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1998 Hartford Grantees
Project Summaries
Hartford UEP grantees meeting.
City of Hartford Health Department
Project Title: Lead Poisoning Prevention Awareness Program
for Day Care Providers
In conjunction with the University of Connecticut Cooperative
Extension System, the Hartford Health Department will train
community environmental educators to provide lead poisoning
prevention education and materials to a minimum of fifty day
care providers in the City of Hartford. Day care centers are
chosen because they care for the highest risk-group for lead
poisoning, infants to 6-year olds, and because they have close
contact with parents. The Community Environmental Educators
will train day care providers on lead and lead poisoning,
as well as methods to communicate risks to parents. Each day
care center will be provided the manual What You Should Know
About Lead Poisoning: A Resource Manual for Child Care Providers,
in both English and Spanish.
Measures of Success: Post-training and follow-up of community educators; pre- and post-education questionnaires for day care centers.
EPA Partners: UConn Cooperative Extension System; Connecticut Department of Public Health.
Contact: Bryon Backenson, Hartford Health Department, 131 Coventry Street, Hartford CT 06112. Tel:(860) 547-1416 x.7008.
City of Hartford Health Department
Project Title: Environmental Data Assessment
The ongoing Environmental Data Assessment project, conducted
in partnership with several community organizations, addresses
the chronic lack of critical environmental health data necessary
to assess and improve community environmental health. Data
collected over the past two years include information on air
quality, drinking water, solid waste, food protection, and
hazardous substances. As the next step in this project, the
Health Department will work with its government and community
partners to share this data with the larger community. This
information dissemination includes an education piece to train
community residents to understand the data, as well as intensive
outreach to ensure that this education piece and the environmental
health data reach a broad spectrum of residents, and the development
multi-media dissemination pieces.
Measures of Success: Development of a plan to release and share compiled information; publications that provide and explain environmental health data; public forums and community meetings; broadcasts on public access television; publicity in city, state, and community newspapers, and in local television channels.
EPA Partners: ONE/CHANE; CSS/CON (Coalition to Strengthen the Sheldon/Charter Oak Neighborhood; South Arsenal Neighborhood Development Corporation; Hartford Areas Rally Together; CT Department of Environmental Protection; CT Department of Public Health.
Contact: Bryon Backenson, Hartford Health Department, 131 Coventry Street, Hartford CT 06112. Tel:(860) 547-1416 x.7008.
CT Department of Environmental
Protection
Project Title: Hartford Neighborhood Environmental Project
The goal of the Hartford Neighborhood Environmental project
is to enhance the economic opportunities and quality of life
in at least three disadvantaged Hartford neighborhoods, by
improving environmental awareness and compliance by residents,
small businesses, and institutions through education, outreach,
and compliance assurance. The State hopes that the active
participation of local community groups will facilitate promulgating
environmental information throughout the community and identifying
opportunities for compliance assistance and possible enforcement
actions. The project incorporates elements which are sector
based, multi-media based, and community based within the framework
of an urban ecosystem.
Measures of Success: Successfully executed 3 yearly Community Earth Day Conferences from 1996-1998 (environmental workshops attended by neighborhood members); Assisted in coordinating a Hartford city-wide Environmental Justice Tour in 1998 (neighborhood-organized tour identifying problem areas and facilitating access to assistance); Developed several Neighborhood Environmental Inventories (information exchange forums); Identified, inspected, and cleaned-up 100 illegal dump sites in the City of Hartford; Initiated recycling in a 90 unit cooperative housing project (worked with city recycling committee to ensure available resources); Integrated Pest Management Audits (conducted multi-media inspections throughout schools identifying pests, e.g., mice, roaches, etc.); Hosted Pollution Prevention Week Events on Air Quality Control Strategies (Open forum displaying alternative environmentally sound products, e.g., green cars).
EPA Partners: CSS/CON, SAND, HART and ONE CHANE.
Contact: Kim Trella 79 Elm St. Hartford, CT 06106. Tel. 860/424-3234
ONE/CHANE Inc.
Project Title: Environmental Education and Economic Development
ONE/CHANE Inc., a member organization formed in 1978, works
to "Rebuild North Hartford" within the framework of resident-driven
priority setting and decision-making. This project seeks to
promote economic development in Hartford communities through
the development and promotion of environmental employment
opportunities, job development, training and placement, and
environmental internships for youth and adults living in low-income
communities in Hartford. Through employment linkages between
community residents and major environmental stakeholders,
the project works to integrate environmental protection; economic
vitality and community well-being.
Measures of Success: Development of environmental internships; publication of environmental education columns in local newspapers; job fairs ane environmental employment informational forums; training sessions with local colleges; and coordination of job interviews for residents.
EPA Partners: Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice; Coalition to Strengthen Sheldon / Charter Oak Neighborhoods (CSS/CON).
Contact: Larry Charles, Executive Director, ONE/CHANE, 2065 Main Street, Hartford CT 06120. Tel:(860) 525-0190.
Hispanic Health Council
Project Title: Asthma Control and Education
The Hispanic Health Council works to improve the health and social well-being of Latino and other under-serve communities in Connecticut, and to reverse existing inadequacies in the quality, cultural sensitivity and accessibility of health care. The Asthma Control and Education project seeks to reduce the disproportionate number of asthma-related hospitalizations faced by Hispanic residents of Hartford, through direct community-based intervention. Its goals include patient-specific identification of asthma triggers and management techniques, in-home assessments of environmental triggers, ongoing community education, and coordination of relevant community services.
Measures of Success: Improvements in patients' functional capacity, improvement in status of their homes, increased utilization of preventive health care services, accompanied by decreases in emergency care and hospitalization, and involvement of collaborative community agencies.
EPA Partners: Hartford Hospital.
Contact: Rolando Martinez, Executive Director, Hispanic Health Council, 175 Main Street, Hartford CT 06106. Tel:(860) 527-0856.
Hartford Areas Rally Together (HART)
Proejct Title: Neighborhood Environmental Program
Hartford Areas Rally Together (HART), founded in 1975, trains
and supports residents of low-income neighborhoods in Hartford
to organize for improved housing, employment, youth development,
and overall community revitalization. The HART Neighborhood
Environmental Program will employ a comprehensive community
organizing approach to identify environmental problems and
develop strategies to restore and revitalize the environment
in the four HART neighborhoods with the worst environmental
situations. The project seeks to bring about a sustainable
improvement to the physical environment by developing a sense
of community investment in the environment, and will focus
on permanent revitalization in the areas of urban vacant/open
space and urban rivers.
Measures of Success: Environmental survey of community residents; activity and viability of a core leadership group comprised of neighborhood residents; participation in community events such as meetings, education forums, and clean-ups.
EPA Partners: Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, Southend Knight Riders Youth Center, Riverfront Recapture, Inc.
Contact: Tricia Carlson, HART, Inc., 227 Lawrence Street, Hartford CT 06106. Tel:(860) 525-3449.
ONE CHANE, INC.
Project Title: Capitol Region Environmental Roundtable
The ONE/CHANE Capitol Region Environmental Roundtable is an
informal partnership of government officials, business representatives,
industry representatives, educational institutions, community-based
organizations and residents throughout the Capitol Region
of Hartford. The Roundtable aims provide a forum for the identification
and evaluation of environmental justice issues of significance
in the Capitol Region, to serve as a voice for the community
in those environmental issues, and to promote economic development
within Hartford in conjunction with strategic environmental
and public health efforts.
Measures of Success: Monthly Roundtable planning meetings;
development of format for Good Neighbor Agreements; public
relations materials and media exposure; numbers and types
of participating organizations and individuals; attendance
at all events.
EPA Partners (incomplete list):
CT Coalition for Environmental Justice; Hartford Redevelopment
Agency; Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance; Black Men's
Society; UCONN CES; Hispanic Health Council; Toxics Action
Center; HUD; Northeast Utilities; Bristol Resources Recovery
Authority; Capitol Region Council of Governments; Connecticut
Citizen Action Group; Hartford Health Department; CT Health
Department; CT Department of Environmental Protection; CT
Department of Transportation; Citizen's Energy Network; HART;
CSS/CON.
Contact: Larry Charles, Executive Director, ONE/CHANE, 2065 Main Street, Hartford CT 06120. Tel:(860) 525-0190.
Larry Charles, Executive Director of One/Chane
(center), with Edith Pestana of the CT Department of Environmental
Protection and Kevin Hood of the City of Hartford Health Department.
Christian Activities Council
Project Title: Environmental Justice Training for Inner
City Children
The Christian Activities Council will develop a five-week environmental justice curriculum for children in grades K-6, to be taught to 300 children during the summer of 1999. The goal of the curriculum is to combine academic skill development with a study of environmental justice issues so that children and their parents are prepared to become advocates for environmental justice. Academic projects will be developed that use reading, writing, and math skills to introduce children to the concept of environmental pollution, the science of its creation and dissemination, its impact on public health and the community, and strategies for tackling these problems. The curriculum will be written by a coalition of public, private, government, community, and education organizations, thereby improving their own communication and coordination.
Measures of Success: Activity of Project Advisory Group; completion of curriculum research and writing; presence of creative and hands-on activities in the curriculum; pre- and post-education tests of students;
EPA Partners: Metropolitan District Commission, EnviroScience, Adventures in the City, ONE/CHANE, Hartford Areas Rally Together (HART), Ecumenical Education Program.
Contact: Edwin Ayala, 47 Vine St. Hartford, CT 06112 . Tel. 860/527-9860
ONE/CHANE
Project Title: Hartford Trash Incinerator Air Toxin Reduction
Program (EJP2)
The Air Toxin Reduction Program seeks to reduce the emission of air toxins from trash incinerators in Hartford, through community review of incinerators, and public education to reduce the presence of toxin-generating products in the waste stream, and efforts to reduce diesel emissions from trash trucks. A committee comprised of partner organizations will analyze industrial waste entering incinerators for potential toxicity, and facilitate meetings between industry, state agencies, technical consultants and community residents to discuss ways to reduce toxic waste and health risks. This committee will also work to reduce hazardous materials entering the waste stream from the four regional hospitals in Hartford, and encourage hospitals to implement a pollution prevention program. The final objective is to document and reduce air pollution from diesel emissions of trucks transporting waste to the trash incinerators.
Measures of Success: Reduction in levels of targeted toxins; Pre- and post- education testing of community partners for knowledge of air toxins and health; Interview of partners; participation of community members; Publicity of campaign in local media; Signing of Good Neighbor Agreements by industries and hospitals.
EPA Partners: Hartford Coalition for Environmental Justice (HART, CSS/CON, ONE/CHANE), Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice; Mitchell Health Consultants; Tellus Institute; Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection; Building Parent Power; North Hartford Seniors in Action; ConnectiCOSH; Connecticut Health Department.
Contact: Dr. Mark Mitchell, Mitchell Consultants P.O. Box 1421 Hartford, CT 06143. Tel. 860/548-1133