East Palo Alto, Belle Haven (Menlo Park), and North Fair Oaks are diverse, predominantly Latino and BIPOC communities located in southern San Mateo County within the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. East Palo Alto is home to over 28,000 residents with a large share of households speaking Spanish or another language at home.

These neighborhoods experience some of the region’s highest pollution burdens, with major concerns including diesel particulate matter, heavy traffic from highways and bridges, lead exposure from older housing, and elevated levels of PM2.5. Residents face high rates of asthma and other respiratory illnesses, with children in East Palo Alto more than twice as likely to be hospitalized for asthma as those in neighboring cities. Wildfire smoke and climate change further exacerbate air quality issues.

The district has teamed up with Aclima and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to launch a community air monitoring project guiding future actions as a part of SMMI. Using Aclima’s advanced sensors, the project collects detailed, block-by-block data on air quality throughout the community. This provides residents with clear information about local pollution and helps guide actions to improve air quality, focusing on the areas and people most affected.

In April of 2025, residents and stakeholders from East Palo Alto, Belle Haven, and North Fair Oaks met to discuss these urgent air quality challenges and explore collaborative solutions for healthier, more resilient communities.