By Atzin Anguiano and Eden Joseph
@redlineproject
AI disclosure: This project incorporated AI tools for select components. Summarize Wise Custom GPT was used to generate the summary. Google Gemini was used for image creation, and Google Veo was used for the video content.
Summary: The story shows how localized air monitoring helps Little Village residents better understand pollution risks that state and federal systems can overlook. It connects diesel truck traffic, industrial activity, and health concerns to the need for neighborhood-specific data, which helps residents identify pollution sources and push for stronger environmental policies.
A Resident’s View of Pollution in Little Village
For Jocelyn Gomez, air pollution is a reality of daily existence rather than just a statistic. She has lived in Little Village for more than 20 years, and she discusses the neighborhood’s traffic, industrial activity and diesel vehicles.
“You always see diesel trucks in our neighborhood in the mornings, afternoons and even at night,” Gomez said.
An industrial corridor, Little Village is surrounded by residences, schools, and industrial facilities. Gomez was eventually exposed to pollutants while attending elementary and high school in this area.
Art direction by Eden Joseph | Art by Google Gemini
“There is a pipeline where growing up here has an impact on your health,” she said. She added that several of her classmates had asthma and used inhalers all day.
When Gomez started learning about environmental health in high school through neighborhood outreach initiatives, such as those run by the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, her awareness of air pollution became personal.
She became aware of potential connections between kidney disease and coal pollution during that period, which corresponded to her family’s experience. After years of waiting, her mother was given a kidney transplant after being diagnosed with kidney failure.
“Maybe this is why my mom got sick,” Gomez said after learning about the connection. Although she acknowledged that it is difficult to establish a direct link, the situation shaped her awareness of environmental hazards. Her mother eventually required a kidney transplant, which deepened Gomez’s concern about the potential health impacts.
“It’s people’s lives, not just data,” she said.
Gomez said she didn’t realize how serious the problem was until high school. She went outside with her classmates to count the number of trucks that passed through a local junction as part of a class exercise.
“In just one hour, we counted nearly 300 trucks,” Gomez said. “It was shocking.”
The test demonstrated the volume of industrial traffic passing through residential areas, especially those near schools. For Gomez, it revealed what had been invisible before.
Local Air Monitoring In Chicago
Air monitoring is required by the federal government, upheld by the Clean Air Act (CAA), to ensure the safety and well-being of residents. According to a 2025 State of Air report, Illinois was graded an overall “F” in air quality, making it one of the lowest graded US states. Out of 23 counties that were testing in the state of Illinois, 22 of them received overwhelmingly low grades, with the highest being ranked a “C.”
Interactive chart | Art direction by Atzin Anguiano | Art by Claude AI
Susan Kaplan, a research assistant professor for the Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the UIC School of Public Health, said that local air monitoring can provide more accuracy and can inform community members of changes that occur more frequently in comparison to statewide air monitoring.
“Federal air monitors aren’t going to capture some of the sources that local monitoring can,” she said. “It can help fill in those missing pieces and has a really important role in helping us understand.”
The American Lung Association reported that new technologies can help communities and families take action to protect their health. Furthermore, advocates can use that information to improve air quality by pushing for policy changes.
With more consistent monitoring done by local community groups, it allows for more location specific results. These specific sources can provide assistance in decision making and planning to help understand how to move forward or what needs to change or be done.
“We want to understand what is in the air that we’re breathing,” Kaplan said.
Art direction by Eden Joseph | Art by Google Gemini
These statewide grades show a widespread issue, but they don’t accurately reflect the distribution of pollution inside communities. Air quality varies significantly by neighborhood in Chicago. Because of the major transportation corridors and adjacent industrial activity, communities such as Little Village are subject to a highly concentrated and localized type of pollution.
Data Gap
Many communities lack access to local air quality data, despite federal mandates to monitor it. This disparity has long been a problem in areas like Little Village, Gomez said.
“We didn’t get to see what was actually happening in our community; there was always that data gap,” she said.
In the past, the Environmental Protection Agency ran about eight monitoring sites throughout Illinois, which were dispersed throughout larger areas, including the North Side, South Side, Cicero, and suburban communities like Burbank. None of these monitors were installed in areas where people are more likely to be exposed to industrial pollutants, such as Little Village, Pilsen or McKinley Park.
As a result of the lack of monitoring in local areas, the data that was available often misrepresented the reality faced by residents. The effect of diesel traffic, industries, or other pollution sources in the immediate vicinity was impossible to measure using regional averages. Without information gathered in a specific locality, residents had no concrete evidence to support their claims.
Air Monitoring Advancements
Currently, a proposal for a Mayo Factory is in the works to open up in the Little Village location. With this new factory, diesel emissions would be brought into residential neighborhoods, which could have a negative impact on the already low air quality.
The Petroleum Coke case, also known as Petcoke, in the Southeast Side of Chicago was one of the biggest air monitoring cases in Chicago. The case discussed the vast quantities of piles of “Petcoke” and coal that created dangerous and hazardous contamination to residents within the area.
In a region where pollution levels are already high, the proposed facility might increase diesel traffic if approved. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, exhaust from diesel engines releases tiny particulate matter that can enter the bloodstream and cause cardiovascular disease, respiratory illnesses, and other long-term health problems.
Situations like this emphasize the importance of localized surveillance, according to Kaplan.
“Being aware that local data gives communities proof to advocate for change and helps them understand what they’re being exposed to,” she said.
Currently, as the fight for better air quality continues in Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago Public Health partnered with the Chicago Department of Public Health and others to launch “Open Air Chicago”. Open Air Chicago has become one of the largest air monitoring networks with 277 monitors deployed across the City of Chicago.
“I think local air monitoring has been important to Chicago and it’ll continue to work,” Kaplan said “It’s a way to empower community members.”
Art direction by Eden Joseph | Art by Google VEO