Project Summary:
This project aims to address children’s health inequity in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the context of global climate change with a focus on the school environment. It is a priority to address children’s environmental health inequity because the environment is implicated in numerous health outcomes, and environmental challenges are anticipated to intensify as the climate changes. Child health equity is a long-standing challenge with historical influences resulting in persistent racial and socioeconomic disparities. While some research has examined the impact of green schoolyards on student benefits, robust evidence is lacking.
This project will address these health inequities by conducting a comprehensive study of a promising community-generated, school-based intervention (schoolyard greening) to quantify multiple benefits, supplemented with a focused, in-depth study of children’s perspectives on schoolyard greening. The project team will assess the impact of schoolyard greening on academic achievement, attendance/truancy/enrollment, disciplinary referrals, injuries, and asthma-related incidents, comparing greened and non-greened schools. They will further explore children’s perspectives on green schoolyards, health, and well-being through a focused photovoice study at three greened elementary schools.
Overall, this project will impact the evidence base used to support decision-makers about whether or not to invest in schoolyard greening, and how best to invest in order to achieve desired student outcomes. This study will provide both quantitative evidence from a large study of schoolyard greening in a school system and in-depth qualitative information from the most important stakeholder group – children – to inform future greening efforts in Milwaukee and beyond.