Beacon Hill neighborhood.
Beacon Hill is a highly diverse neighborhood located near high-traffic roadways and airports, leading to higher levels of noise and air pollution. Community residents are more likely to experience cardiovascular, respiratory and other illnesses than other Seattle neighborhoods, and children living in Beacon Hill are more likely to be hospitalized due to asthma.
To help combat the affects of noise and air pollution in the neighborhood, El Centro de la Raza will help residents better understand these issues and work with leaders in the neighborhood to develop solutions. The program will be enacted in a way that includes all cultures represented in Beacon Hill and presents the information in a linguistically-competent manner.
El Centro de la Raza will be working with several partnering organizations, including: Seattle and King County Environmental Health and Services Division, University of Washington School of Public Health and School of Engineering, Asian Counseling and Referral Service, International Community Health Services and the Beacon Hill Merchants Association.