Member departments follow up to BARHII/BAPDA meeting

SOLANO COUNTY

Solano was one of the few counties that went into the meeting with BAPDA with prior experience working on Planning and Built Environment issues. They were one of eight local health departments to participate in the piloting of Local Public Health and the Built Environment (LPHBE) program in 2004, sponsored by California Department of Health Services, Center for Physical Activity. As a result of the staff training and mini-grants provided by the program staff had already begun to engage in certain areas of the planning process; reviewing general plans, testifying to planning commissions and city council hearings.

At the time of the BAPDA meeting Solano was in the final stages of planning its first countywide Built Environment Symposium to provide a venue for forging relationships between local planners and public health officials and developing actions plans for future collaborative work.

The regional meeting provided an opportunity to meet face to face with some of their own city planners and underscore the timeliness of the county level forum. This well placed outreach resulted in a boost in the participation of the county's 7 city jurisdictions.

Highlights of Solano County Built Environment Symposium

Opening remarks from Public Health Department Director Ron Chapman and keynote presentation by Dick Jackson

85 participants including:

12 elected officials and aides
14 planners
26 public health professionals
4 transportation officials
1 engineer
9 non-profit organizations

By the end of the session everyone had made a personal commitment to strengthening the relationship between public health and planners.

Next Steps for Solano

Following the symposium Public Health Department staff were invited to participate in the county's General Plan Update.

Activities have included: Joining the Technical Advisory Committee for the County General Plan Presentation at Citizen's Advisory Committee

For more information about Solano's work see Robin Cox presentation

MARIN COUNTY

Prior to the BAPDA meeting Marin had not participated in a formal relationship building activities with planning officials. The event served as a catalyst for future dialog between the two groups. Both sides to grasp the many dimensions of the relationship between built environment and health.

Shortly after the December meeting staff in Marin initiated planning for a local Built Environment Symposium to build on the relationships between public health and planning that were initiated at the BAPDA meeting. Based on their initial discussions it became clear there was a strong need for further networking, and cross-disciplinary education and information sharing.

The objectives of the April 19th event were to:

Create awareness regarding the impact of planning decisions on community's health
Share information regarding current efforts to improve the built environment
Create collaborations for improving the built environment
Learn how planner and public health professionals could support each other
Commit to specific next steps for sustaining cross-agency collaborations

Highlights of Marin Built Environment Symposium

Opening statements from County Supervisor Steve Kinsey and the directors of both the Department of Health and Human Services and the Public Health Division Keynote address from Dick Jackson.

Panel of local experts discussing their work related to the built environment 120 professionals — representing 50 county agencies representing public health, health care, planning, public works, schools and community based organizations.

The list of participants included:

City and county planning
Marin County Health and Human Services staff
Local city government officials
County Supervisors
Public works
Commission on Aging
Community Development
Local school administrators
Public Health officials from local counties
Parks and Open Space
Safe Routes to Schools
Marin Farmer's Market and other Agriculture interests
Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health

In the spirit of emphasizing the importance of health eating and physical activity, the day's agenda included an exercise break, a delicious organic lunch and organic food basket giveaways. The agenda included a panel of local experts talking about their work as it related to the built environment and a presentation on sustainability in the Countywide Plan from the Community Development Agency.

Participants engaged in an interactive exercise aimed a sharing ideas and collaborative problem solving of built environment problems. At the end of the day participant wrote their personal and professional commitment to improving the built environment on a postcard that would be mailed to them 3 months later as a reminder.

Select commitments from event participants

Provide more resources on green building to public at town hall
Increase knowledge about the Countywide Plan and Built Environment strategies for promoting walking and biking
Advocating for ordinances that include healthy building and planning practices
Increase marketing of community shuttles
Launch a Green Leader Board in 2007-08
Implement sustainable land uses through project modifications that improve public health
Convene "Healthy Community" conversations
Promote Walk to School at Head Start
Meet with Community Development Agency to work on Transit Oriented Development and location of public senior and social services

Next steps for Marin

Planning a follow up conference for April 2008 which will have a greater emphasis on action planning opportunities for participants
Developing a Built Environment resource website to serve as a clearinghouse for local and national presentations, reports and events and information about the next convening
Keep event participants engaged by sending out reminders of commitments developed during the last conference

For more information about Marin's Built Environment Work contact Julie Van Winkle

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY

Contra Costa was one of the few counties that went into the meeting with BAPDA with prior experience working on Built Environment issues. They were one of eight counties to participate in the piloting of Local Public Health and the Built Environment (LPHBE) program in 2004, sponsored by California Department of Health Services, Center for Physical Activity. As a result of the staff training and mini-grants provided by the program staff were able to develop a Built Environment Strategic Plan (which include 8 strategic goals for integrating built environment issues into their existing work) and support for researching and publishing "Planning Communities: What Health Has To Do With It".

As a result of participating in LPHBE representatives from Contra Costa went into meeting with BAPDA already having some familiarity with planners from their jurisdiction. The meeting provided a welcome opportunity to build on these relatively new relationships.

Highlights of Contra Costa Forum; "Planning Communities: What Health Has To Do With It"

Over 90 participants representing public health, planning, local government and community based organizations (Participants included: West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Committee; West Contra Costa Safe Communities Project; Moore, Iacofano and Goltsman, Inc.; Urban Habitat; and Policy Link.)

Keynote speaker Dick Jackson

Address from Supervisor John Goaia and Public Health Department Director Wendell Brunner

Presentation from Moore, Iacofano and Goltsman, Inc (MIG) with regards to their work on the Richmond General Plan update which will include a health element

Each participant received a toolkit containing resources for framing planning and built environment issues in Public Health terms; a glossary of planning language; several examples of local plans and ordinances; and descriptions of the process.

Other activities of note in Contra Costa County

The Planning Integration Team for Community Health (PITCH) is an interdepartmental initiative to coordinate planning an health in the unincorporated areas of the county. The collaboration of public health, public works and planning agencies was convened at the behest of the County Board of Supervisors following compelling presentations from Dick Jackson and Rajiv Bhatia (San Francisco Public Health Department) on the health impact of the Built Environment.
Contra Costa County Public Health Department has been working intensively with City of Richmond General Plan Advisory Committee to provide technical advice in the development of a health element to be included in the city's general plan update.