A Partnership with Promise: Using a Collaborative, Community-Based Approach to Reduce Exposure to Toxics in Spokane County
In 2007, The Lands Council, with funding from the Spokane Regional Health District, facilitated a dynamic, collaborative environmental health assessment process. A multi-stakeholder team consisting of government agencies, business, industry, neighborhood groups, non-profits, academic institutions, health care providers, and local citizens met monthly and identified, researched, ranked, and prioritized top environmental health concerns in Spokane County. The two issues receiving the highest number of votes were lead and how the "built environment" (i.e. human-made buildings and infrastructure) affects people's health. Other environmental health issues receiving votes included outdoor air quality, mold, dioxins, and use of carbon monoxide detectors.
 We're now ready to dive into the exciting action phase of our environmental health assessment, and a 2-year EPA CARE (Community Action for a Renewed Environment) grant awarded to The Lands Council in October will allow us to do this. CARE grants aid communities in building collaborative, problem-solving partnerships to reduce toxic risks. We hope to build a sustainable community partnership that would develop and implement collective action plans to reduce the toxic risks of lead in Spokane County (including the City of Spokane), and enhance people's physical health by working to improve our community's built environment.
Click here for more information about our community lead team.
Click here for more information about our built environment community partnerships.
What have we accomplished so far? Our community lead team held its first meeting at the end of January and is currently drafting a work plan and timeline. We're interviewing folks working on built environment issues in order to assess current community efforts and determine how we can most effectively channel our resources.
We are looking for more participants! If you have expertise in these areas, or an interest and willingness to contribute, please contact Kat Hall, Environmental Health Program Director at khall@landscouncil.org, 509-209-2403 or Nicole Powell, Environmental Health Program Assistant at npowell@landscouncil.org, 509-209-2404.
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