Skip to content

Southern DeKalb County has developed a reputation for facing disproportionate environmental health threats from pollution, bad infrastructure, and more. A majority of these impacts are faced predominantly by Black communities. The process of righting these wrongs is known as environmental justice and, to this end, Science for Georgia has joined with a group of concerned organizations, community members, and policy- and lawmakers to help highlight known facts and inform the process.   

Based on community input at two forums held in October 2023 and January 2024, it is has become clear that residents are aware that they face health and environmental burdens but lack resources to quantify and remediate these hazards. Below we present here a reliable collection of information to better inform the community of the current situation and identify the gaps in knowledge that need to be filled in with further research.  

Table of Contents

Overview

To get a sense of the many connected dimensions of burdens in this region, click through the maps below

Triangles indicate the “Hazardous Waste Sites” in the Hazardous Site Inventory. Triangle color indicates categorization as explained in our guide. Clicking each one includes a link to the EPA for more information.

The blue shades underneath this show the “Environmental Justice Index” created by Science for Georgia in collaboration with the Georgia Water Coalition. The darkest blue regions are the most burdened by compounding harm in the categories: income, climate change, energy, health, housing, legacy pollution, traffic pollution, wastewater, and workforce development. Each of these factors can enhance the harm from the others, making it harder for the communities to lift themselves up, improve their environment, their health and thrive.

This map displays the majority race in each region, with yellow indicating majority African American and beige indicating majority white areas. For each color, darker shades indicate locations with larger percentage majority of the dominant race. Click back through the other tabs to see how the yellow (majority-black) regions overlap with other environmental, economic, and health factors.

Darkest colors in this map indicate regions where residents are experiencing the worst health outcomes overall.

In this map the darker colors indicate regions with more residents without health insurance (percentage of population).

In this map, darker colors indicate regions where mental health outcomes are worse.

This is a colormap of household income by region. The blue/purple color is where income is lower than average with the darkest color showing the lowest incomes. Green colored regions have income higher than average, with darkest regions having the highest income.

Clarkston & Chamblee Library

  • Climate resilient landscapes, pollinator habitats, fruit trees

Wildflower Meadows

  • Soil health, biodiversity, land regeneration
  • Memorial and Covington Highway
  • North Decatur Road & East Ponce de Leon Ave

Pocket Neighborhood: Cottages on Vaughan

  • Cluster of homes surrounding a community asset
  • Cottage Court Ordnance – single family homes on smaller lots
  • 1182 Vaugn St, Clarkston

Avondale Estates Curbside Composting Pilot Program

  • USDA Grant w/ City of Avondale Estates, Roots Down, DeKalb County Super District 6, Food Well Alliance, and CompostNow
  • 7 months, 530 residents:
  • 70,000 lbs of food scraps = 182,000 lbs of C02 emissions

Science for Georgia is a 501(c)(3). We work to build a bridge between scientists and the public and advocate for the responsible use of science in public policy.

Back To Top