GreenRoots works to achieve environmental justice and greater quality of life through collective action, unity, education and youth leadership across neighborhoods and communities.
GreenRoots is a community-based organization dedicated to improving and enhancing the urban environment and public health in Chelsea and surrounding communities. We do so through deep community engagement and empowerment, youth leadership and implementation of innovative projects and campaigns.
New Report Covid-19 in Chelsea: A Glance Into One of the Hardest Hit Cities and the Role of Intersecting Social Determinants of Health
GreenRoots has set out to tell Chelsea’s story—how and why our compounded social determinants of health led us to be impacted “first and worst” by COVID-19. This literature review highlights the myriad of inequities and social determinants that led to Chelsea’s COVID-19 devastation, and which continue to impact our residents daily.
The report highlights factors that affect community health pre-COVID, making residents more vulnerable, such as: Chelsea’s high exposure to air contaminants like nitrogen oxide and particulate matter; high rates of pre-existing disease, particularly asthma, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes; rampant food insecurity; and Chelsea’s severe lack of immune- boosting greenspace.
And the report highlights factors that led to faster contagion and greater illness, such as 10% of Chelsea homes are overcrowded; 80% of Chelsea workers were deemed essential; and, tens of thousands of immigrants disenrolled from healthcare programs due to immigration-related fears. With this synthesized data, combined with our real-life experiences with COVID-19, we tell how our community’s social and economic risk factors shaped the pandemic’s impact on Chelsea.
Click here to read the full report in Arabic, Portuguese, Somali, Spanish or Vietnamese
GreenRoots Response to COVID-19
GreenRoots, an environmental justice organization working on both sides of the highly industrial Chelsea Creek, is disheartened to see that the rates of COVID19 infection in our neighborhoods are significantly higher than in the rest of Massachusetts. These are unprecedented times for our communities and we will continue working hand in hand with our City officials, our members and neighbors, and our organizational partners to ensure the protection of all Chelsea residents, in particular the most vulnerable.
News
“GreenRoots, an environmental justice organization based in Chelsea, and on the front-lines of pandemic relief, sees several clear messages emerging from the pandemic: First, all essential workers are, in fact, essential. They must be treated with the same respect as nurse and doctors. Second, communities of color cannot continue to serve as environmental sacrifice zones. And third, Chelsea residents are amazing and resilient. We are better together.” - Roseann Bongiovanni, WBUR