- My name is Monica Robinson,
and I'm an environmental planner with Fulton County
Department of Health and Wellness
in Atlanta, Georgia.
In July of 2013,
the Fulton County Board of Commissioners
voted and approved an environmental justice amendment
to the zoning ordinance, which is applicable
to the unincorporated areas of the county.
The environmental justice amendment
is a result of the collaboration between
the Planning and Community Services Department,
the Department of Health and Wellness,
and the County Attorney's Office.
The environmental justice amendment
is a positive step in local government
in that the community's voices
were thought, heard, and implemented
during the drafting and implementation
of the zoning ordinance.
It is an important step
in that when we talk about land reuse
and previous brownfield sites
that this ordinance can be used as a tool
to cite environmentally adverse uses
to protect environmentally stressed communities.
- I am Dr. Vincent Nathan
with the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District,
and I'm here today to talk about our brownsfield project.
Brownfields are a unique experience in San Antonio
because of our explosive growth.
That growth has helped us to have our community assist us
in our redevelopment plans.
Today, I also have with me David Clear,
our brownsfield project manager,
and he's going to give you some details
about our promotoras
and how they assist us in our community development.
- My name is David Clear.
I'm the built environment coordinator
for the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District,
and as Dr. Nathan mentioned,
we are working with promotoras,
and those are community health workers,
and we have those in ten different neighborhoods
throughout the inner city of San Antonio.
And these are also neighborhoods where they're--
they've suffered from a lot of distress over the years,
and so there are a lot of brownfield sites,
vacant lots, and buildings,
and we work with those promotoras
and community health workers
in order to work with residents
to reenvision what they'd like to see
in their neighborhoods.
And the other interesting thing about this partnership is,
this grant is the first time we've partnered
with this inner city development operations department,
which has incentives for redevelopment
of a lot of these sites.
And so it's a real exciting partnership
that takes us from the grassroots
working with residents and community health workers
all the way up to city policies and incentives
for the development community.
- Hi. I'm Sandra Whitehead.
I'm the director of healthy community design
at the National Association
of County and City Health Officials,
also known as NACCHO.
NACCHO works with the over 3,100
local health departments
in the United States and the territories
to promote and protect health
every day in their communities.
We also provide resources to local health departments
so that they can become active participants
in land reuse planning
to protect and promote the public health
and minimize and mitigate exposures in their communities.
NACCHO encourages local health departments
to become involved in long-term land use planning
that includes strategies to protect and promote
the public health of citizens
and to protect the most vulnerable
from any contamination issues and promote social justice.
- Hi. My name is Gary Perlman.
I'm an environmental health officer
and registered sanitarian.
We focus on public health
when evaluating land reuse and hazardous waste sites.
We've developed a series of tools and resources
for use by tribal Indian nations and local health departments.
These tools enable the development
of a site inventory,
site selection criteria,
as well as community engagement model.
These tools were developed with close collaboration
with tribal Indian nations and local health departments,
many of whom have applied for funding
from Environmental Protection Agency
and ATSDR to create healthy communities.
- Thank you for watching these videos.
If you would like additional information
on Brownfields, please visit the ATSDR web page.