This project supported the development of a statewide environmental justice screening tool, to better serve residents in frontline communities who face the disproportionate impacts of climate change. Photo credit: Wirestock.
Project Dates: Summer 2022–Spring 2023
Client: Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) and the Michigan Office of the Environmental Justice Public Advocate (OEJPA)
SEAS Faculty Advisor: Michaela Zint, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, and Ember McCoy, Ph.D. Candidate in Environmental Policy & Justice
SEAS Students: Anna Bunting, Dinah George, Megan Husted, Skyler Kriese, and John McClure
About the Client
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) has a mission to protect the state’s environment and public health by managing air, water, land, and energy resources. The EGLE Office of the Environmental Justice Public Advocate (OEJPA) serves as a collaborative catalyst for environmental justice and equity throughout the state. Given the large body of research on environmental justice in southwest Detroit, the OEJPA sought an environmental justice grant from the U.S. EPA to address disparate impacts and environmental burdens in the state and craft a community resilience plan for southwest Detroit that would ameliorate the environmental health emergency that underserved residents face.
About the Project
The project examined indicators of environmental justice and the relevance of community resilience to the lived experience and advocacy opportunities of community members in the metro Detroit area. Using a mixed-methods approach, the team utilized semi-structured interviews and survey analysis to collect data that informed research methods and the creation of communication materials for the Southwest Detroit EJ Screening Tool. The team also provided recommendations to EGLE for the creation of a community resilience plan and EJ StoryMap for the 48217 area code in southwest Detroit.
Note: this project included the creation of a southwest Detroit GIS module for MiEJScreen, the state’s in-development, interactive environmental justice screening tool. The Detroit project module was then developed into a (non-Clinic) Master’s Project for SEAS students. The Clinic provided startup funding for this sub-project.