Ron Ross

• Community leader and citizen scientist
• Northwood Estates Community Organization

Ron Ross is a citizen scientist and community leader in Charlotte, NC. He is a retired banker, mortgage, and financial services professional. Ross worked primarily in Los Angeles, CA and extensively in major cities throughout the United States. He returned to his hometown of Charlotte to be a caregiver for his mother and aunt.

Ross is President of Northwood Estates Community Organization. Ross, along with other community leaders, has been monitoring and collecting air pollution data in Black American communities located in Charlotte, NC, within the Historic West End (Beatties Ford Road Corridor) along with CleanAIRE NC. This area has been negatively impacted by pollution due to the proximity of highways, concentration of industrial facilities, trains, and socioeconomic disadvantages. The report “Clearing the Air in the Historic West End” was presented in 2019 to the Mecklenburg County Air Quality Commission and Mecklenburg County Commissioners. This resulted in Mecklenburg County Commissioners approval to site a Federal EPA monitoring station in The Historic West End to measure Particulate Matter (PM)2.5. This air quality monitoring station is located at Friendship Park. Ross and community leaders continue to establish The Historic West End Green District by implementing more green infrastructure, strategic tree planting, EV charging station infrastructure, community clean air awareness programs, improved health outcomes and securing social economic opportunities – to name a few.

These efforts will contribute to improved air quality, better health outcomes, as well as reduced carbon emissions in an area where residents have been negatively impacted by environmental injustices.

Ross believes we all “deserve good air quality and a good quality of life – no matter where you live”.