Springfield, the ‘asthma capital' of the US, has improved. Now cuts to federal funding threaten those gains.

Boston Globe

17-03-2025

Now it's at risk of losing at least $19 million in federal dollars it was set to receive this year to double down on some of those efforts, as the Trump administration targets climate-related federal grant funding and anything related to so-called environmental justice communities.
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The funding, city officials said, was slated to be used for programs that would improve indoor air quality, which is vital for helping asthmatic residents. But a whiplash of decisions this year has left the money in an on-again, off-again limbo.
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Tina Quagliato Sullivan, a deputy development officer with the city, confirmed the federal grant Springfield received was frozen this week, which is the third time the money has been put on hold this year. Still, she said there's hope the city will get the funding because they have 'not received a termination notice' from the Environmental Protection Agency yet.
On Tuesday, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said he terminated $20 billion in federal grants issued under the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act, citing concerns of 'programmatic fraud, waste and abuse, and misalignments with the agency's priorities.'
'The only way we can reduce waste, increase oversight, and meet the intent of the law as it was written is by terminating these grants,' Zeldin said in a video statement Tuesday evening. Zeldin also wrote in an internal memo
Kate Melanson, an EPA spokesperson, would not comment on the status of the Springfield grant.
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Without that funding, there are concerns Springfield's efforts to improve its asthma score may slip back and hurt a city population that is largely impoverished and majority people of color.
'These are real, tangible, hard projects that would have immediate positive impact on our residents,' Quagliato Sullivan said. 'Failure to receive the funds really does have significant harm in our community.'
In a New England region where more than a million adults live with asthma, Springfield has served as a case study of how to reduce the number of people hospitalized for asthma-related issues, and to improve health equity issues that impact lower-income families and communities of color.
Nationally, almost 9 percent of adults have asthma, according to the latest
Racial disparities also permeate the region's asthma rates. Hospitalization and emergency department visits for asthma for Black and Latino residents in the Commonwealth, specifically, are three to four times higher than those of white residents, according to a report by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
Springfield received the infamous title in
There are myriad reasons why New England has such high rates of asthma, many of which are found in Springfield. Notably, the city sits in a valley between the Berkshire mountains and the Worcester hills with a multilane highway running through it, which can cause pollution to settle above the city.
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Dr. Eduardo Núñez, a pulmonologist at Baystate Health Springfield who also has asthma, said the effect on his health was apparent the moment he first moved to Western Massachusetts a few years ago and started reaching for his inhaler more often.
'There's just certain days out of the year I start feeling it, just something about being in the valley,' Núñez said.
The
In recent years, local leaders and community organizations mitigated some of those factors by helping update people's homes, ripping up old carpet to replace it with vinyl flooring to improve air quality, and removing lead paint and mold from homes.
As part of his work, Núñez said, he 'often writes letters to landlords to try to get people moved to different places.' A different location, even in the same building, can sometimes make a significant difference for someone with asthma.
In the last fiscal year, the Revitalize Community Development Corporation, which relies on Medicaid referrals and federal grants to rebuild the homes of vulnerable residents across Western Massachusetts, helped 1,004 people, but 'we know there's a lot more need out there,' said Colleen Shanley-Loveless, the organization's president and chief executive.
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Local leaders also created the Pioneer Valley Healthy Air Coalition — made up of community organizations, the Yale School of Public Health, and city departments — which has set up more than 50 air quality sensors across Springfield, Holyoke, and Chicopee. The goal is to post live data about the air quality and develop an app that residents can use to better understand outdoor conditions.
Springfield officials were expecting to use part of the $19 million in federal dollars to expand those efforts. Money was slated for retrofitting homes to reduce energy use and improve indoor air quality, and completing home rehabilitation projects to remove lead and other pollutants.
The city planned to create a community solar project and convert two city-owned buildings to run on clean energy that could be used as emergency shelter. Officials also wanted to expand the city's tree canopy by planting 1,500 trees,
which can offer an opportunity to improve air quality.
Now, that work has come to a halt.
'This is not something that the city has funds that we can fill the gap with,' said Quagliato Sullivan with the city.
As Springfield residents keep their eye on changes to come, they're mindful of the progress that could be lost — and are choosing to be positive.
'We gotta keep persevering,' Shanley-Loveless said. 'We're gonna get through this.'
Ken Mahan contributed to this reporting.
This story was produced by the Globe's
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Esmy Jimenez can be reached at