Community Health Worker

The School Flag Program helps children, parents, school personnel and the community be aware of daily air quality conditions using brightly colored flags. Each day, a flag is raised in front of participating schools that signals the level of air pollution for that day. By comparing the colored flags to the Air Quality Index (AQI), members of the school and the surrounding community can tell what the daily air quality is, and adjust their activities to reduce their exposure to air pollution. Green indicates good air quality, yellow is moderate, orange means unhealthy for sensitive groups (like children and those with asthma), and red signals unhealthy air for everyone. A purple flag means the air quality is very unhealthy and sensitive groups should avoid all outdoor exertion and everyone else should limit outdoor exertion.

Each year, the Foundation's report, the “State Honor Roll™ of Asthma and Allergy Policies 

for Schools,” outlines 18 school-related core policies proven to affect positive healthy school 

environments, then assesses each state on how many of these policies they have adopted.  

If a state has enacted at least 15 of the policies, it is listed on the Foundation’s “Honor Roll.”

While thousands of local schools and districts may show innovation and leadership in 

support of students and staff with asthma and allergies, strong state-wide policies are 

lacking throughout the U.S., with some rare bright spots. Visit www.StateHonorRoll.org today to

find out how your state compares!

EICA was one of 14 community-based initiatives conducted by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Partners for Asthma Action (formerly Controlling Asthma in American Cities Project). EICA was an in-home program with goals of:

1. Reducing asthma symptoms by lessening exposure to environmental asthma triggers in the home environment.
2. Reducing school absences.
3. Decreasing health service utilization and thereby reducing health care costs.

EICA was modeled after two successful home-environment modification programs for children with asthma in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan area—Environmental Action for Children’s Health led by Minneapolis Environmental Regulatory Services and funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Minnesota Department of Health’s Reducing Environmental Triggers for Asthma funded by the Environmental Protection Agency.