‘The ultimate underdog’: Chelsea named 2025 All-America city for sustainability projects

July 16, 2025

By Hallie Claflin

Sustainability was this year’s theme for the All-America city awards, given annually by the National Civic League. But environmental awareness is nothing new for Chelsea, one of 10 US communities recognized by the organization on June 29 for their “transformative, community-driven efforts to strengthen environmental sustainability and their civic infrastructure.”

“Chelsea has been doing this work before this work was catchy,” said City Manager Fidel Maltez, who traveled to Denver last month for the awards ceremony.

Many communities have come to value sustainable practices like recycling or increasing green space. But Chelsea’s commitment to sustainability was born from years of environmental injustice. The densely populated city of 40,000 residents just north of Boston has long had to contend with a litany of environmental hazards – and the public health problems they bring.

An endless stream of truck traffic and vehicle emissions blanket the community, which is home to the largest produce center in New England, with tens of thousands of deliveries per year. Its air is contaminated by toxic lead paint and thick dust from the busy Tobin Bridge, which looms overhead. With one of one the highest asthma rates in the state, Chelsea also stores a large portion of road salt and home heating fuel used in the region, as well as jet fuel used at nearby Logan International Airport.

It’s all part of a long history in which poorer cities and communities of color have been saddled with a disproportionate share of environmental hazards.

“Those industries are not in wealthy, white, and suburban communities. Those industries are placed here in Chelsea intentionally,” Maltez said. “They are placed in poor, in brown, in immigrant communities.”  

Around 44 percent of Chelsea’s predominantly Latino population was born outside of the United States — the largest foreign-born population of any community in Massachusetts. Nearly 21 percent of the city’s residents were living below the poverty line in 2023, compared to about 10 percent across Massachusetts and 11 percent nationwide.

“What is often highlighted in poor and immigrant communities is the bad stuff,” Maltez said. “We made it a point to go to Denver and share the really innovative stuff that we’re doing, particularly around climate change.”

With only 3 percent of its land designated for parks and only a 2 percent tree canopy, Chelsea has been dubbed a heat island — lacking open green space and shaded areas. But thanks to the city’s Cool Block project, over 60 trees were planted on the city’s hottest block, the rooftop of their Boy’s & Girl’s Club was painted white to reflect sunlight, the heat-absorbent asphalt was repainted from black to grey, and a vacant lot was turned into a park.

The “cool block” is the product of the city’s collaboration with Boston University’s School of Public Health and the Boston Society of Landscape Architects. Chelsea residents helped to point out the hotspot, collect data, and design the cooling strategies.

Another project that helped bring home the All-America title was the city’s microgrid. Some residents relocated to Chelsea after Hurricane Maria, which left areas of Puerto Rico without power for months in 2017. Having witnessed the devastating impacts of grid failure, those residents called for climate resilience and reliable energy. 

More Context

• A new project is helping Chelsea residents better understand their air quality (May 2025)  

• How one Massachusetts city came to bear environmental burden for the region (August 2017) 

• Chelsea residents already fight for clean air, green space — and now, protection from rising seas (June 2021)