DAVID SCHECTER: Last year the EPA awarded Alicia Kendricks' non-profit a half million dollars to continue monitoring the air in this Dallas neighborhood, where soot from diesel trains and the fumes from a shingle factory pushed pollution levels 2-3 times higher than the rest of the city.
ALICIA SCHECTER: This is about proof.
KENDRICKS: This is about proof.
SCHECTER: The Trump administration has frozen the funds, calling grants like this "radical and wasteful government DEI programs." Without the money, the monitoring network is off-line, in need of maintenance.
KENDRICKS: If we’ve done our part and you're not going to follow up your end of it and you are the federal government, who can trust the federal government? Who can trust what you say?
SCHECTER: Proving their air is polluted has unlocked solutions such as the donation of this clinic-in-a-box.
KENDRICKS: It’s fully equipped.
SCHECTER: So it's like a little doctor's office.
KENDRICKS: Yes.
SCHECTER: When it opens, residents, many without access to health care, can be treated for illnesses like asthma, which is double the state average here.
Would this clinic be here if not for the air monitors?
KENDRICKS: So, actually, I'm going to say no.
SCHECTER: The EPA has canceled more than 400 previously awarded grants including Kendricks'.
