What We Do
The Environmental Equity Information Institute (E2I2) develops initiatives in the following five strategic areas:
- Development of monitoring technologies to provide communities with real-time and actionable data on harmful water and air pollutants.
- Adapting existing technology, such as satellite sensors, to provide usable data to communities.
- Harnessing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to develop dashboards to translate data into usable formats for communities.
E2I2 provides community education and training programs that increase community knowledge about environmental and climate threats and the skills to develop, implement, and sustain their own initiatives to tackle these threats. Our education and training activities are conducted in collaboration with community-based organizations and partners and include:
- Educating community members and leaders on environmental and climate threats.
- Training community leaders on environmental and climate threat monitoring tools.
- Training community leaders and members on how to interpret environmental and climate data, such as using GIS dashboards.
- Training on how to engage in policy change at the local, state, and national levels.
- Workforce development and training in clean energy technologies, such as solar panel installation.
Using inter-disciplinary and community-based participatory research models, E2I2 conducts the following research and evaluation activities:
- Conduct community assessments to develop detailed community-specific environmental health and climate profiles.
- Identify environmental and climate risks in alignment with community priorities.
- Understand the health, social, and economic impacts of cumulative exposure to environmental and climate threats.
- Evaluate high and low-tech interventions, programs, and policies that aim to alleviate or eliminate environmental and climate threats.
E2I2 is a conduit to connect community leaders and members with local, state, and federal policymakers and funders and vice versa to implement solutions to environmental and climate threats. Activities include:
- Partner with communities to design and implement local strategies and interventions that reduce environmental and climate threats and improve health and quality of life.
- Increase access to preventive and curative health care services and clinical trials to address existing health problems caused by environmental and climate harms.
- Collaborate with relevant agencies including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy to provide information and resources to communities.
- Harness public and private sector funding and partnerships to support intervention development and implementation.
In co-creation with communities, engineers, entrepreneurs, and private sector companies, E2I2 develops clean energy, sustainable high and low-tech solutions to environmental and climate threats faced by disenfranchised communities. Examples of current projects include:
- Retrofitting existing sensor technologies to monitor for pollutants of concern to communities.
- Development of community pollution monitoring dashboards.
- Development of solar energy driven technologies for communities without access to a reliable electricity source.