Community-engaged engineering: a partnership with the AB 617 community in Stockton
Grant Amount: $45,975
Project Theme: Environmental Justice
Project Sponsor: Civil and Environmental Engineering
This project will sustain environmental justice work being done by Berkeley engineering students with the Stockton AB 617 community to improve local air quality and address climate change. The AB 617 community in Southwest Stockton, CA ranks in the top 5% of the most disadvantaged communities in California. It is ranked in the worst 1% for overall pollution burden, and in the worst 4% for asthma rates. Students in a community-engaged design class (CE 105 Design for Global Transformation) work with environmental justice (EJ) organizations in Stockton to help improve air quality as part of the AB 617 process. Through a “systems thinking” approach, students are exposed to ideas about how engineers can include socio-economic and political factors in their decision making. Student interns supported by this project will continue work done by student teams to address air quality through energy, buildings, transportation, industry, food, and urban greening solutions. Community-engaged engineering requires understanding of the full range of community perspectives and needs, and the co-development, co-management, and co-ownership of community and technical solutions. This cannot happen without long-term engagement with the community. This grant provides funding for student interns to sustain and deepen engagement with the community over the next three years.
Project Goals:
The student interns will:
- Further develop data analysis and design plans with the community, including maps, datasets, implementation plans etc.
- Continue to participate in community meetings in Stockton throughout the year
- Write articles to help with outreach efforts in Stockton
- Create a web site to synthesize Stockton resources, including community resilience maps
Project Leader: Tina Katopodes Chow