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Map of Hartford. Click for a larger image. Progress in Hartford

 

The following outlines progress made over the past several years on each of the UEP's priority issues. The most recent achievements are listed first.
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Indoor Air Quality
Lead Poisoning
Ambient Air Quality
Urban Rivers/Wetlands
Urban Vacant Lots/Open Space
Community-Based Capacity Building

 
Indoor Air Quality
  • Capital Region Roundtable: convened an Asthma Policy Forum and Legislative Briefing to engage and educate the public and provide guidance to local policy makers to address the City's Asthma Emergency.

  • Photo of BEATHE information display.Completed 200 asthma health surveys in the Stowe Village housing projects which resulted in documentation that 25 percent of the residents had physician diagnosed asthma. (ONE CHANE, Inc.)

  • St. Francis Hospital opened an asthma clinic at Stowe Village, public housing complex. The need for the clinic became apparent after the results of the asthma health survey were completed. (ONE CHANE, Inc.)

  • Disseminated information on asthma triggers, testing and prevention to residents during workshops at the Hartford Earth Day Conference in May 1998. (CT DEP)

  • Conducting on-going education on asthma triggers to residents in North Hartford in collaboration with Building Parent Power. (ONE CHANE, Inc.)

  • Completed Integrated Pest Management inspections at all schools in seven neighborhoods. Inspections reports contained recommendations to minimize the use of pesticides and increase housekeeping activities aimed at reducing insect populations and other vectors. (CT DEP: Hartford Neighborhood Environmental Project)

  • Click here for indoor air quality educational "tools for schools."
Lead Poisoning
  • In partnership with the University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension community environmental educators (CEE) were trained in lead poisoning prevention and indoor air quality and presented to 37 childcare providers from fifteen sites. These providers represent 3,701 children in the city.

  • The UEP has assisted in the development of the CT Lead Hazard Awareness Coalition (CLHAC),whose mission is to promote healthy homes in Connecticut through the coordination of effective solutions for lead poisoning prevention. CLHAC's partners include the CT Commission on Children, U..S.EPA, CT Dept. of Economic & Community Development, CT Dept. of Public Health, Manchester Lead Abatement Program, City of Hartford Health Dept., Hartford Regional Lead Treatment Center, Hispanic Health Council, City of Hartford Dept. of Housing and Community Development, UCONN Cooperative Extension System, Urban League, Community Renewal Team

  • Developed a Training Manual on Lead Poisoning and Indoor Air Quality. UCONN has successfully completed the training of 10 Community Environmental Educators (CEE). CEE's have delivered training sessions in the community. (UCON Cooperative Extension System)

  • Four Community Environmental Educators have presented the Lead Poisoning Prevention Training to 37 child care providers from fifteen sites. These providers represent approximately 3,701 children in the city of Hartford. (UCONN CES and Hartford Health Dept.)

  • Produced a "train the trainer program" on Lead Poisoning Prevention and Indoor Air Quality in Hartford. (University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension System)

  • Developed a Training Manual for Day Care Centers on Lead Poisoning Prevention for Children. (University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension System)
Ambient Air Quality

Photo of assistance participants.

  • Community level efforts are underway to identify major air polluters, such as diesel trucks, that contribute to high levels of ozone and other toxics in the airshed.

  • Completed numerous assistance and compliance visits to small businesses and large institutional organizations in Hartford. (CT DEP)

  • Trained residents who live near the sewage treatment plant, the trash incinerator plant and the landfill to detect unusual odors and report the hazard immediately. (CSS/CON)

  • Conducted inspections at all auto body shops and dry cleaners in Hartford; provided technical assistance to small businesses on reducing their emissions. (CT DEP)

  • Committed to annually inspecting all major waste facilities which include the landfill, sewage treatment facility, refuse incinerator, and the recycling facility. (CT DEP)

  • Working with Trinity College and Hartford Hospital to discuss an integrated approach to their waste management operations given that they dispose of hazardous waste and some radio active wastes. (CT DEP)
Urban Rivers/Wetlands

  • Urban Greenway: Community efforts are underway to convert an overgrown area along the South Branch of the Park River into a productive urban greenway.

  • Organized neighborhood clean-ups and park and community garden restoration in Barry Square, Frog Hollow, Behind the Rocks, and South Green Neighborhoods. ( HART)

  • Developed new partnership with Riverfront Recapture to train summer youth water sports such as boating, fishing, and the adventure ropes course. (HART)

  • Fish advisories in the Connecticut river have been issued in several languages. (CT DEP and CT DPH)

  • Initiated Hartford's Storm Drain Stenciling Project to prevent dumping of waste and debris into the CT River. (CT DEP, MDC, City of Hartford)
Urban Vacant Lots/Open Space
Photo of an Earth Day press conference
Larry Charles of ONE/CHANE and Estella Knight of the City of Hartford Recycling Program at an Earth Day press conference on April 24th, 1999.
  • Knox Parks Foundation: reclaimed and converted a 2-acre vacant lot into a passive park and community garden.
  • Worked with the Hartford Redevelopment Agency to develop a vacant lot program which allows transfer of select urban lots to local residents.
  • Knox Parks Foundation: Chestnut Reclamation project, a brownfields site, completed Phase I and Phase II of the environmental assessment.
  • Hartford Areas Rally Together: vacant lots have been cleaned-up in three target communities.
  • Developed three new community gardens in partnership with the CT Prison Association and Hartford Department of Public Works. (ONE CHANE, Inc.)
  • Photo of initiation of community garden. Initiated a new community garden at the Dutch Point housing projects in cooperation with the Hartford Housing Authority. Residents are interested in expanding the garden. (Citizens Research Network)
  • Assisted in establishing Hartford Trees, an organization that will plant trees in urban areas in Hartford commemorating community leaders. (ONE CHANE, Inc., Knox Parks)
  • Completed Brownfield Targeted Site Assessment Report for the former North Hartford Car Wash site. Further actions on report recommendations for clean-up are still pending. (U.S. EPA - New England)
  • Photo of cleanup participants.In the process of turning a one-acre vacant lot on Chestnut Street into a multi-use green space, including a community garden, plant nursery, an outdoor environmental studies area for teachers and students of Quirk Middle School, and a production garden for House of Bread soup kitchen. Testing ( i.e., collection and analysis of soil samples) at the site was completed in March 1998. ( Knox Parks Foundation, ONE CHANE, INC., CT DEP)
  • Completed a study on Northeast Neighborhood Pocket Parks focusing on North Hartford to help document the important social impacts of developing community-based parks. (Central CT State University, & ONE CHANE)
Community-Based Capacity Building

  • Building Parent Power: developed and implemented a training program for neighborhood parents about environmental issues facing Hartford and created an action plan for priority issues.
  • Photo of roundtable discussion.Established the Capitol Region Environmental Roundtable made up of more the 25 public and private local regional stakeholders to address issues of responsible waste management, air quality, and water quality protection in the area. (ONE CHANE, INC.)

  • Connecticut Resource Recovery Authority (CRRA) is much more amenable to public involvement in the operations of Hartford Landfill than before UEP. In addition, CRRA has spent millions of dollars addressing issues that go beyond compliance with permit requirements, but are important to the enhanced quality of life for the community such as the new flare system to control odors and resident landfill tours. (ONE CHANE, INC.)

  • Helped establish the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice, composed of ten other neighborhood groups, civic, and business organizations in Hartford, Bridgeport, and New Haven. (ONE CHANE, INC.)

  • Facilitated the development of a Community Environmental Organizer position in Hartford to increase grassroots community involvement in Hartford environmental issues. Cynthia Jennings has been appointed by Carol Browner to the National Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (NEJAC).

  • Organized Televised Community Forums on the Hartford landfill expansion, the Northeast Utilities South Meadows Electric Generating Station. (ONE CHANE, INC.)

  • Developed the Community Project Advisory Committee, which includes community representatives from One Chane, Hart, and CSS/CON. (CT DEP)

  • Organized a youth radio show hosted by former Mayor Carrie Saxon Perry on WKND 1480 to discussed issues presented at the Air Pollution & Public Health Conference held in Boston.

  • Held UEP Community Grants Program Bidders Conference on April 9, 1998 in Hartford reaching 15 different non-profit organizations to provide information on new, competitive bid grant program. A total of 1,000 copies of the UEP 1998 Application was sent to stakeholders in Boston, Providence, & Hartford.

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