Improving Indoor Air Quality—Community Spotlight

Cleveland Division of Air Quality, Cleveland Department of Public Health

What are some unique and innovative programs or services offered by your organization? Or: Tell us about a current project that excites you. Or: What has been a win or top accomplishment?
Establishing the city’s first residential indoor air quality program: Since its inception, we have been able to respond to over 500 complaints and help navigate individuals and families to the help that they need to improve the health of their indoor environment. In addition, staff have been exposed to top-notch training from Ian Cull and Indoor Science, technical assistance and support from NCHH and RAMP (Regional Asthma Management & Prevention) to build the framework for the Breathe Easy Everyday (B.E.E. Asthma Home Management Program). Staff have also been supported to attend and speak at the Lead and Healthy Homes Conferences. We are poised to become the premiere health and housing experts in the area. We are open to continuous education and opportunities to meet with families and share trigger reduction activities to improve conditions in their homes and reduce the likelihood that their child will have an asthma attack.

What is the most important thing people should know about your organization or your work?
Although we are located within the Division of Air Quality, we are healthy homes advocates. We specialize in outreach and education, advocate for smokefree multiunit housings, offer smoking cessation classes as facilitators for the Freedom from Smoking course; we promote Tools for Schools and are looking forward to the Clean Air Schools initiative from the American Lung Association; complaint response; and the Breathe Easy Everyday (B.E.E. Project). In addition, we have labored to learn the interconnectedness of housing and how the health of the home may contribute to the health of its occupants.

What is the most important lesson or piece of advice you would share with others doing this kind of work?
As this program as been in the developmental phase for over four years, one of the biggest lessons learned is that it is imperative to link up with other organizations, stakeholders, and internal workgroups and offices that prioritize health and housing. We have largely been building this program in isolation and many city offices that might be interested in this work did not know that we were working hard to build the infrastructure to offer a robust asthma home management program. Sometimes collaboration introduces you to streams of sustainable funding to keep programs going in perpetuity. But in order for that to take place in the long-run, we must communicate in the short run. 

What do you think is the most pressing challenge facing your organization and/or the community you serve?
We live in a city with much community blight, poverty, and health disparities. With so many public health issues to tackle, pediatric asthma, indoor air quality and safe and affordable housing has not reached the level of awareness, visibility, and seriousness as some other hot topic issues such as childhood lead poisoning. We need our lawmakers to understand that one family living with a child who has asthma is not about an individual family’s medical condition to manage alone. Pediatric asthma is a public health issue that has implications beyond any one family. Take into consideration that asthma-related symptoms is the number one cause of missed school days; when parents have to miss work, that can be disruptive for workforce, and if the child is very sick, the parent may be in jeopardy of losing their job. The Allergy and Asthma Network estimates 14.2 million missed work days annually across the country. And lastly, asthma costs approximately $80 million that includes hospitalizations, missed work days and medications. One in 10 children have asthma. Asthma symptoms can be confounded by housing conditions. If we can elevate this conversation and get sustainable funding to support asthma home visits, we have the power to change health outcomes for children in our city.

To learn more about the Cleveland Division of Air Quality’s work, visit their website or contact Yvette Mitchell at ymitchell@clevelandohio.gov.

 

Latest page update: September 10, 2026.