Two Community Partners in South Florida are working together to spread the It All Adds Up To Cleaner Air messages. From material development and dissemination to cost sharing, Miami-Dade County and Broward County are putting up a united front to fight air pollution and traffic congestion.

"Air pollution doesn't stop at county lines, so why should we," says Debbie Griner of the Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental Resources Management. In 2003, Debbie teamed up with Catherine Zimmerman of Broward County's Department of Planning & Environmental Protection to unite their programs with the It All Adds Up To Cleaner Air tag line.

"Using the It All Adds Up To Cleaner Air messages and statistics from the Web site, allowed us to focus our time and energy on fostering our partnerships and getting the messages and materials out to the public more efficiently," Catherine explains.

For "Car Care Month" in October 2003, Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties, along with members of the Southeast Coalition for Outreach, partnered to get the message out to even more people. Coalition members pooled their efforts and funds to create and distribute 1,500 two-sided gas-pump-topper posters, 10,000 tire gauges and 10,000 car care log books. The posters used It All Adds Up To Cleaner Air car maintenance and tire care messaging and were displayed at over 500 regional gas stations. The tire gauges and car care log books all carried the It All Adds Up To Cleaner Air tag line and were distributed by more than 400 car repair facilities in South Florida.

Free vehicle maintenance inspections were performed on more than 250 vehicles at events in each county. A local AAA-approved station provided staff to perform the inspections, which included checking lights, fluids, battery, belts, hoses, tire pressure and more. These events are especially effective, because it is very probable that participants took actions to repair their vehicle, get a tune-up, or properly inflate their tires… all of which result in emissions reductions.

Broward and Miami-Dade Counties found that pooling their funds was critical to the reach and success of their public education efforts. "Next year, we will definitely repeat this strategy and ask our regional stakeholders to contribute as well," said Debbie.

Like many urban residents, the people of South Florida are a mobile population, living in one county and working in another. Debbie explains, "We adopted the It All Adds Up To Cleaner Air tag line because, people think their 'one little action' doesn't make a difference. The It All Adds Up messages remind them that their actions, along with the actions of others, add up to something much greater and really do make a difference."

Debbie Griner and Catherine Zimmerman are just two of more than 75 It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air Community Partners nationwide who are using the messages and materials provided by the initiative.

For more information on the Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental Resources Management, visit www.co.miami-dade.fl.us/derm/ and for more information about Broward County's Department of Planning & Environmental Protection, visit www.broward.org/dpep.htm.

For more information on the other It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air Community Partners, visit the It All Adds Up Web site.

To become an It All Adds Up Community Partner, visit the How to Join section of the Web site.