"In Settegast, where the average person dies before retirement age, Black women battle environmental racism and a record increase in cost of living." 

"When Carolyn Rivera moved to Settegast, a majority-Black neighborhood in northeast Houston, 45 years ago, horses roamed the streets and nearly every homestead had a backyard farm where chickens and speckled feather guinea hens darted between rows of corn and greens. 

Rivera, who turns 83 next month, remembers those early days with a kind of wistful reverence. “It was absolutely a beautiful community,” she said. “Families looked out for one another. The land was a source of pride and sustenance.”

But as Rivera and other Black families put down roots, Settegast began to shift beneath their feet. 

Recent research, co-led by Black women researchers and conducted specifically with Black women residents, found that 80% of Black women in the neighborhood live in high-risk soil contamination zones, with 80% of those residents reporting chronic health conditions."

Adam Mahoney reports for Capital B July 22, 2025. [2]