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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

John Spengler, PhD¹, Jonathan Levy, ScD¹, H. Patricia Hynes, MS, MA², Doug Brugge³, Kate Bennett⁴, Margaret Reid⁵, Laura Bradeen⁶, Mae Bradley⁷, Kim Vermeer⁸, and John Snell⁹. (1) Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, P.O. Box 15677, Landmark 406 WEST, Boston, MA 02215, 617-384-8810, jarnold@hsph.harvard.edu, (2) School of Public Health, Boston University, 715 Albany St., Talbot 2 East, Boston, MA 02118, (3) Department of Public Health and Family Medicine, Tufts University, 136 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02111, (4) Boston Housing Authority, 52 Chauncy Street, Boston, MA 02111, (5) Boston Public Health Commission, 1010 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, MA 02118, (6) West Broadway Task Force, Inc., 135 Orton Marotta Way, #5036, South Boston, MA 02127, (7) Executive Director, Committee for Boston Public Housing, 100 Terrace Street, Suite B, Roxbury, MA 02120, (8) Urban Habitat Initiatives, 77 N. Washington St., 6th Floor, Boston, MA 02114, (9) Peregrine Energy, 77 North Washington St., Boston, MA 02114

(for the session "Coordinating the Environmental Health Research Aims and Methods of Scientists and Affected Communities" organized by Howard Hu)

The Healthy Public Housing Initiative (HPHI) is a multi-year program to improve the health of Boston public housing residents, especially children with asthma. The project goals were to understand current home environmental conditions in the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) developments, to implement interventions that improve environmental conditions related to health, especially asthma; to measure the health and quality of life impacts of those interventions on children and caregivers; and to empower residents through training and employment as Community Health Advocates. In addition, HPHI has used evidence gathered from project activities to help affect change in practices at the BHA and other housing authorities as well as to influence health and housing policy to promote healthier housing for public housing residents. HPHI has operated as a collaborative among city agencies, tenant associations and academic researchers: Partners are the Boston Housing Authority, the Boston Public Health Commission, the Committee for Boston Public Housing, the West Broadway Tenant Task Force, the Franklin Hill Tenant Task Force, and three schools of public health at Boston University, Harvard University and Tufts University, along with energy and housing specialists. HPHI was funded by HUD's Healthy Housing Initiative, as well as grants from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Boston Foundation, the Jessie B. Cox Charitable Trust and the Ford Foundation.

Learning Objectives: By the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to

(
• Discuss the need to have a dynamic organizational structure capable of responding to inevitable challenges that are present in complex community-based projects; (
• Identify the qualities needed for a functional multi-partner community-based research organization; and (
• Evaluate critical conditions that may threaten the success of community-based research.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No