Shapefile contains census tracts identified as disadvantaged in the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) for the five counties that are included in the Bay Area Regional Climate Action Planning Initiative Frontline Communities Map.

The original shapefile was downloaded from the The White House Council on Environmental Quality, Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST), Methodology & Data webpage.. The “Clip” tool in ArcMap was used to select only those features which are located within the boundaries of the five Bay Area counties included in the Frontline Communities Map. Only those census tracts where SN_C column is equal to 1 are displayed. Where, SN_C is defined as "Identified as disadvantaged" in the original codebook and 1 is equivalent to a true statement. To learn more about the methodology behind the original dataset, please visit: https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/en/methodology#3/33.47/-97.5

The Frontline Communities Map is meant to help identify communities that are considered frontline communities for the purpose of the USEPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) program’s planning effort, which is a five-county climate action planning process led by the Air District. USEPA refers to these communities as low-income and disadvantaged communities (LIDACs).

As outlined in Executive Order 14008 on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) is a geospatial mapping tool designed to identify disadvantaged communities that are marginalized and overburdened by pollution and underinvestment, for the purposes of Justice40 Initiative.

Chattanooga Census Tracts classified as SN_C (Identified as disadvantaged) by Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool. These tracts serve as the working boundary for Take Root, an Urban Community Forestry project funded by the US Forest Service for the City of Chattanooga, Green|Spaces, Southeastern Conservation Corps, and the Univeristy of Tennessee at Chattanooga. From CEJST: The tool uses datasets as indicators of burdens. The burdens are organized into categories. A community is highlighted as disadvantaged on the CEJST map if it is in a census tract that is (1) at or above the threshold for one or more environmental, climate, or other burdens, and (2) at or above the threshold for an associated socioeconomic burden.In addition, a census tract that is completely surrounded by disadvantaged communities and is at or above the 50% percentile for low income is also considered disadvantaged.Census tracts are small units of geography. Census tract boundaries for statistical areas are determined by the U.S. Census Bureau once every ten years. The tool utilizes the census tract boundaries from 2010. This was chosen because many of the data sources in the tool currently use the 2010 census boundaries.For more info visit: https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/en/methodology#11.22/35.0469/-85.2677