Residents construct a community garden in an Atlanta neighborhood with funding from the Metropolitan AME Church.
Photo courtesy Metropolitan AME Church
Rooted in faith and a commitment to justice, the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church has emerged as a leading advocate for implementing cooling technologies in marginalized communities in cities across the U.S.
Since 2022, the Metropolitan AME Church, located in Washington, D.C., has partnered with the Smart Surfaces Coalition, helping lead climate adaptation and mitigation efforts at the local level.
Many AME-affiliated churches serve communities that were previously subject to redlining, a discriminatory housing practice that denied mortgages and investment in predominantly Black communities. While the practice has long since ended, long-term inequities in infrastructure and resources remain.
To build climate resiliency in the neighborhoods, the Metropolitan AME Church has awarded grants to churches and nonprofit organizations, helping them adopt smart surfaces technology.
“The kind of work that's being done is not the kind of work that's going to make major transformation, but it's a kind of work that's designed to spark innovation,” Jon Robinson, MDiv, DMin, smart surfaces senior program director with the Metropolitan AME Church, told The Nation's Health.
In Atlanta, grants have helped local congregations support climate resilience. One church retrofitted its sanctuary with a cool roof, designed to reflect more sunlight and absorb less heat than a traditional roof. Another congregation is developing a community garden with new tree plantings, where both church members and neighborhood residents can adopt plots to grow herbs and vegetables.
Smart surface initiatives vary from state to state to reflect local needs, Robinson said. Their success depends on being community-driven and tailored to the priorities of the people they serve.
In New Orleans, a local nonprofit organization was able to build three rain gardens to capture stormwater thanks to funding from the Metropolitan AME Church. The group's primary rain garden can capture up to 7,000 gallons of water per storm event.
In Jacksonville, Florida, work has been directed in neighborhoods around the polluted Ribault River, where tree canopy has suffered from industrial pollution.
“It's been about sort of understanding some of the environmental challenges in this part of Jacksonville,” Kristopher Smith, MPA, senior community development program officer at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation Jacksonville told The Nation's Health.
With a two-year grant from Metropolitan AME Church, the group organized quarterly stakeholder meetings with community members living near the river to better understand how to implement their efforts effectively.
The organization has been working to reconnect residents with the river through boat tours, partnered with a local nonprofit organization to improve the river's water quality and has invested over $40,000 in tree planting on its banks.
Thanks to the support of the Metropolitan AME Church, Smart Surfaces initiatives are also underway in Dallas and San Antonio.
“When God was passing out trees, God did not decide to stop planting trees in Black neighborhoods and brown neighborhoods,” Robinson said. “So that means...it's got to be public policy.”
For more information, visit www.smartsurfacescoalition.org.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
