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Community Spotlight

In the Mojave Desert region, people from all walks of life are learning that "clean air is everybody's business!"

That's the motto of the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District (MDAQMD), an award-winning It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air Community Partner, located in the high desert between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The team is making great headway with people about the simple steps they can take to improve air quality... especially with kids.

"Young people are a big part of our campaign because they're the ones who are going to be making the decisions tomorrow and voting for years to come," said Violette Roberts, community relations & education manager at MDAQMD in Victorville, CA. "It's very important for us to reach them early on."

Makes sense, but how do you get kids to care about stuff like air quality?

The group's latest victory, the first annual Youth Environmental Leadership Conference (YELC), was the brainchild of Cynnthia Baker, community relations and education specialist. Baker collaborated with schools and organizations to coordinate the one-day workshop, which attracted media attention and was featured in the daily newspaper the next day. YELC kicked off at MDAQMD headquarters in early November where 66 students in grades 8-12 changed into colorful T-shirts, divided into teams, and hunkered down to take a serious look at the state of air quality and what they could do to make a difference. If it sounds boring, it wasn't!

In addition to the $50 US savings bonds, t-shirts, backpacks, and school supplies that each participant received, there was plenty of fun and games to keep antsy kids hooked on the subject. "By the end of the day the kids were really fired up," said Baker, who recently won a 2005 California Association of Public Information Officials' (CAPIO) award for creating a children's educational activity book.

Pop culture meets air quality

The Air Quality Challenge, a game Baker developed based on the popular NBC reality game show, Dog Eat Dog, was one of YELC's biggest hits. MDAQMD's version—an educational adaptation that had kids jumping up and down and cheering answers to questions about alternate modes of transportation, stopping at the click, and telecommuting—was designed to test the students' air quality knowledge. "Whether they realized it or not, they were learning. By the end of the day they were shouting out all the right answers," said Baker who used It All Adds Up consumer fact sheets to construct the game.

A hybrid vehicle demonstration also received some fanfare that day. "Getting a chance to look at technology up close always gets teenagers excited," said Roberts, noting that an important goal of the project was to encourage students to start environmental clubs at their school. Each group leader gets $100 in seed money to get their club off the ground. Roberts and Baker will work with the students throughout the year, visiting their sites, tracking progress, and lending assistance. Several students also signed up to come back and help mentor new YELC registrants next year.

Peanuts, popcorn, and clean air tips?

MDAQMD also takes its youth education messages into the field—literally! Every summer they hook up with the High Desert Mavericks, the region's professional minor-league baseball team, to organize the annual "Clean Air Night Baseball Card Giveaway". The first 1,000 fans to stroll through the gates of the Maverick Stadium get a stack of 30 glossy baseball trading cards featuring the photos and stats of their favorite team players. The flip side of each card has the MDAQMD logo and a clean air tip. "Many of the tips come directly from It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air," said Roberts. "Placing them on the cards is a creative way for us to get the word out there."

Enlisting the help of educators

The Mojave Environmental Education Consortium (MEEC) is another valuable medium that helps deliver air quality education to young people. Spearheaded by MDAQMD in 2001, it's a one-stop, online resource where educators regularly turn for high quality, standardized environmental educational materials—but not just about air quality. "We found there were a lot of agencies like ours that wanted to get their messages into the classroom," said Roberts, who chairs MEEC. "Even though our main interest is in air quality, we formed partnerships with 30 different environmental organizations so we could attract more teachers and reach more students—and it's working—it's extremely effective." Last year MEEC, which includes a link to It All Adds Up, earned a medal of honor from the San Bernardino County School District. Mark Ziesmer, a science teacher at Sultana High School in Hesperia received MEEC's 2005 "Teacher of the Year" award. "I am amazed at the positive response today's students give to environmental and conservation concerns," Ziesmer said. "Our Green School Club, which is in its first year, already has 80 students involved!"

MDAQMD's next move is to develop an air quality curriculum and certificate program for driver's education classes.

Air quality education for all ages

When it comes to educating older folks, MDAQMD participates in 50-60 outreach events per year to hand out literature, promotional items, and recycled totes inscribed with a few clean air steps and the It All Adds Up tagline. Roberts said the trip-chaining, stop at the click, and telecommuting materials from It All Adds Up are perfect for the MDAQMD campaign. "Because we are between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, most of our population commutes long distances to work—it's a real bedroom community," she said. "We're very big on promoting the idea that each person can make a difference, which is why we find It All Adds Up messages so helpful." MDAQMD also drives home messages from It All Adds Up on their brochures, newsletters, web site, http://www.mdaqmd.ca.gov/, and other materials. "We don't have the luxury of having an ad agency at our disposal; we're a small group and do all of our outreach materials internally," Roberts said, explaining that her outreach budget comes from general district permitting funds. "It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air saves us a lot of money and really helps us present a professional, consistent message that we believe in."

To learn more about MDAQMD's outreach programs, contact Violette Roberts at vroberts@mdaqmd.ca.gov and Cynnthia Baker at cbaker@mdaqmd@ca.gov or visit their website at http://www.mdaqmd.ca.gov/.