There are 35 communities in Southeastern Michigan described as Justice40 communities by local, state and federal government agencies because they have Census tracts that face underinvestment and have higher rates of pollutants than their neighboring communities.  Throughout the United States there are  27,251 Census tracts that are identified as disadvantaged by the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (.gov) (CEJST). CEJST identifies census tracts as disadvantaged if they meet the threshold for environmental and/or climate burdens, along with an associated socio-economic burden.

With communities across the nation facing such disadvantages, President Joe Biden signed several Executive Orders into law that focus on helping such disadvantaged areas tackling climate change and addressing environmental injustices through dedicated funding and priorities.

The Justice 40 initiative sets a goal for federal and state investment in pollution remediation and reduction, climate change mitigation, and sustainability while ensuring that 40 percent of related federal investments reach disadvantaged communities, including to the 35 Justice40 communities in Southeastern Michigan. These 35 communities with identified disadvantaged Census tracts are: 

As noted, the CJEST tool helps to identify which Census tracts, and communities, that are deemed disadvantaged because they meet the threshold for environmental and/or climate burdens, along with an associated socio-economic burden.These burdens, and the criteria that helps determine if a community/Census tract are disadvantaged are described below, per the CEJST.

Climate change: at or above the 90th percentile for expected agriculture loss rate OR expected building loss rate OR expected population loss rate OR projected flood risk OR projected wildfire risk;

Energy: at or above the 90th percentile for energy cost OR PM2.5 in the air;

Health: at or above the 90th percentile for asthma OR diabetes OR heart disease OR low life expectancy;

Housing: Experienced historic underinvestment OR are at or above the 90th percentile for housing cost OR lack of green space OR lack of indoor plumbing OR lead paint;

Legacy pollution: have at least one abandoned mine land OR Formerly Used Defense Sites OR are at or above the 90th percentile for proximity to hazardous waste facilities OR proximity to Superfund sites (National Priorities List (NPL)) OR proximity to Risk Management Plan (RMP) facilities;

Transportation: at or above the 90th percentile for diesel particulate matter exposure OR transportation barriers OR traffic proximity and volume;

Water and wastewater: at or above the 90th percentile for underground storage tanks and releases OR wastewater discharge;

Workforce development: at or above the 90th percentile for linguistic isolation OR low median income OR poverty OR unemployment and have more than 10 percent of people ages 25 years or older whose high school education is less than a high school diploma.

Additionally, all categories (except workforce development) include the criteria that the Census tract is at or above the 65th percentile for low income.

The map below is a screenshot from the Equity Emphasis Tool created by the Southeastern Michigan Council of Governments, which shows communities/Census tracts that meet the threshold for environmental and/or climate burdens, per the CEJST. The map also highlights the equity, and inequity, of the region based on criteria such as income, race, sex, disability, education, access to transportation and age.The areas highlighted in blue are the census tracts deemed as disadvantaged because they meet the threshold for environmental and/or climate burdens, along with an associated socio-economic burden.

 

The first map above does show that the number of areas deemed disadvantaged by the CEJST map expands beyond the areas with high Equity Emphasis index scores. This is likely because the Equity Emphasis index scores are based on socioeconomic data while the CEJST designations also look at environmental factors, such as potential flood and wildfire risks of an area and proximity to underground storage tanks.

Detroit, its inner-ring suburbs and the City of Pontiac are highlighted in both the CEJST and Equity Emphasis maps, again highlighting how socioeconomic data impacts policy decisions, or lack thereof, related to the environment.

While the data above highlights where the focus areas of the Justice40 Initiative are, it is also important to understand what type of investments will be made in these areas.

The categories of investment are: climate change, clean energy and energy efficiency, clean transit, affordable and sustainable housing, training and workforce development, remediation and reduction of legacy pollution, and the development of critical clean water and wastewater infrastructure.

Moving forward we will carefully dig into the specifics of what criteria have made some Southeastern Michigan’s communities Justice40 Communities, and what funding they are receiving to mitigate future social, economic and environmental injustices.