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Leila invites a reporter into her two-bedroom apartment at Cider Mill, an 864-unit complex in Montgomery Village, where she lives with her three school-age children in a largely African immigrant and Latino neighborhood.

She walks into her tiny kitchen and fires up all four gas burners on the stove, as if to prepare a big meal. But Leila – who has asked us not to use her real name – is not cooking on this day.

This is a test.

In her hand, she holds a monitor to measure nitrogen dioxide or NO2, a toxic gas that contributes to respiratory infections, increased cases of asthma and is known to harm brain development in children.

The Environmental Protection Agency warns that outdoor exposure to NO2 at concentrations of 150-200 parts per billion [ppb] is unhealthy, especially for people with lung disease, older adults and children with asthma, like Leila’s 13-year-old-son.

Within 10 minutes a beeping alarm registers 200ppb. The readings continue to rise, and 15 minutes after Leila turns off the burners, she takes a final reading of 220ppb, a range that EPA calls very unhealthy outdoors.

The EPA has no NO2 indoor standards.

Leila’s test is just one of more than 300 that volunteers and staff with the group Action in Montgomery, or AIM, have conducted at five apartment complexes in Montgomery County. More than half of the units registered unhealthy levels of NO2, said AIM Director Cynthia Marshall. She said a final report will be issued later this year.

“I was motivated to do these tests to understand why our families are suffering,” Leila said, troubled by high readings. “[We] see a high rate of absenteeism and wonder why they miss so much school and can’t concentrate on learning with chemicals in their heads.”

Her advocacy began at the local elementary school, where she now heads the PTA.  “We organized for a new school building, and for high quality after-school programs,” she said.

Leila then engaged other parents through AIM, which Marshall said follows the iron rule: “Never do for anyone what they can do for themselves.”

Increased activism led to a leadership role with AIM, where she recruited Ana Argueta, PTA President at JoAnn Leleck Elementary in Silver Spring, to knock on doors and lobby in Annapolis for the 2024 Maryland EmPOWER Act.

“People affected by the issue are involved in the organizing, the turnout of people power, the negotiation with elected officials, and the meetings,” Marshall said.  “In 2024 we worked with a coalition, including People Acting Together in Howard, Anne Arundel Connecting Together, Interfaith Power and Light and the Sierra Club to pass EmPOWER reform in Maryland to prioritize funding for energy upgrades in low-income housing.”

AIM also worked with the governor’s staff to make electrification a priority for low-income and multifamily housing.

A team of AIM leaders, joined by Del. Lorig Charkoudian (D-Montgomery), brought their case to Kay Management, which owns two of the five buildings tested by AIM, meeting with Kay President Clark Melillo.

“We [asked for] help to clean the air in our apartments, the air that our children breathe,” Argueta said.

They pointed to funds they said could pay for the shift from gas to electric appliances that AIM advocates are calling for. Those include $50 million in state funds set aside in February to electrify hospitals, schools and multifamily housing, $69 million for energy-efficient home improvements from the Inflation Reduction Act as well as state funds to help low-income residents with energy efficiency and conservation, money set aside from a rate assessment on all home utility bills.

“We have worked to get the efficiency and electrification statute right for a number of years,” Charkoudian said. “House Bill 169 from last year finally established more equity in our EmPOWER Program and has led to a huge increase in the funds available for efficiency for affordable housing.

“This [2024] session, we passed the EmPOWER reform to allow for beneficial electrification,” or replacing fossil fuel appliances with electric alternatives that reduce toxic emissions, she said. Before that change, Charkoudian said, residents could install a more-efficient stove, but could not go from gas to electric.

“This [law] puts us into a really strong position to go to these multifamily building owners and say, ‘OK, let’s get this done now.’ We need to get these funds invested in our communities,” she said.

Kay Management did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but Marshall said she is cautiously optimistic following the meeting.

“My understanding is that Kay is in the process of applying for funds for energy upgrades and electrification, and hope that HOC[Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission] and other apartment owners will follow Kay Management’s lead, pursuing electrification and energy upgrades,” she said.

HOC owns Cider Mill, where Leila lives. In a statement, HOC Vice President for Public Affairs and Communications Tia Blount said: “Grady Management, our third-party manager at Cider Mill has not reported any unsafe levels of NO2 at the property. If there is evidence or date to the contrary, we would welcome an opportunity to investigate further and make any remediation found to be necessary.”

Looking ahead, Charkoudian said she will push for a streamlined process, a one-stop shop for funding and the involvement of various agencies like the Maryland Energy Administration and the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development.

Nicola Tran, DHCD’s director of housing and building energy programs, said a Green and Healthy Task Force, mandated in a 2023 bill and coordinated by the department, is working to identify all existing and potential future funding available for comprehensive housing upgrades that address both greenhouse gas savings, rehabilitation, and safety.

“The report will be issued in December with a plan to drive those goals forward,” she said.

Leila said this is not the life she expected when she came to the United States in 2003. Without a working exhaust fan in her apartment, the immigrant from Niger said she has stopped using the burners on her stove and cooks instead on an induction hot plate with a single pot or pan.

Leila says the air quality is not acceptable, not for her, not for her children, not for anyone. “We were living like we were being ignored,” she said.

But she and her team, all women and all immigrants from Africa, Mexico, Central and South America, see themselves as part of the solution.

“When we come together, we have a say about our health, the air we breathe, how we are living,” she said. “We don’t want to be left behind.”