This Guidebook provides information about the Community Air Protection Program, which was created by the passage of California Assembly Bill 617 in 2017. The goal of the Community Air Protection Program is to improve public health in impacted communities. Despite some gains in addressing air pollution in California, neighborhoods across the state – mainly where Black and Indigenous peoples and people of color live – have severe air pollution problems. The disproportionate pollution burden borne by communities of color and low incomes is a result of decades of institutionalized racism and oppression. Unraveling these layers and transforming the built environment of environmental justice communities is a long, ongoing effort that requires centering community expertise. The Community Air Protection Program is, in concept, a collaborative, community led process to determine primary sources of concern and to generate a set of measures to address those concerns. The goal of this Guidebook is to assist participants in that process by providing resources and information in a community friendly format.  

( January 2024)