TRBHealth

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1153 discussions

by Nicole Iroz Elardo

Marc, Sure. (And yes, exploited was an ironic choice given the civil rights angle, but not particularly intentional word.) Although I will say it is unclear to me if you are asking how *I* personally know or how the field knows. I'll assume it is the latter - that you are asking "what does HIA add to a planning process that is not already there and how do we know it helps vulnerable communities." HIA is far from perfect and not appropriate for every situation, but it has a valid claim that and HIA augments the current planning process to allow for more informed decisions. Public health professionals generally view planning as inadequately addressing human health or health equity even though disparities in human health are well-documented as are both social and built-environment factors leading to those disparities. HIA uses this population-based health evidence to identify intended and unintended health consequences of proposed plans/projects/policies. It aims to maximize health overall and decrease health disparities for vulnerable communities - a decision-making frame that planners do not necessarily use as they are balancing all sorts of interests in addition to health. But it is a useful frame, particularly in a social justice situation. Transportation planners believe that they protect human health through NEPA, but the reality is that NEPA has been institutionalized to identify exposure concentrations in the physical environment and rarely makes it all the way to human health or to addressing some of the more indirect health pathways. I believe that the humanizing factor is a pretty big deal. Additionally, HIA - particularly when it is outside the regulatory planning/environmental process - starts from a place of identifying ALL possible paths to human health. All paths means even things outside of the defined alternatives - very similar to some traditional EJ work. So an HIA may point out mitigation measures for factors, design features, or the lack thereof that planners have dismissed as impractical or too expensive, etc. In some cases, it might suggest that planners need to go back to the alternatives definitions and rework. One place where HIA may augment traditional EJ for advocating for justice is in its ability to provide a stakeholder/decision-making framework to deliberate about competing health concerns. An example from my dissertation is the Lake Merritt BART Station Area plan. When planning for zoning for transit-oriented development, what health consideration is the very-low-income Asian community most concerned about? affordable housing? losing the park used for Tai Chi? air pollution? culturally specific food? culturally specific public space? all of it? If the community has to choose, then what? Where to put advocacy efforts? HIA, by tracing those pathways organizes and provides communities an evidence-base by which to deliberate the various pathways and which has the most impact on health. It can then guide/augment EJ efforts. Finally, HIA has health equity as one of a handful of explicit values. This is completely congruent with EJ values and efforts. What is different, however, is the ability of public health professionals to articulate that value using professional/academic knowledge and increasingly modeled information. I'd also argue that HIA, with its flexibility, may be more useful than a traditional EJ approach to health equity in the policy arena because EJ sometimes struggles when addressing spatially diffuse issues. That said, HIA is a process and product that is centered around information. HIA documents advocate for human health but will not advocate for a specific outcome/alternative. That is left up to the actual community to use the HIA information to advocate in an inherently political planning process. In sum, a good HIA will augment EJ efforts by outlining where intentional and unintentional health effects and health disparities are likely to occur with a public decision. This is a good thing and doesn't have to be an either/or. HIA should tell you where the health problems are and identifies specific human health indicators that might be useful arguing for and monitoring the legal aspects of civil rights and EJ. Again, a win for vulnerable communities. ~Nicole Nicole Iroz-Elardo, PhD Portland State University irozelardo(a)yahoo.com > From: mbrenman001(a)comcast.net [mailto:mbrenman001@comcast.net] > Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2014 2:17 PM > To: TRB Health and Transportation; nicole.iroz-elardo(a)state.or.us > Subject: Re: [H+T--Friends] HIA Webinar > > Thanks, Nicole, can you tell us more about this: "HIA processes and products engage the notion of equity in ways that are currently not exploited in planning and EJ circles"? How do you know what is "exploited" [an odd choice of words!] in planning and EJ circles? > Marc Brenman > mbrenman001(a)comcast.net > > From: "Iroz-Elardo Nicole" <nicole.iroz-elardo(a)state.or.us> > To: "h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net" <h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net> > Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2014 1:17:01 PM > Subject: Re: [H+T--Friends] HIA Webinar > > Hi all. I am the presenter of the HIA webinar being discussed. It is hosted by IBPI which is associated with OTREC and Portland State University - my doctoral institution. It is an offshoot of lessons learned from both my doctoral research and time as an HIA practitioner. My doctoral research takes a broad look at transportation planning, so the webinar will not be bike/ped specific. The webinar was initiated because OTREC provided some doctoral support for the research and this seemed like a good avenue to distribute practice-related findings. This particular webinar will address the wide variation within and between disciplines about meaning, definitions, and methods associated with concepts such as health, equity, and engagement; this often result in conflicts between and within professions mid-HIA due to inappropriate expectations of HIA. > > Regarding the statements about social and environmental justice... While my doctoral research does not address civil rights law directly, it is a critique of the extent to which HIA proclaims itself participatory and thus protective of community. HIA assumes that there is value in stakeholder/collaborative engagement; it is an offshoot of what is currently termed "health in all policies" approach in public health which suggests any time you can bring public health evidence in for public consideration, decision-makers are more likely to make a more informed and thus healthier public decision. But make no mistake, HIA is generally informed by a stakeholder process engaging in an even broader stakeholder process. Because of that, all the caveats in the literature about power and stakeholder/collaborative processes apply; stakeholder processes are easily co-opted and are highly dependent on representation, timing, and good facilitation to address power structures. HIA, while! > committed in theory to good process, is still in its infancy in defining and bounding engagement. And community driven HIAs are relatively rare in the U.S. > > My research shows that the social justice and community aspects of HIA practice are less a result of stakeholder/participation formats and more a function of explicit HIA values such as a commitment to health equity and broad determinants of health. Through these values, public health professionals are able to identify and advocate for underserved or unorganized communities - particularly in spatially-based plans. It is also important to realize that public health professionals engage in HIAs because they do not see the current NEPA regulatory and federal/state legal structures do not go far enough to protect population health and health equity. And HIA processes and products engage the notion of equity in ways that are currently not exploited in planning and EJ circles - a likely win for vulnerable communities. So HIA may not explicitly address civil rights law (certainly true in most U.S. HIAs), but it engages in the notion of health disparities and thus health, socia! > l, and environmental equity. > > The dissertation employs a case-study approach; two of the three cases are HIAs that are centered around non-English EJ populations in the U.S. and thus might be of particular interest to some commenters. It is a reasonably interesting read for a dissertation and publically available through OTREC at http://otrec.us/project/715. > > Fun to see this being discussed! Hope to have some of you on the webinar on July 16th.http://otrec.us/events/entry/health_impact_assessment_hia_in_transportation_planning > > ~Nicole > > Nicole Iroz-Elardo, PhD > Portland State University > irozelardo(a)yahoo.com > > -----Original Message----- > From: h+t--friends-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:h+t--friends-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Ofh+t--friends-request(a)chrispy.net > Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2014 10:00 AM > To: h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net > Subject: H+T--Friends Digest, Vol 38, Issue 5 > > Send H+T--Friends mailing list submissions to > h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://www.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/h+t--friends > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > h+t--friends-request(a)chrispy.net > > You can reach the person managing the list at > h+t--friends-owner(a)chrispy.net > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of H+T--Friends digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: H+T--Friends Digest, Vol 38, Issue 4 - HIA (Mindell, Jenny) > 2. Re: H+T--Friends Digest, Vol 38, Issue 4 - HIA > (mbrenman001(a)comcast.net) > 3. David Ragland Profiled for Robert Wood Johnson Foundation > Safe Routes to Schools work (Phyllis ORRICK) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 08:58:44 +0000 > From: "Mindell, Jenny" <j.mindell(a)ucl.ac.uk> > Subject: Re: [H+T--Friends] H+T--Friends Digest, Vol 38, Issue 4 - HIA > To: "h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net" <h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net> > Message-ID: > <7354587cd221478c8333e68518d1a139(a)DB3PR01MB331.eurprd01.prod.exchangelabs.com> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > We may like the concept of evidence-based decision-making but being realistic, political (including planning) decisions are based on a whole range of things. > So most people now aim for 'evidence-informed decision-making', for which HIA is well-suited. > It would be daft to think that planners (or others in local, regional or national government) consider only health when making their decisions. > But the more that the decision-makers are involved with the HIA process, the more likely they are to engage with the recommendations produced. > And I am very surprised by the statement that public health professionals are unaware of social equity or civil rights. Certainly not the case in the UK. And HIA, as accepted across Europe and I thought worldwide, considers both the health impacts and their distribution across the population. > > > Dr Jennifer Mindell > Clinical senior lecturer > Health and Social Surveys Research Group Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health UCL > 1-19 Torrington Place > London WC1E 6BT > > Tel. 020 7679 1269 (Internal x41269) > Survey doctor: 07770-537238 > Fax 020 7813 0242 > Email: j.mindell(a)ucl.ac.uk > Web: IRIS web page > > Journal of Transport and Health: www.elsevier.com/locate/jth > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2014 12:29:58 +0000 (UTC) > From: mbrenman001(a)comcast.net > Subject: Re: [H+T--Friends] webinar on Health Impact Assessment (HIA) > in Transportation Planning > To: TRB Health and Transportation <h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net> > Message-ID: > <648017716.8220462.1402144198106.JavaMail.root(a)comcast.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Who is putting on this webinar? It appears to be something called IBPI. "The Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation is an exciting center for research and learning that is focused on bicycle and pedestrian travel. IBPI?s aim is to advance bicycling and walking as integral elements of the transportation system in Oregon?s communities." Where's the neutrality and objectivity? > > In regard to this statement, "Health impact assessment (HIA) has emerged in the U.S. as a promising way to increase social and environmental justice by addressing health equity within transportation planning," much HIA work does not adequately address social equity and EJ issues. For example, HIA's rarely address Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the environmental justice executive order. They rarely contain legal concepts at all. HIA's are usually conducted by public health people, who have no background in social equity or civil rights. They often perform with an environmentalist bias (see "bicycle innovation" above), which often is in tension with the needs of low income communities and communities of color. > > As to this, "It also augments community and stakeholder engagement by providing a forum - usually through an advisory committee - where stakeholders can identify and deliberate about health interests related to the target plan. While HIA advisory committees are diverse by design," much HIA work is conducted solely in English, and the limited English proficiency needs of various demographic groups are not addressed. Another concern with "advisory committees" is that fact that they only provide "advice" which the "planning" entity is not obligated to pay any attention to. A colleague who leads an immigration advocacy group told me a couple of years ago, "I no longer serve on advisory committees because they don't make policy or control anything." > > Marc Brenman > mbrenman001(a)comcast.net > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 18:08:33 +0000 (UTC) > From: mbrenman001(a)comcast.net > Subject: Re: [H+T--Friends] H+T--Friends Digest, Vol 38, Issue 4 - HIA > To: TRB Health and Transportation <h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net> > Cc: j.mindell(a)ucl.ac.uk > Message-ID: > <1533380969.350750.1402423713482.JavaMail.root(a)comcast.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Here's what I said: "HIA's rarely address Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the environmental justice executive order. They rarely contain legal concepts at all. HIA's are usually conducted by public health people, who have no background in social equity or civil rights. They often perform with an environmentalist bias...much HIA work is conducted solely in English, and the limited English proficiency needs of various demographic groups are not addressed." My comments were focused on the US, where the webinar under discussion is occurring. But prove me wrong in the UK. Quote some HIAs in the UK that discuss the Equality Act (which is under fire in the UK by the Conservative Party) or the equivalent, and environmental justice, and use the languages preferred by demographic groups. This is more than "awareness," since awareness doesn't cure much of anything. I'll be happy to be proved wrong and would love to use those good HIA examples. > > In recent work with The City Project in Los Angeles, as funded by the California Endowment, we observed that even those public health organizations and medical professionals who work with minority health disparities rarely engage civil rights law to help solve the challenges. Various professions just seem stuck in their silos. And don't get me started on trying to use epidemiologists as witnesses in environmental just cases. I've never found one who would testify that X environmental insult caused Y adverse effect on a given minority or low income community. They insist upon a scientific standard of proof, which is way higher than the administrative civil rights standard of proof of a preponderance of the evidence. > Marc Brenman > mbrenman001(a)comcast.net > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Jenny Mindell" <j.mindell(a)ucl.ac.uk> > To: h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net > Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2014 1:58:44 AM > Subject: Re: [H+T--Friends] H+T--Friends Digest, Vol 38, Issue 4 - HIA > > We may like the concept of evidence-based decision-making but being realistic, political (including planning) decisions are based on a whole range of things. > So most people now aim for 'evidence-informed decision-making', for which HIA is well-suited. > It would be daft to think that planners (or others in local, regional or national government) consider only health when making their decisions. > But the more that the decision-makers are involved with the HIA process, the more likely they are to engage with the recommendations produced. > And I am very surprised by the statement that public health professionals are unaware of social equity or civil rights. Certainly not the case in the UK. And HIA, as accepted across Europe and I thought worldwide, considers both the health impacts and their distribution across the population. > > > Dr Jennifer Mindell > Clinical senior lecturer > Health and Social Surveys Research Group Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health UCL > 1-19 Torrington Place > London WC1E 6BT > > Tel. 020 7679 1269 (Internal x41269) > Survey doctor: 07770-537238 > Fax 020 7813 0242 > Email: j.mindell(a)ucl.ac.uk > Web: IRIS web page > > Journal of Transport and Health: www.elsevier.com/locate/jth > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2014 12:29:58 +0000 (UTC) > From: mbrenman001(a)comcast.net > Subject: Re: [H+T--Friends] webinar on Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in Transportation Planning > To: TRB Health and Transportation <h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net> > Message-ID: > <648017716.8220462.1402144198106.JavaMail.root(a)comcast.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Who is putting on this webinar? It appears to be something called IBPI. "The Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation is an exciting center for research and learning that is focused on bicycle and pedestrian travel. IBPI?s aim is to advance bicycling and walking as integral elements of the transportation system in Oregon?s communities." Where's the neutrality and objectivity? > > In regard to this statement, "Health impact assessment (HIA) has emerged in the U.S. as a promising way to increase social and environmental justice by addressing health equity within transportation planning," much HIA work does not adequately address social equity and EJ issues. For example, HIA's rarely address Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the environmental justice executive order. They rarely contain legal concepts at all. HIA's are usually conducted by public health people, who have no background in social equity or civil rights. They often perform with an environmentalist bias (see "bicycle innovation" above), which often is in tension with the needs of low income communities and communities of color. > > As to this, "It also augments community and stakeholder engagement by providing a forum - usually through an advisory committee - where stakeholders can identify and deliberate about health interests related to the target plan. While HIA advisory committees are diverse by design," much HIA work is conducted solely in English, and the limited English proficiency needs of various demographic groups are not addressed. Another concern with "advisory committees" is that fact that they only provide "advice" which the "planning" entity is not obligated to pay any attention to. A colleague who leads an immigration advocacy group told me a couple of years ago, "I no longer serve on advisory committees because they don't make policy or control anything." > > Marc Brenman > mbrenman001(a)comcast.net > > > _______________________________________________ > H+T--Friends mailing list > H+T--Friends(a)chrispy.net > https://www.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/h+t--friends > >

11 years, 9 months

Re: [H+T--Friends] HIA Webinar

by Iroz-Elardo Nicole

Hi all. I am the presenter of the HIA webinar being discussed. It is hosted by IBPI which is associated with OTREC and Portland State University - my doctoral institution. It is an offshoot of lessons learned from both my doctoral research and time as an HIA practitioner. My doctoral research takes a broad look at transportation planning, so the webinar will not be bike/ped specific. The webinar was initiated because OTREC provided some doctoral support for the research and this seemed like a good avenue to distribute practice-related findings. This particular webinar will address the wide variation within and between disciplines about meaning, definitions, and methods associated with concepts such as health, equity, and engagement; this often result in conflicts between and within professions mid-HIA due to inappropriate expectations of HIA. Regarding the statements about social and environmental justice... While my doctoral research does not address civil rights law directly, it is a critique of the extent to which HIA proclaims itself participatory and thus protective of community. HIA assumes that there is value in stakeholder/collaborative engagement; it is an offshoot of what is currently termed "health in all policies" approach in public health which suggests any time you can bring public health evidence in for public consideration, decision-makers are more likely to make a more informed and thus healthier public decision. But make no mistake, HIA is generally informed by a stakeholder process engaging in an even broader stakeholder process. Because of that, all the caveats in the literature about power and stakeholder/collaborative processes apply; stakeholder processes are easily co-opted and are highly dependent on representation, timing, and good facilitation to address power structures. HIA, while committed in theory to good process, is still in its infancy in defining and bounding engagement. And community driven HIAs are relatively rare in the U.S. My research shows that the social justice and community aspects of HIA practice are less a result of stakeholder/participation formats and more a function of explicit HIA values such as a commitment to health equity and broad determinants of health. Through these values, public health professionals are able to identify and advocate for underserved or unorganized communities - particularly in spatially-based plans. It is also important to realize that public health professionals engage in HIAs because they do not see the current NEPA regulatory and federal/state legal structures do not go far enough to protect population health and health equity. And HIA processes and products engage the notion of equity in ways that are currently not exploited in planning and EJ circles - a likely win for vulnerable communities. So HIA may not explicitly address civil rights law (certainly true in most U.S. HIAs), but it engages in the notion of health disparities and thus health, social, and environmental equity. The dissertation employs a case-study approach; two of the three cases are HIAs that are centered around non-English EJ populations in the U.S. and thus might be of particular interest to some commenters. It is a reasonably interesting read for a dissertation and publically available through OTREC at http://otrec.us/project/715. Fun to see this being discussed! Hope to have some of you on the webinar on July 16th. http://otrec.us/events/entry/health_impact_assessment_hia_in_transportation… ~Nicole Nicole Iroz-Elardo, PhD Portland State University irozelardo(a)yahoo.com -----Original Message----- From: h+t--friends-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:h+t--friends-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of h+t--friends-request(a)chrispy.net Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2014 10:00 AM To: h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net Subject: H+T--Friends Digest, Vol 38, Issue 5 Send H+T--Friends mailing list submissions to h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://www.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/h+t--friends or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to h+t--friends-request(a)chrispy.net You can reach the person managing the list at h+t--friends-owner(a)chrispy.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of H+T--Friends digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: H+T--Friends Digest, Vol 38, Issue 4 - HIA (Mindell, Jenny) 2. Re: H+T--Friends Digest, Vol 38, Issue 4 - HIA (mbrenman001(a)comcast.net) 3. David Ragland Profiled for Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Safe Routes to Schools work (Phyllis ORRICK) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 08:58:44 +0000 From: "Mindell, Jenny" <j.mindell(a)ucl.ac.uk> Subject: Re: [H+T--Friends] H+T--Friends Digest, Vol 38, Issue 4 - HIA To: "h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net" <h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net> Message-ID: <7354587cd221478c8333e68518d1a139(a)DB3PR01MB331.eurprd01.prod.exchangelabs.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" We may like the concept of evidence-based decision-making but being realistic, political (including planning) decisions are based on a whole range of things. So most people now aim for 'evidence-informed decision-making', for which HIA is well-suited. It would be daft to think that planners (or others in local, regional or national government) consider only health when making their decisions. But the more that the decision-makers are involved with the HIA process, the more likely they are to engage with the recommendations produced. And I am very surprised by the statement that public health professionals are unaware of social equity or civil rights. Certainly not the case in the UK. And HIA, as accepted across Europe and I thought worldwide, considers both the health impacts and their distribution across the population. Dr Jennifer Mindell Clinical senior lecturer Health and Social Surveys Research Group Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health UCL 1-19 Torrington Place London WC1E 6BT Tel. 020 7679 1269 (Internal x41269) Survey doctor: 07770-537238 Fax 020 7813 0242 Email: j.mindell(a)ucl.ac.uk Web: IRIS web page Journal of Transport and Health: www.elsevier.com/locate/jth ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2014 12:29:58 +0000 (UTC) From: mbrenman001(a)comcast.net Subject: Re: [H+T--Friends] webinar on Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in Transportation Planning To: TRB Health and Transportation <h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net> Message-ID: <648017716.8220462.1402144198106.JavaMail.root(a)comcast.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Who is putting on this webinar? It appears to be something called IBPI. "The Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation is an exciting center for research and learning that is focused on bicycle and pedestrian travel. IBPI?s aim is to advance bicycling and walking as integral elements of the transportation system in Oregon?s communities." Where's the neutrality and objectivity? In regard to this statement, "Health impact assessment (HIA) has emerged in the U.S. as a promising way to increase social and environmental justice by addressing health equity within transportation planning," much HIA work does not adequately address social equity and EJ issues. For example, HIA's rarely address Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the environmental justice executive order. They rarely contain legal concepts at all. HIA's are usually conducted by public health people, who have no background in social equity or civil rights. They often perform with an environmentalist bias (see "bicycle innovation" above), which often is in tension with the needs of low income communities and communities of color. As to this, "It also augments community and stakeholder engagement by providing a forum - usually through an advisory committee - where stakeholders can identify and deliberate about health interests related to the target plan. While HIA advisory committees are diverse by design," much HIA work is conducted solely in English, and the limited English proficiency needs of various demographic groups are not addressed. Another concern with "advisory committees" is that fact that they only provide "advice" which the "planning" entity is not obligated to pay any attention to. A colleague who leads an immigration advocacy group told me a couple of years ago, "I no longer serve on advisory committees because they don't make policy or control anything." Marc Brenman mbrenman001(a)comcast.net ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 18:08:33 +0000 (UTC) From: mbrenman001(a)comcast.net Subject: Re: [H+T--Friends] H+T--Friends Digest, Vol 38, Issue 4 - HIA To: TRB Health and Transportation <h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net> Cc: j.mindell(a)ucl.ac.uk Message-ID: <1533380969.350750.1402423713482.JavaMail.root(a)comcast.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Here's what I said: "HIA's rarely address Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the environmental justice executive order. They rarely contain legal concepts at all. HIA's are usually conducted by public health people, who have no background in social equity or civil rights. They often perform with an environmentalist bias...much HIA work is conducted solely in English, and the limited English proficiency needs of various demographic groups are not addressed." My comments were focused on the US, where the webinar under discussion is occurring. But prove me wrong in the UK. Quote some HIAs in the UK that discuss the Equality Act (which is under fire in the UK by the Conservative Party) or the equivalent, and environmental justice, and use the languages preferred by demographic groups. This is more than "awareness," since awareness doesn't cure much of anything. I'll be happy to be proved wrong and would love to use those good HIA examples. In recent work with The City Project in Los Angeles, as funded by the California Endowment, we observed that even those public health organizations and medical professionals who work with minority health disparities rarely engage civil rights law to help solve the challenges. Various professions just seem stuck in their silos. And don't get me started on trying to use epidemiologists as witnesses in environmental just cases. I've never found one who would testify that X environmental insult caused Y adverse effect on a given minority or low income community. They insist upon a scientific standard of proof, which is way higher than the administrative civil rights standard of proof of a preponderance of the evidence. Marc Brenman mbrenman001(a)comcast.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jenny Mindell" <j.mindell(a)ucl.ac.uk> To: h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2014 1:58:44 AM Subject: Re: [H+T--Friends] H+T--Friends Digest, Vol 38, Issue 4 - HIA We may like the concept of evidence-based decision-making but being realistic, political (including planning) decisions are based on a whole range of things. So most people now aim for 'evidence-informed decision-making', for which HIA is well-suited. It would be daft to think that planners (or others in local, regional or national government) consider only health when making their decisions. But the more that the decision-makers are involved with the HIA process, the more likely they are to engage with the recommendations produced. And I am very surprised by the statement that public health professionals are unaware of social equity or civil rights. Certainly not the case in the UK. And HIA, as accepted across Europe and I thought worldwide, considers both the health impacts and their distribution across the population. Dr Jennifer Mindell Clinical senior lecturer Health and Social Surveys Research Group Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health UCL 1-19 Torrington Place London WC1E 6BT Tel. 020 7679 1269 (Internal x41269) Survey doctor: 07770-537238 Fax 020 7813 0242 Email: j.mindell(a)ucl.ac.uk Web: IRIS web page Journal of Transport and Health: www.elsevier.com/locate/jth ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2014 12:29:58 +0000 (UTC) From: mbrenman001(a)comcast.net Subject: Re: [H+T--Friends] webinar on Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in Transportation Planning To: TRB Health and Transportation <h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net> Message-ID: <648017716.8220462.1402144198106.JavaMail.root(a)comcast.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Who is putting on this webinar? It appears to be something called IBPI. "The Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation is an exciting center for research and learning that is focused on bicycle and pedestrian travel. IBPI?s aim is to advance bicycling and walking as integral elements of the transportation system in Oregon?s communities." Where's the neutrality and objectivity? In regard to this statement, "Health impact assessment (HIA) has emerged in the U.S. as a promising way to increase social and environmental justice by addressing health equity within transportation planning," much HIA work does not adequately address social equity and EJ issues. For example, HIA's rarely address Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the environmental justice executive order. They rarely contain legal concepts at all. HIA's are usually conducted by public health people, who have no background in social equity or civil rights. They often perform with an environmentalist bias (see "bicycle innovation" above), which often is in tension with the needs of low income communities and communities of color. As to this, "It also augments community and stakeholder engagement by providing a forum - usually through an advisory committee - where stakeholders can identify and deliberate about health interests related to the target plan. While HIA advisory committees are diverse by design," much HIA work is conducted solely in English, and the limited English proficiency needs of various demographic groups are not addressed. Another concern with "advisory committees" is that fact that they only provide "advice" which the "planning" entity is not obligated to pay any attention to. A colleague who leads an immigration advocacy group told me a couple of years ago, "I no longer serve on advisory committees because they don't make policy or control anything." Marc Brenman mbrenman001(a)comcast.net _______________________________________________ H+T--Friends mailing list H+T--Friends(a)chrispy.net https://www.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/h+t--friends

11 years, 9 months

[H+T--Friends] David Ragland Profiled for Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Safe Routes to Schools work

by Phyllis ORRICK

Hi all, Here is an item with link to a lengthy profile of SafeTREC Director David Ragland and our team research on health and safety effects of Safe Routes to School. Best, Phyllis http://safetrec.berkeley.edu/content/david-ragland-rwj-profile SafeTREC's David Ragland Profiled by RWJ's Active Living Program In an article titled "Safe Routes to School Examined: How Structural Changes Around Schools Affect Children's Mobility and Safety: A Profile of Active Living Research Investigator David R. Ragland, PhD, MPH," the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Active Living Research program discusses the origins of SafeTREC director and founder David Ragland's work in traffic safety in general and his and SafeTREC researchers' series of studies evaluating various effects of Safe Routes to School projects, including: - Safe Routes to School Safety & Mobility Analysis <http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/5455454c> - Ten Years Later: Examining the Long-Term Impact of the California Safe Routes to School Program <http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/8m59g6vx> (presented at TRB 2014 Annual Meeting) Links Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Profiles David Ragland for Safe Routes to School <http://www.rwjf.org/en/about-rwjf/newsroom/newsroom-content/2014/06/safe-ro…> -- Phyllis Orrick Communications Director Safe Transportation Research and Education Center <http://www.safetrec.berkeley.edu/> (SafeTREC) 2614 Dwight Way UC Berkeley Berkeley CA 94720-7374 510-643-1779 @transsafe <https://twitter.com/#%21/transsafe> @trbhealth <https://twitter.com/#%21/trbhealth> Skype: pmorrick

11 years, 9 months

[H+T--Friends] New webinar on Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in Transportation Planning

by Eloisa Raynault

A Free webinar on Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in Transportation Planning: What to Expect From Planning and Public Health Stakeholders is planned for Wednesday, July 16, 2014 from 10:00 AM - 11:15 AM PST. Details are below. Register online at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1599395052189440513. Health impact assessment (HIA) has emerged in the U.S. as a promising way to increase social and environmental justice by addressing health equity within transportation planning. HIA seeks to augment the information base upon which public decisions are made. It does so through a multi-disciplinary analysis of how the project or plan impacts various social determinants of health. It also augments community and stakeholder engagement by providing a forum - usually through an advisory committee - where stakeholders can identify and deliberate about health interests related to the target plan. While HIA advisory committees are diverse by design, those managing HIA processes are often surprised at the differences between and within both the planning and transportation fields. This webinar reviews stakeholder engagement strategies common to HIA. It compares and contrasts the values, expectations, and methodologies that various types of planning and public health professionals often bring to the table. Finally, it identifies best practices for stakeholder engagement in HIA to maximize the collaborative nature of HIA. Continuing Education Credits: This 60-minute webinar provides one hour of training which equals 1 CM or 1 PDH. IBPI applies to the AICP for Certification Maintenance credit for each webinar. We will provide an attendance certificate to those who document their professional development hours. Configuration: The webinar will be administered through GoToWebinar. The room will be opened 30 minutes before the start of the webinar.

11 years, 9 months

[H+T--Friends] FW: paper about design and older adult walking

by Yen, Irene

hi all - I wasn't sure if I could send the paper to the entire listserv. I am happy to share it if you want a copy, please contact me. Marc pointed out that I wouldn't have found the features he mentioned (e.g. visitability, universal design) b/c my search terms wouldn't have uncovered these sorts of studies. Indeed, we were focused more on street design and public place (e.g. mixed used) rather than home / building features. Irene Irene H. Yen, Ph.D., M.P.H. Associate Professor Division of General Internal Medicine Department of Medicine University of California, San Francisco Associate Director, Experiential Learning, Health & Society Pathway 3333 California Street, Suite 335 Box 0856 San Francisco, CA 94143-0856 [for FedEx - use 94118] (415) 502 8291 (fax) http://dgim.ucsf.edu/about/yen.html ****************************************************************** EMAIL ADDRESS: irene.yen(a)ucsf.edu ******************************************************************

11 years, 9 months

[H+T--Friends] SFDPH Health Impact Assessment Training (Register Now - July 14-17, 2014 in Oakland, CA)

by Wier, Megan (DPH)

Dear colleagues, We are excited to announce that registration is now open for the San Francisco Department of Public Health's annual Health Impact Assessment Practitioners' Training (July 14-17, 2014) http://www.sfhealthequity.org/services/hia-training. Register early at the link http://bit.ly/1mhK7lh. The deadline for applications is June 19 (Thu). What is Health Impact Assessment? Health impact assessment (HIA) is most often defined as "a combination of procedures, methods and tools by which a policy, program or project may be judged as to its potential effects on the health of a population, and the distribution of those effects within the population" (World Health Organization, 1999). The field of HIA and the process of getting health into decision-making continues to evolve and grow http://www.healthimpactproject.org/hia/us How will you and your team enhance skill sets, leverage big data, meaningfully engage communities, and have collective impact? HIA is one of many tools that may be considered for health-protective policy and action. ************************************************************* About the SFDPH HIA Training What: 7th Annual Health Impact Assessment Practitioners Summer Training Course (deadline is June 19th) Where: TCE Oakland Conference Center, 1111 Broadway, 7th Floor, Oakland, CA When: July 14-17, 2014 (attendance all four days is mandatory) Instructors: HIA practitioners at the San Francisco Department of Public Health and community, academic, and local government partners Cost: $960 (includes the cost of course materials, breakfast and lunch; accommodations and travel not included). We are working to raise funds to support attendance of organizations facing financial hardship. We STRONGLY encourage applications from community-based organizations who are actively planning, considering, or doing HIA to apply. Feel free to contact me at 415-252-3961<tel:415-252-3961> if you have any questions. Thank you, Tim Choi -- Tim Choi, MPH -- Health Impact Assessment Specialist Environmental Health Branch -- Population Health Division San Francisco Department of Public Health W: http://www.sfhealthequity.org<http://www.sfhealthequity.org/> P: 415-252-3961 E: tim.choi(a)sfdph.org

11 years, 9 months

Re: [H+T--Friends] H+T--Friends Digest, Vol 38, Issue 1

by Phyllis ORRICK

This research is led by our own Carey McAndrews! On Wed, Jun 4, 2014 at 10:00 AM, <h+t--friends-request(a)chrispy.net> wrote: > Send H+T--Friends mailing list submissions to > h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://www.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/h+t--friends > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > h+t--friends-request(a)chrispy.net > > You can reach the person managing the list at > h+t--friends-owner(a)chrispy.net > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of H+T--Friends digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. (no subject) (Ed Christopher) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2014 11:08:02 -0500 (CDT) > From: "Ed Christopher" <edc(a)berwyned.com> > Subject: [H+T--Friends] (no subject) > To: h+t--friends(a)ryoko.chrispy.net > Message-ID: <62735.152.119.255.251.1401898082.squirrel(a)cp.chrispy.net> > Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1 > > This papaer may be of interest to some. > > A new study from the University of Colorado Denver shows public health > issues are often ignored in many transportation projects, especially when > major roads are built through lower-income neighborhoods. Air pollution, > crime and numerous traffic hazards, the study said, point to a serious and > persistent gap between public health and planning. > > http://www.ucdenver.edu/about/newsroom/newsreleases/Pages/Study-shows-gap-b… > > Here is s link to the study but you need access to the Journal of Planning > Education and Research to read it > http://jpe.sagepub.com/content/34/2/190.abstract > > -- > Ed Christopher > > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > H+T--Friends mailing list > H+T--Friends(a)chrispy.net > https://www.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/h+t--friends > > > End of H+T--Friends Digest, Vol 38, Issue 1 > ******************************************* > -- Phyllis Orrick Communications Director Safe Transportation Research and Education Center <http://www.safetrec.berkeley.edu/> (SafeTREC) University of California Transportation Center <http://www.uctc.net/> (UCTC) Institute for Urban and Regional Development <http://www.iurd.berkeley.edu/> (IURD) California Active Transportation Safety Information Pages <http://catsip.berkeley.edu/> (CATSIP) 2614 Dwight Way UC Berkeley Berkeley CA 94720-7374 510-643-1779 @transsafe <https://twitter.com/#%21/transsafe> @californiaUTC <https://twitter.com/#%21/CaliforniaUTC> @IURDBerkeley <https://twitter.com/#%21/IURDBerkeley> @trbhealth <https://twitter.com/#%21/trbhealth> Skype: pmorrick

11 years, 9 months

[H+T--Friends] place and street design features and walking for older adults

by Yen, Irene

Hi all - I thought this might be of interest to you: http://jah.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/04/24/0898264314527610.abstract Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the environmental features that best support aging in place. Method: We conducted a realist synthesis, a theory-driven interpretive method of evidence synthesis, of 120+ articles (published 1991-2011) that attempts to explain how place may influence older adults’ decisions about mobility (e.g., physical activity). We developed an initial program theory, reviewed the literature, identified outcomes, analyzed and synthesized patterns, and created a final program theory. Results: Safety was a central mechanism, serving as one of the bridges between environmental components (e.g., connectivity, aesthetics, retail and services) and decisions about mobility. Population density, sidewalk presence, and park proximity did not emerge as key factors. Discussion: Safety considerations are one of the most prominent influences of older adults’ decisions about mobility. Street connectivity, pedestrian access and transit, and retail and services were also important. These factors are amenable to change and can help promote mobility for older adults. thanks, Irene Irene H. Yen, Ph.D., M.P.H. Associate Professor Division of General Internal Medicine Department of Medicine University of California, San Francisco Associate Director, Experiential Learning, Health & Society Pathway 3333 California Street, Suite 335 Box 0856 San Francisco, CA 94143-0856 [for FedEx - use 94118] (415) 502 8291 (fax) http://dgim.ucsf.edu/about/yen.html ****************************************************************** EMAIL ADDRESS: irene.yen(a)ucsf.edu ******************************************************************

11 years, 9 months

[H+T--Friends] (no subject)

by Ed Christopher

This papaer may be of interest to some. A new study from the University of Colorado Denver shows public health issues are often ignored in many transportation projects, especially when major roads are built through lower-income neighborhoods. Air pollution, crime and numerous traffic hazards, the study said, point to a serious and persistent gap between public health and planning. http://www.ucdenver.edu/about/newsroom/newsreleases/Pages/Study-shows-gap-b… Here is s link to the study but you need access to the Journal of Planning Education and Research to read it http://jpe.sagepub.com/content/34/2/190.abstract -- Ed Christopher

11 years, 9 months

[H+T--Friends] TRB Circular on Health and Transportation: volunteers sought

by Eloisa Raynault

Greetings TRB H+T Subcommittee Friends, A recent effort by the Subcommittee is the development of a TRB Circular on Health and Transportation. For more general info on TRB Circulars, see this website, but typically they are 20+ page overviews of a timely topic: http://www.trb.org/Publications/Public/PubsTransportationResearchCirculars.…. We have developed the general outline below, as a start, and are looking for support from our Subcommittee friends in developing content. Keep in mind that transportation professionals are the main readership for TRB Circulars. If you would like to support work on this effort, please reply to me at eloisa.raynault(a)apha.org (***do NOT reply to this email***). Please let me know 1) which area interests you and 2) any details about the nature of your interest/expertise in that area. Thank you, Eloisa Main content: * What should a transportation professional need to know about public health? Include typical areas like safety/injury prevention, air quality, and equity/vulnerable populations as well as increasing physical activity opportunities through ped/bike infrastructure and increasing food access via transit and p/b routes. * How are public health organizations organized? What do they do? Add more health agencies perspective (if possible), for instance in the case study: what have public health agencies done; e.g. how some are including transportation metrics as performance measures. * How could a transportation professional build relationships with public health practitioners (e.g., inviting PH practitioner to sit on a transportation planning board, including PH in inter-agency meetings or status updates, jointly applying for a funding opportunity). * Address motivation. Why should transportation professionals care about public health? What are the benefits of building relationships with public health professionals? How does working towards the goals of public health help transportation agencies achieve their goals? * How should transportation professionals communicate about public health? What are the key terms and concepts to know? Other sections: * How are urban sprawl and cancer linked? * How health impact assessments can be used to promote healthy transportation with a few brief success stories * How transportation departments can work with ped/bike/transit advocacy groups with a few brief success stories * Case studies: what have State DOTs done? What have MPOs done? What have transit organizations done? Etc. Show how some are including health as a performance measure. Eloisa Raynault | American Public Health Association | Transportation, Health and Equity Program Manager | o: 202-777-2487 | http://apha.org/transportation Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. [apha_logo]

11 years, 10 months

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