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Statement Of Raymond Adrian
Environmental Protection Agency
Aging Initiative Public Listening Session
Tampa, Florida
April 3, 2003
Raymond Adrian
Senior Aides Program
Miami Beach Community Development Corporation
Senior Aides Program
Miami Beach Community Development Corporation
"SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT TODAY FOR THE WORLD TOMORROW"
My name is Raymond Adrian and I direct the Senior Aides Program at the Miami Beach Community Development Corporation. Our program places low-income seniors in subsidized community service jobs in our community and assists them in readying themselves for unsubsidized employment and in identifying that employment.
Thank you for being here in Florida to ask our input on this important EPA initiative. We are happy to see that the EPA recognizes the importance of environmental issues to our aging population, their interest in making this a better world and the need to tailor your actions and programs to seniors
Hialeah is one of the biggest industrial areas in South Florida. This is where we send a great deal of our seniors to work from our senior program here in Miami Beach. Our type of program helps to train and educate the public as to the environment and the many concerns of living and working in this area.
There is a vast population in this area of Miami and Miami Beach also. Many concerns affect the older population including pollution, which is brought about by the continual flow of automobiles and city construction. Dirt and dust are very prevalent and a health hazard to older Americans. We need more people who are trained to help in many areas.
We have a youth group that is affiliated with the senior program. They go around town picking up trash and pollutant materials, and they also clean out the canals, rivers and ocean beach areas from time to time. There are many visitors from foreign regions and a lot of immigrants here that are of our concern.
We are very much interested in the environment and our aging population. However, we would like to learn of more ways that we might be able to help and how we could receive the training for our needs here.
As a partner with Senior Service America, we support their work and hope that the efforts they are supporting in environmental programs in our community and around the country might be expanded so that even more older Americans might be able to show their commitment to saving the environment for today and for the world tomorrow.
Thank You
Raymond Adrian