The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

4119.0: Tuesday, November 12, 2002 - 1:00 PM

Abstract #51928

Bedford Stuyvesant Healthy Homes Initiative: A Community-Government-Academic Partnership to Control Environmental Hazards in the Home Environment

Susan Klitzman, DrPH1, Laura Rothenberg1, Jack Caravanos1, Rosario Vera2, Deborah Deitcher3, and Louise R. Cohen, MPH4. (1) Hunter College, 425 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, (212) 481-5155, sklitzma@hunter.cuny.edu, (2) Medical and Health Research Association of New York City, Inc., c/o 425 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, (3) New York City Department of Health, Community Health Works, c/o 425 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, (4) NYC Childhood Asthma Initiative, New York City Department of Health, 40 Worth Street, Room 1607, New York, NY 10013

The Bedford Stuyvesant Healthy Homes Initiative is a partnership of six community- based (CBO), government, and academic organizations, designed to increase landlords’, tenants’ and contractors’ capacity to control home environmental hazards. The focus is on reducing lead paint hazards, vermin, mold and injury hazards. Bedford Stuyvesant is a low-income, predominantly African-American community in Brooklyn, New York, with disproportionately high rates of childhood lead poisoning, asthma, residential fires and injuries. Seventy participating dwelling units are undergoing baseline environmental assessments, hazard remediation, and post-remediation assessments. The landlords and tenants of the targeted units are receiving free hazard training and remediation supplies, including a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter vacuum cleaner.

This presentation will summarize the findings, to date, on the prevalence of home environmental hazards and the effectiveness of remediation strategies in reducing them. It will also assess the progress and challenges in implementing the program. Among the issues to be considered are: 1) the critical role of CBO’s in project design, participant recruitment and data gathering; 2) barriers to reaching community participants and strategies for overcoming them; 3) obstacles faced by low-income property owners in maintaining their properties and the effectiveness of HHI in addressing them; 4) the benefits and challenges of multi-institution partnerships; and 5) the strengths and limitations of HHI in addressing the underlying problem of substandard housing.

Learning Objectives: At the end of this session, attendees will be able to

Keywords: Community-Based Partnership, Environmental Health Hazards

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Healthy Homes Projects on Asthma and Housing: Implementation, Outcomes, Policy Issues and Advocacy

The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA