News Advisory: FRIDAY: EPA Administrator, Senator Booker and Mayor Baraka to Visit Newark’s New Community Air Pollution Project

CONTACTS:  Mary Mears, (212-637-3673), mears.mary@epa.gov Elias Rodriguez, (212-637-3664), rodriguez.elias@epa.gov    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 12, 2015    FRIDAY: EPA Administrator, Senator Booker and Mayor Baraka to Visit Newark’s New Community Air Pollution Project   WASHINGTON – On Friday, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy will join community members at Newark, N.J.’s Ironbound neighborhood Family Success Center to launch a new community air monitor, a first of its kind citizen science project. Administrator McCarthy will discuss the agency’s work on air quality and how citizen science plays an important role in scientific analysis.   Twenty-five percent of Newark children suffer from asthma, three times the state average, and asthma accounts for the leading cause of absenteeism for Newark’s school age children. Accurate and timely information on air pollution is critical to protecting public health. With data in hand, people can take action to keep themselves and their families safe and healthy.   WHO:             EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy                       Senator Cory Booker                   Mayor Ras J. Baraka                   Isella Ramirez, Ironbound Community Corporation WHEN:            Friday, March 13, 10:15 a.m. EDT WHERE:          Newark’s Ironbound Community Corporation Family Success Center- East                        29 Cortland Street                        Newark, NJ 07105   RSVP:             Media interested in attending the event should RSVP torodriguez.elias@epa.gov. R056