For the past few years, I have been working with Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE) to train their Boston high school student interns about asthma, tobacco control, air pollution, and environmental justice as part of the innovative Youth HEALS (Health and Environment Awareness and Leadership Science Initiative) science collaboration pilot program. After school, the teen peer leaders come for Youth HEALS training in environmental science

Vanya Tuong, supported by Youth HEALS peer leader David Noiles, teaches other teens about environmental health issues.

The students are using a new community resource in the Roxbury neighborhood, the Dudley Square Air Quality Monitoring Station, which the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection installed in response to community requests for neighborhood-specific air quality data. The students are posing their own questions about the status of their local environment and will analyze the data to come up with answers. They will convert what they learn into presentations for public forums and exhibits. This will create local and government awareness and lead to the development of community action strategies.

Today, the teens from ACE, Dorchester House, and Codman Square Health Center programs in Boston are training each other as they explore how to apply community data to improve health and the environment in Roxbury. Along with my colleague Jodi Sugerman-Brozan from ACE, I provide guidance where necessary, but on the whole, these kids are leading and teaching themselves.

This Project exposes the students to the concept of environmental justice. How can a community—especially a low-income, inner-city community of color which faces disproportionate hazardous facility siting and pollution levels—provide a healthy environment for residents? Today the kids are rehearsing a "call for action" message, which in two weeks they'll deliver at a meeting with the Boston Public Health Commissioner, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency staff, and officials of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

High school students from "Teens Against Tobacco" discuss environmental issues while Terry Greene looks on. The Youth HEALS project brings teens together to discuss issues that affect their inner-city communities

One of the most rewarding things for me is watching these kids overcome their fears and learn to work together. One young woman, Shattara, from the Roxbury neighborhood, admitted to the group that her greatest initial fear was the teens from Dorchester, another Boston neighborhood. She then successfully, with much laughter, led her peers in a fun, interactive exercise on environmental asthma trigger factors—an exercise that helped break down the barriers these students feel.

It gives hope to all of us that these kids are willing to tackle the difficult conditions in their own neighborhoods. In two weeks, they will say to the City's environmental health professionals, "We;re doing all we can. We're just asking for you adults to support us and do your part, too." Engaging these youth in converting raw data into meaningful presentations that advocate for their community helps them to develop their math and science capabilities. But what's even more powerful is that they are blossoming as youth peer leaders, while exploring the growing and vital field of environmental health.

Read more about the Youth HEALS Program.

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