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Denver Wins $1 Million in Bloomberg Philanthropies U.S. Mayor Challenge
On October 28, 2018 Michael R. Bloomberg announced Denver as a winner of Bloomberg Philanthropies U.S. Mayors Challenge, a yearlong competition that challenged city leaders to uncover and test bold, inventive ideas to confront the toughest problems faced by cities today. Denver is one of nine cities that has been awarded $1 million to begin implementation on breakthrough solutions.
Denver was selected as a winner for their innovative approach partnering with Denver Public Schools to protect children with asthma from the negative effects of poor air quality. Denver aims to utilize a real-time, hyper-local air-quality data-monitoring system with cutting-edge air pollution sensor technology to collect and interpret data, and then disseminate the results to the community in a meaningful way. School-based programming to reduce pollution sources and limit exposure to poor air quality will be developed in partnership with students, parents, school nurses, teachers and staff. For more information on the project visit Denver Air Quality.
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Meet Christy Haas-Howard, RN, Asthma Specialist
 When it comes to students diagnosed with asthma, Denver Public Schools Asthma Specialist Christy Haas-Howard says knowledge is power.
“An average of 1 out of every 10 students at any given school is dealing with asthma-related issues, and it’s the top chronic disease-caused reason of them missing school,” says Haas-Howard, RN, who has been a school nurse with DPS since 2005 and holds a Master of Public Health degree. “Anything we can do to help mitigate the external factors that affect these students will have significant and far-reaching impacts for the rest of their lives.”
Haas-Howard has been pivotal in expanding the asthma program at DPS — where 11 percent of the student population has been diagnosed with the respiratory condition — and she has worked closely with the Environmental Quality Division of Denver Department of Public Health & Environment (DDPHE) as their team developed monitoring systems designed to generate real-time air-quality readings, the data from which can be used to address issues on the spot, as well as make policy decisions to reduce pollution and change behaviors that will reduce exposure to pollution for all students. Read more.
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Presentation to Mayor Hancock
On April 30th, the team met with Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock to update the office on the program's successes thus far. Thanks Mayor Hancock for championing our project nationwide!
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Spotlight on...
Student Gina Ridgeway's Air Quality Initiative at Sabin World Elementary
Photo by Michael Booth
“My problem with environmental issues is that people seem to want to talk a lot about solutions, but they don’t want to do the hard stuff that you need to do to fix it,” says Gina Ridgeway, a 5th grader at Sabin World Elementary. “I really like working on solutions.”
Strong stuff from an elementary school student, but Gina says she is determined to make a difference — starting right where she is. Since August, her Harvey Park South neighborhood school has housed air-quality monitors put in place by the Denver Department of Public Health & Environment’s (DDPHE) Division of Environmental Quality, and the monitors have been assessing real-time, hyper-local air-quality data around Sabin ever since.
Gina says that the information and data surrounding the effects of air quality on her fellow students who have been diagnosed with asthma was “a wake-up call to a serious problem.” Read more.
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