BREATHABLE Futures – Portable Air Quality Monitor

BREATHABLE Futures is a community-centered environmental justice research and action initiative addressing the urgent need for localized, community-owned environmental data in frontline communities disproportionately burdened by industrial pollution. Existing government air quality systems often fail to reflect neighborhood-level realities. BREATHABLE Futures responds by placing data collection, interpretation, and advocacy tools directly in the hands of impacted residents.

Community-Led Environmental Monitoring

The project follows a participatory design and research cycle in which community members conduct needs assessments, learn pollutant science, and deploy air quality sensors—particularly PM2.5 monitors—to generate evidence that challenges regulatory blind spots and official narratives.

Current monitoring partnerships include:

These deployments produce high-resolution, neighborhood-scale data often absent from federal and state systems. 

Air, Soil, and Accountability

In Mossville, BREATHABLE Futures expands beyond air monitoring to include soil testing to assess contamination linked to nearby industrial activity, capturing cumulative environmental harm. The project supports data-informed strategies for corporate accountability, including pathways to pursue remediation, compensation, and community reinvestment. In parallel, the initiative advances 

nature-based solutions, such as increasing tree canopy, to reduce pollution, mitigate heat, and improve neighborhood health.

Technology in Service of Justice

By pairing sensor technologies with local knowledge, BREATHABLE Futures equips communities with credible evidence for advocacy, policy engagement, and environmental repair.

What's Up With All the Bias in the Air: Mitigating AI Bias in Air Pollution, Weather and Disaster Preparation Data - Amy Yeboah Quarkume

Making Data Science Democratic – Amy Yeboah Quarkume
https://pitcases.org/portfolio/making-data-science-democratic-amy-yeboah-quarkume

Innovating AI for Climate Resilience & Speech Delay Solutions – The Dig, Howard University
https://thedig.howard.edu/all-stories/dr-amy-quarkume-innovating-ai-climate-resilience-and-speech-delay-solutions

Not Blowing Smoke: Highlighting Earth Science Data Inequalities – The Dig, Howard University
https://thedig.howard.edu/all-stories/not-blowing-smoke-howard-university-researchers-highlight-earth-science-data-inequalities-amidst