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  5. Kent County Health Department (KCHD), Grand Rapids, Michigan

Kent County Health Department (KCHD), Grand Rapids, Michigan

    Project Description

    The Kent County Health Department (KCHD), Grand Rapids, Michigan, project goal is to build a Kent County Children’s Environmental Health Collaborative that is focused, creative, and productive, thus reducing the source of toxics with high relative risk to Kent County children.

    KCHD’s project seeks to develop the infrastructure and enhance the capacity of the Children’s Environmental Health Initiative (CEHI) of Kent County by providing leadership and coordination to the collaborative. The project will center the community on specific objectives and enhance the collaborative and the partners’ abilities to develop new projects and leverage new resources.

    Project objectives are to

    • complete a 3-year strategic plan,
    • continue to update the matrix of Kent County-specific environmental issues and their relative risk as new information emerges,
    • bring additional partners to CEHI,
    • continue the comprehensive education and prevention campaign regarding children’s environmental health issues,
    • develop community-identified collaborative and Grand Rapids-targeted projects between CEHI partners, and
    • introduce the healthy homes assessment tool developed by CEHI members.

    Accomplishments

    • Hired a new staff person to provide leadership for CEHI.
    • Completed a strategic planning process to develop a 3-year plan.
    • Developed green cleaning recipe cards to be used as a marketing tool for CEHI.
    • Participated in nine community events that touched 1,800 people with a focus on green cleaning and on resources provided by other CEHI members.
    • Developed a healthy homes assessment tool for use in Year 2 by local in home visitation programs.

    Barriers

    Each piece of the puzzle has taken longer than anticipated.

    What Is Next

    On completion of the strategic planning, a healthy homes-related project will be developed with local partners from CEHI.

    CEHI partners are planning a series of community events throughout the year to build capacity on healthy homes issues.

    Links and Products

    Contact Michelle Davis-Poeder for green cleaning recipe cards (616-632-6912 or michelle.davis@kentcountymi.gov).