The City of Charlotte has been working with the Greenlink Equity Map (GEM) in partnership with Clean Air Carolina, an organization that advocates for the health of all North Carolinians through equitable and collaborative solutions and initiatives.
Because Clean Air Carolina’s work has a heavy focus on air pollution and health, they are specifically using the GEM maps to layer asthma and energy burden in the City of Charlotte and the City of Raleigh. With this data, they will be able to identify certain neighborhoods with health disparities related to air pollution across both cities. These findings would also allow them to identify opportunities for energy improvements within these neighborhoods!
Through stakeholder meetings with the City of Charlotte and Firefly Consulting, we have also been able to put together an anti-displacement agenda for these energy improvements. This information would allow them to identify some of the communities in these cities most in need of resources, monitoring, and policy reformation.
The City of Charlotte is also interested in using GEM to create an energy/equity strategy to look at what kind of programs they should be developing for the future in order to address the pressing equity issues present.
For more information on how the City of Charlotte and Clean Air Carolina is using GEM, you can contact Catherine Kummer at Catherine.Kummer@charlottenc.gov
Photography by: Wes Hicks