The African American Mayors Association and the Community Data Health Initiative launched an ongoing campaign recognizing the top 12 cities to watch on environmental health, showcasing cities that are transforming their approach to air quality, extreme heat and lead service line replacement.
“From Little Rock to Mount Vernon, these leaders are not waiting on solutions. They are building them, block by block, policy by policy, and community by community,” AAMA said in a social media post.
CDHI, a partnership between AAMA, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University and Meharry Medical College, looked at “innovation, implementation and impact, especially for those communities that are most affected by air pollution, extreme heat and aging infrastructure,” Tonya Howard Calhoun, EDF’s senior director of community engagement, told Smart Cities Dive.
To make the list, Calhoun said, each city had to have moved beyond a plan to address environmental health. “These are cities taking action,” she said.
AAMA mayors submitted short videos about their cities’ programs, policies and partnerships and were judged on mayoral engagement, public health impact and equity, data leveraging, innovation and replicability, Calhoun said. CDHI looked at how the cities have reduced air pollution, heat vulnerability and health-related outcomes such as asthma and heat-related illnesses.
“But just as important, the team is tracking process indicators — what does the community engagement look like? What does cross-sector collaboration look like?” she said. The ability to attract funding is also an important metric because it’s often what “makes those solutions sustainable,” she added.
The AAMA cities to watch are being “creative and strategic” with funding, Calhoun said, even as the Trump administration scales back federal climate money. The cities are optimizing federal grant programs for infrastructure and climate resilience that still exist, as well as exploring philanthropic support and public-private partnerships, she said.
Collaboration and community-centered planning are as important as funding, Calhoun said, and cities can easily get started with existing data to identify at-risk neighborhoods, such as heat-related emergency room visits and 911 calls.
Many cities are targeting infrastructure investments to the most vulnerable populations, she added. She pointed to Savannah, Georgia, which is focusing heat-mitigation efforts in neighborhoods with the highest heat burdens, and East Point, Georgia, which is replacing lead pipes in communities with the most exposure risk, as examples.
“Environmental health disparities are often deeply embedded in long-standing systems and infrastructure, and they don’t resolve quickly,” Calhoun said. “Data can highlight the problem, but addressing it requires sustained commitment.”
The 2026 CDHI Top 12 AAMA Cities to Watch on Environmental Health are:
Air Quality
Beverly Hills, Mo.; Mayor Brian Jackson
Haynesville, La.; Mayor Roderick Hampton
Jonesboro, Ga.; Mayor Donya Sartor
Little Rock, Ark.; Mayor Frank Scott Jr.
Extreme Heat
Alexandria, Va.; Mayor Alyia Gaskins
Lawrence, Ind.; Mayor Deb Whitfield
Orange County, Fla.; Mayor Jerry Demings
Rankin, Pa.; Mayor Joelisa McDonald
Savannah, Ga.; Mayor Van Johnson II
Lead Service Line Replacement
East Point, Georgia; Mayor Keisha Chapman
Inkster, Mich.; Mayor Byron Nolen
Mount Vernon, N.Y.; Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard
