Overview:
-Community organizer Victor Jimenez is tackling the cumulative pollution impacts in Southwest Detroit, his childhood home.
-Residents here face higher rates of asthma, cancer, and respiratory issues due to air pollution.
-Jimenez, now with the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, recently led a climate rally.
In the opening scenes of “Scarface” depicting documentary footage of the Mariel Boatlift, Victor Jimenez said the silhouette of his father can be spotted “from a mile away.” Jimenez’s father was part of a mass emigration of Cubans to the United States from April to October 1980.
His father settled in Southwest Detroit, where Jimenez grew up. Jimenez’s first job out of college was with the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation as a youth environmental organizing worker.
“I’m really proud for them to be my first purview into what it means to organize and show up for your community,” Jimenez said.
Jimenez now works as a community organizer with the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, and recently helped facilitate a climate rally as part of a national movement. More than 200 Michiganders participated.
Cumulative pollution impacts in Southwest Detroit
Right off the bat, DHDC Director and Founder Angela Reyes taught Jimenez about the health implications of poor air quality, he said. He learned about cumulative impacts – the total effects of chemical, nonchemical, and environmental exposures on health and well-being over a lifetime.
“The truck traffic, the oil refinery, the steel mill … It’s so frustrating, because when they consider these new permits, they don’t consider the cumulative impact,” Jimenez said.
Residents of Detroit’s 48217 zip code are disproportionately affected by health issues linked to air pollution, including asthma, cancer, respiratory problems, heart disease, miscarriages, and birth defects.
A health impact study found significantly higher self-reported asthma rates among children living within 500 feet of trucking routes. The study was conducted by local environmental organizations, universities, and the Detroit Health Department.
While permits are decided on a case-by-case basis, they may be denied if a facility increases the level of one of six pollutants covered by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards and the area is already out of compliance for that pollutant. Even if individual businesses stay within legal emissions limits, this approach can still result in a high overall pollution burden.
Jimenez said once he learned about cumulative impacts in his hometown, “it clicked.”
“I started thinking about times in school where I saw my classmates passing back and forth asthma inhalers,” Jimenez said.
Welcome to Café y Chisme, where we provide the café, and you provide the chisme. This is a casual event every other Friday with me, Planet Detroit reporter Isabelle Tavares. I aim to speak with Southwest community members about the environmental and public health challenges (and wins!) in our communities. These 45-minute conversations take place at cafes across Southwest Detroit. Whether you’re a community health worker, a truck driver, a school teacher, a newly arrived immigrant, lo que sea, I want to learn from you!
To participate, please sign up here for a 45 minute time between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Jimenez said when he talks to some residents about climate change, he loses them immediately.
“We really need to talk to folks about how these are kitchen table issues and working backwards in that direction,” he said. “We understand that the Earth is getting warmer.”
Lawmakers’ decisions on how to address environmental issues are often bundled together into a single budget, bill, or set of ideas, Jimenez said. These decisions are frequently supported or opposed based on political party affiliation, he said.
“When it’s messaged certain ways, you lose certain folks, you gain certain folks,” Jimenez said.
Jimenez said looking into the rest of 2025, his upcoming priorities include DTE accountability as rates increase but outages remain frequent, Earth Day events, and phone banks to U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Charlotte). Environmental and community advocates recently protested at Barrett’s Lansing office over what they call an illegal power grab in Washington, D.C. that threatens public education, health care, and environmental protections.
“I’m proud to be working with an organization that puts people who deal with this and whose problem, if it’s not now, it will be at the forefront of the movement,” Jimenez said.
READ MORE FROM OUR CAFE Y CHISME SERIES…
Café y Chisme #3: Gabriela Santiago-Romero tackles climate change, puts community first in southwest Detroit
Detroit Councilmember Gabriela Santiago-Romero is committed to tackling climate change and advancing environmental policy, driven by her upbringing in poverty and the lessons from her teachers on the significance of advocating for power at all levels of government.
Café y Chisme: Planet Detroit’s Southwest community reporter wants to chat with you!
Welcome to Café y Chisme, where we provide the café, and you provide the chisme. This is a casual event every other Friday with me, Planet Detroit reporter Isabelle Tavares. I aim to speak with Southwest community members about the environmental and public health challenges (and wins!) in our communities. These 45-minute conversations take place…