Dr. Michelle C. Burroughs
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Stand outside long enough and you can smell it.
The diesel. The dust. The air that doesn’t feel clean in your chest.
For many Black families in Riverside and across the Inland Empire, this isn’t an occasional nuisance, it’s daily life. And increasingly, it’s becoming clear that where we live isn’t just affecting our comfort. It’s shaping how long we live.
We like to believe life expectancy is about personal choices, diet, exercise, and doctor visits. But in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, your ZIP code may matter just as much as anything you do. The air you breathe, the parks you don’t have, the warehouses outside your window, the nutritious foods — all factors that impact your life expectancy.
Data backs up what residents have experienced for years.
The Healthy Places Index (HPI), a statewide tool that measures neighborhood conditions linked to health, shows that community environments are closely tied to life expectancy. HPI looks at more than 20 factors, including economic opportunity, housing stability, clean air, education, transportation, and access to healthcare.
At the county level, Riverside ranks in the 41st percentile and San Bernardino in the 25th percentile statewide, according to the HPI. That means both counties fall below the state average in the very conditions that help people live long, healthy lives.
These numbers put evidence behind what Black and brown residents have long experienced. At a recent Citizens’ Panel in Riverside, people described their communities in ways that never make it onto tourism brochures: Residents can smell the pollution and feel it in their lungs; Warehouse expansion is booming but not the job opportunities for local residents; .; Streets get fixed only when warehouses move in, not when communities need them;Liquor stores and abandoned lots far outnumber grocery stores and green spaces.
“It feels like a setup,” one resident said.
An elder said it plainly, “We might as well be redlined. They keep pushing the worst into our neighborhoods.”
The word redlined carries history. It speaks to policies that once openly segregated communities. Today, the lines may be less visible, but the outcomes look familiar: industrial zoning near homes, fewer green spaces, more environmental hazards, and fewer investments in health-promoting resources.
The Healthy Places Index reflects what public health experts call the social determinants of health: the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. When those conditions are poor, chronic diseases rise. Asthma becomes common. Heart disease shows up earlier. Stress is constant. And life expectancy drops.
While the HPI doesn’t assign a life expectancy number to every ZIP code, regional data consistently shows that disadvantaged communities in the Inland Empire experience shorter lives than more affluent areas. Zip codes in cities like Moreno Valley, with the largest Black population in the Inland Empire, at 13%, are in the below 25th percentile. This means they are some of the less healthy cities in the region. Truth be told, that can mean the difference between living into your 80s or dying in your 60s. This is not about personal failure, but structural conditions.
When neighborhoods are surrounded by warehouses instead of trees, when kids don’t have safe parks to play in, when fresh food is scarce and pollution is constant, the message is loud and clear, even if unspoken: Your health is not the priority!
The Citizens’ Panel (residents representing communities across the IE) are speaking out and asking for accountability in development decisions; green spaces for children and families; education on how to access environmental resources; and investments that build healthy communities, not just corporate profit.
This isn’t a moral plea, it’s an evidence-based demand for equity. Research shows that when neighborhoods receive targeted investments in housing, green space, transportation, and healthy food access, health outcomes improve.
Environmental injustice is an ever-present issue. Your ZIP code should not determine life expectancy. But right now, in the Inland Empire, it does.
The question is no longer whether the data proves it. The question is: What will we do about it?
Community voices, policy advocacy, and collective action are how we affect real change.
Your voice matters, and here is how you can use it:
Show Up Where Decisions Are MadeCity council and county planning meetings decide where warehouses, housing, parks, and industry go. Ask how new developments will affect air quality, traffic, and neighborhood health.
Demand Health Impact Reviews
When large projects are proposed, request environmental and health impact transparency. Development should not move forward without community health protections.
Advocate for Green Space
Support efforts to fund parks, trees, walking paths, and safe recreation areas in underserved neighborhoods.
Support Healthy Food Access
Encourage local leaders to bring grocery stores, farmers markets, and fresh food programs into your community.
Vote with Health in Mind
Local elections shape zoning, environmental enforcement, and funding priorities. Ask candidates how they will address environmental justice and health equity.
Join Community Organizations
Neighborhood associations, environmental justice groups, and public health coalitions amplify your voice and help hold decision-makers accountable.
Share Your Story
Lived experience is powerful evidence. Speak at meetings. Write letters. Talk to local media.
Michelle C. Burroughs, DHA, MPH, is the Community Engagement and Outreach Director for the Center for Healthy Communities (CHC) at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) School of Medicine (SOM). CHC’s mission is focused on remedying social injustices and health disparities that contribute to the poor health of individuals in California’s Inland Empire and beyond. Dr. Burroughs guides the CHC in promoting community-based, community-partnered, and population health research and working collaboratively through shared purpose with the community to build and strengthen trust. Dr. Burroughs formerly led the Health Disparities Research Center’s (HDR@UCR) Community Engagement Dissemination Core (CEDC). Dr. Burroughs also serves as the Faculty Community Engagement & Partnership for The Program in Medical Education (PRIME).