BayoLegas: USA

Posts mit dem Label USA werden angezeigt. Alle Posts anzeigen

Health impact assessment of a roundabout?

On Februar 10, 2015 By // Keine Kommentare:

I've done health impact assessments on all types of proposals. The smallest was of a specific health facility. The biggest was of a population plan for several hundred thousand people.

This is the first time I've seen an HIA of a roundabout though. The process scales to any size!

HIA of Treatment Instead of Prison

On August 08, 2014 By // Keine Kommentare:

Great news in the latest Human Impact Partners' email update:

In 2012, HIP partnered with WISDOM, a statewide congregation-based network, to assess the public health impacts of increasing funding for Wisconsin’s treatment and diversion programs for non-violent drug offenders. HIP’s study has had a tremendous impact on the conversation around treatment over incarceration in Wisconsin and helped win a four-fold increase in funding for treatment alternatives. Legislators from both parties have pledged continued support for future increases. Watch our video to learn more about this HIA success story.

Find out more here

On März 23, 2014 By // Keine Kommentare:

From Katie Hirono on behalf of the US Society of Practitioners of Health Impact Assessment:

The Society of Practitioners of Health Impact Assessment (SOPHIA) seeks recommendations for exemplary HIA reports for the 2014 list of outstanding HIA reports. The SOPHIA Model HIA Reports Library functions as a periodically updated repository of exemplary HIA reports. The library is intended for:
People who are unfamiliar with HIA and want to understand what a high caliber HIA report product might look like (for example, people thinking of commissioning an HIA)
HIA practitioners seeking above average HIA reports as a reference
You may recommend HIAs done by yourself or other practitioners. The HIA can be on a project or policy, done in any location both in the U.S. and abroad, and be either stand-alone or done as part of an integrated assessment. As we have already selected reports from 2009 – 2012, ideally these reports would have been released within the past 2 years.

You must be a member of SOPHIA to submit a recommended HIA report (but can join easily here: http://hiasociety.org/?page_id=48). Or, click here to submit a recommendation: http://hiasociety.org/?page_id=29

San Francisco Department of Public Health's annual Health Impact Assessment Practitioners' Training

On März 19, 2014 By // Keine Kommentare:

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). Register early at the link http://bit.ly/1mhK7lh

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

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.

When is an HIA not an HIA?

On Februar 12, 2014 By // Keine Kommentare:

Guest post from Karen Bauer from the Denver HIA Collaborative:

Yesterday I attended a seminar given by the Denver Regional Council of Governments entitled Prescription for a Healthy Community. The main speakers were the Colorado Health Foundation and Urban Land Institute. To give you some idea of the influence that these organizations have, consider that the Colorado Health Foundation is the third largest health-focused foundation in the country, with $2.2 billion in assets, and ULI is a worldwide nonprofit representing land use and real estate development. Its membership dues are $1200 annually.

In 2013 ULI announced that their new initiative would be building healthy places. Along with $4.5 million funding from the Colorado Health Foundation, they chose three locations in Colorado to receive the ULI treatment. That means that ULI developed a TAP (technical advisory panel) that spent one week in each community to meet with stakeholders. During that week they developed a report of opportunities and recommendations, which was then presented to the community. (I requested to see these reports, as they are not online). After that, the community has the opportunity to apply for up to $1 million from the Foundation to implement their plans.

I took a look at the ULI website to learn more about their initiative. You can see that they are working completely outside of the world of HIA and its years of research, capacity building and expertise.

A number of questions come to mind:
Does the HIA community need to do more to gain recognition as the go-to organization for research, tools, assessments?
Should we need a certification to go into a community to do a health assessment?
Does this help or hurt our field?
Maybe HIA has it wrong. Is there something to be said for a one-week process?
I would like to hear your comments, questions, concerns about this topic.

EPA Review of HIAs in the U.S

On Januar 29, 2014 By // Keine Kommentare:

THE US EPA has published their review of HIAs in the U.S. Definitely worth reading:

Rhodus J, Fulk F, Autrey B, O’Shea S, Roth A: A Review of Health Impact Assessments in the U.S.: Current State-of-Science, Best Practices, and Areas for Improvement. In. Cincinnati: Office of Research and Development, National Exposure Research Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; 2013.

Description

A systematic review was conducted of health impact assessments (HIAs) from the U.S. to obtain a clear picture of how HIAs are being implemented nationally and to identify potential areas for improving the HIA community of practice. The review was focused on HIAs from the four sectors that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program has identified as target areas for empowering communities to move toward more sustainable states. These four sectors are Transportation, Housing/Buildings/ Infrastructure, Land Use, and Waste Management/Site Revitalization. The review systematically documented organizations involved in conducting the HIAs; funding sources; the types of community-level decisions being made; data, tools, and models used; self-identified data needs; methods of stakeholder engagement; pathways and endpoints; characterization of impacts; decision-making outcomes and recommendations; monitoring and follow-up measures; prioritization methods employed; HIA defensibility and effectiveness; attainment of the Minimum Elements of HIA; areas for improvement; and identification of best practices. The results of the HIA reviews were synthesized to identify the state of the HIA practice in the U.S., best practices in HIAs, and areas in the overall HIA process that could benefit from enhanced guidance, strategies, and methods for conducting community-based risk assessments and HIAs. While HIAs have helped to raise awareness and bring health into decisions outside traditional health-related fields, the effectiveness of HIAs in bringing health-related changes to pending decisions in the U.S. varies greatly. The review found that there are considerable disparities in the quality and rigor of HIAs being conducted. This, combined with the lack of monitoring, health impact management, and other follow-up in the HIAs could be limiting the overall utilization and effectiveness of this tool in the U.S.

Purpose/Objective

A review was conducted of 81 Health Impact Asessments (HIAs) from the U.S. to obtain a clear picture of how HIAs are being implemented nationally and to identify potential areas for improving the HIA community of practice. Improving HIAs across the US will lead to better informed decisions at the community level and ultimately to improvement in public health and the environment.

How does HIA bring change?

On Oktober 09, 2013 By // Keine Kommentare:

A guest post from Jonathan Heller from the Human Impact Partners From the HIP blog:

There is a dirty little secret among HIA practitioners: We don’t all agree about what makes the work we are doing effective and about how doing HIA will lead to change. This became clear to me during conversations that started during the “Advocacy and Objectivity in HIA” panel at HIA of the Americas earlier this year. But these differences crystalized for me flying home last week from the National HIA Meeting.

The terms advocacy, bias and subjective have been thrown around a lot lately in the HIA field – terms that reveal deep differences among practitioners. I think there are at least three distinct theories of change held among our community.

1. Data alone. Subscribers to this theory of change believe all HIA practitioners need to do is to provide decision makers with data about health and health disparities. Armed with that data, decision makers will make better decisions.

2. Data and consensus. Subscribers to this theory believe that the best way to make change is to reach out to stakeholders with diverse views, which usually include community members and, depending on the HIA, could include people from different agencies, project proponents, and decision makers from across the political spectrum. With data and good facilitation, consensus can be reached regarding the impacts, recommendations, and report. That process and the findings will lead to decision makers making better decisions.

3. Data and Power. Subscribers to this theory believe that change is most likely to come from strong data combined with an HIA process that is used to build power in disenfranchised communities that face inequities. With this increased power and strong data, the voices of those most impacted will be heard and decision makers will make better decisions.

Each of these theories has its merit and each may have its time and place. Each has examples it can hold up that show that it leads to decisions that improve health.

But, in our experience, if HIA is really a tool to achieve health and reduce inequities, combining data and power is the most effective way of getting there. History shows that the other two are challenging ways to truly change policies, plans, and projects that create inequities, especially if those in power don’t have the will to do so or if there is ideological tension around the proposal my ding. Those in power, in favor of a status quo that benefits them and is harming the disenfranchised, are simply not willing to yield power in the face of mere data. And the compromises that result from consensus building between those who have power and those who do not usually support at best a middle ground that does not significantly benefit those most harmfully effected by decisions.

This is why at Human Impact Partners we do our HIAs in partnership with community organizing groups whose focus is building leadership in low-income communities and communities of color, lifting the voices of populations left out of decision-making discourse, and building the power of those communities.

We know the data and power theory works. With our partners, we’ve used it over the last couple of years to win over $40 million in affordable housing in South Los Angeles (our USC and Farmers FieldHIAs), substantial increases in funds for alternatives to incarceration in Republican-controlled Wisconsin, and better policies for racial integration of schools in Minnesota. We’ve used it to raise awareness about the harmful impacts of detentions and deportations on immigrant children and families. And, through those processes, we’ve left behind not just awareness and better policies, but more importantly, a community that is more engaged in our democracy and more empowered to fight on their own behalf in the future.

In Closing the Gap in a Generation, the World Health Organization Commission on the Social Determinants of Health declared: “Any serious effort to reduce health inequities will involve changing the distribution of power within society and global regions, empowering individuals and groups to represent strongly and effectively their needs and interests and, in so doing, to challenge and change the unfair and steeply graded distribution of social resources (the conditions for health) to which all, as citizens, have claims and rights.” The great Brazilian philosopher and educator Paulo Freire said it more simply: “Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral."

Original Post

Follow the 2nd Annual U.S. National HIA Meeting at #NatHIA13

On September 24, 2013 By // Keine Kommentare:

The Second Annual U.S. National Health Impact Assessment Meeting is taking place in Washington from 24-26 September. You can follow along using the #NatHIA13 hashtag on Twitter - join the discussion!

New HIA Events and Courses

On September 03, 2013 By // Keine Kommentare:

Mostly via the HIA Gateway update

Training Courses

Events

HIA and peer review satisfaction survey

On Juni 10, 2013 By // Keine Kommentare:

Request below.

Please help move the practice of HIA and peer review forward with your feedback on this survey (5 minutes).

Survey link (google form): http://goo.gl/DN7Tg

We, a group of HIA practitioners, are interested in your experiences of the peer review process in Health Impact Assessment (HIA), as a reviewer and/or as a reviewee. Although HIA practice is not standardized, many HIA practitioners feel some form of peer review to be important in ensuring quality in the HIA process. Your responses to the survey will:
help us understand the broad and multiple practices of peer review
inform a paper featuring case studies of how practitioners have incorporated peer review within the HIA framework.
For this survey, peer review is defined broadly to include all purposeful activities that contribute to enhancing the quality of an HIA using peer review and feedback. This could range from an informal gathering of “experts” to review the HIA to a formalized double-blind review facilitated by an academic journal.
Reviewers might be environmental exposure specialists, community leaders, public officials, or others.Please feel free to share with other colleagues who have been a part of the peer review process in HIA.Deadline for responses - August 1st, 2013
For more information, contact Tim Choi at tim.choi@sfdph.org

Oregon Health Authority HIA Program Position (Closes soon!)

On Mai 15, 2013 By // Keine Kommentare:

From the position announcement:

OHA's HIA Program envisions an Oregon where human health and the distribution of health impacts are actively considered in relevant projects, policies, and plans across sectors. The Program is focused on catalyzing change in three key areas: promoting health impact assessment (HIA) among decision-makers and community partners; institutionalizing HIA practice into existing mechanisms; and expanding support for practitioners. We are seeking an epidemiologist/public health scientist to join our team to provide technical leadership on HIA projects and advance the consideration of health in Oregon.

The position closes on May 20. Click below to view the announcement:

http://agency.governmentjobs.com/oregon/default.cfm?action=viewjob&JobID=647683

U.S.A. Southeast Regional HIA Summit

On Mai 15, 2013 By // Keine Kommentare:

From the organisers:

Registration is now open for the first ever Southeast Regional HIA Summit! July 31 – August 2, Davidson, NC.

This is NOT your typical conference. Let’s face facts…HIA practitioners are a special breed of people who are creative enough to bridge the gap between multiple fields and operate outside of the box on a daily basis. Whenever we get together the atmosphere is more like a family reunion than a meeting. Add in the small-town charm of Davidson, NC and southern hospitality and you just know you are in store for a good time.

Here’s what the first Southeast Regional HIA Summit has to offer:

Opportunities to LISTEN: Hear from Dr. John Santopietro, M.D., Carolinas HealthCare System, on The State of Mental Health in the U.S. and Mitchell Silver, AICP, Past President of the American Planning Association on Building Healthy Communities.
Chances to LEARN: From each other during small group discussions− HIA Speed Dating, HIA Tool Exchange, Troubleshooting your HIA, Developing the HIA Message, Sustaining an HIA Program, and HIA and Health Equity.
Time to HAVE FUN: Networking during community activities including bicycling on Davidson’s greenway, paddling on Lake Davidson and viewing the Davidson Design for Life Documentary at Our Town Cinema.
And much, much more!

Likely participants include: HIA practitioners, researchers, and funders; professionals and educators from the fields of planning, policy, and public health; and interested government officials and not-for-profit leaders. To get the most out of the Summit, you should have direct experience in conducting HIA; be currently involved in conducting your first HIA; or at least have a basic understanding of the process and principles of HIA.

Everything you need to know about the Summit may be found on our web page:

Preliminary schedule-of-events
Hotel information
Online registration or a printable registration form (Early Bird Registration Deadline is June 15)
Travel scholarship
How to get to Davidson, NC

For more information and questions, please contact Courtney Spear, Summit Conference Planner at 704.400.0880 or courtneyhspear@gmail.com

Mental Health Impact Assessment Report

On April 04, 2013 By // Keine Kommentare:

From Lynn Todman at the Adler Institute on Social Exclusion:

Our report “U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Policy Guidance: A Mental Health Impact Assessment” has been completed and is available to you at adler.edu/MHIA

This report is the culmination of our 18-month study examining how changes in federal law regarding the use of arrest records in employment decisions would affect Chicago’s underserved Englewood neighborhood. The report also details the Mental Health Impact Assessment (MHIA) process that we employed at the Institute on Social Exclusion at the Adler School of Professional Psychology, constituting an important advance and contribution to the practice of Health Impact Assessment (HIA).

As you know, it is common for U.S. policy makers to consider factors like the natural environment, human physical health, and economic impact in their decision-making processes. Environmental Impact Assessments, Health Impact Assessments, and Economic Impact Assessment are increasingly common. However, assessments that evaluate psychological or mental health impacts are rare, despite the fact that mental health is an essential element of healthy communities.

The MHIA process is intended help policy makers assess how changes in public policy may help or harm the mental health of communities, especially the most vulnerable. It is also a useful tool in helping to narrow health inequities, and will become increasingly important in light of dwindling mental health resources and support. Conducting an MHIA can help ensure that policies that are implemented will help reduce health inequities, and improve the health and wellbeing of communities and the nation.

Thank you for your interest in our work. If we can answer questions or provide more information for you, please contact us at ISE@adler.edu

Funding available to support health impact assessments (HIAs) in Minnesota, USA

On März 07, 2013 By // Keine Kommentare:

Three grants of up to US$100,000 is available for conducting HIAs in Minnesota.

Brief proposals are due by Wednesday, May 15 2013.

Who Can Apply

The primary purpose of this project is to develop the capacity of Minnesota organizations to conduct HIAs. Eligible applicant organizations must be located in Minnesota and include:

state, tribal, or local agencies;
tax-exempt educational institutions;
tax-exempt organizations described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (including public charities and private foundations).

Applicants need not have experience with HIA to apply. They should have knowledge of the decision-making process that they aim to inform and the ability to communicate effectively with all of the stakeholders, including individuals and organizations that will be affected by the decision, elected officials, and agency staff. Grantees will receive training, mentoring, and technical assistance from the Health Impact Project and leading HIA experts.

Key Dates

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Request for proposals announced

Wednesday, May 15, 2013, 5:00 p.m. CT

Brief proposals due

Friday, May 31, 2013

Notification of full proposal invitation

Monday, July 1, 2013, 5:00 p.m. CT

Full proposals due through online application system

August 2013

Anticipated start date for selected projects

September 23, 2013

Grantee meeting

September 24-25, 2013

National Health Impact Assessment Meeting

August 2014

Anticipated end date for selected projects

Selection Criteria

All full proposals will be screened for eligibility and then assessed by a committee composed of Health Impact Project staff, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation staff, and expert, external reviewers.

Selection will be based on the following:

Whether the HIA will inform a decision for a proposed policy, program, or project that is under active consideration. The proposals must address decisions that can be reasonably anticipated within or shortly following the grant period;
Significance of the pending policy, program, or project decision to health and health equity;
A strong plan for engaging key stakeholders—community members and community-based organizations, decision-makers, relevant public agencies and leaders, and others—at each step of the HIA;
A clear outline for disseminating the findings and supporting the adoption and implementation of the HIA recommendations;
Potential for the HIA to add to the decision-making process by addressing health issues that are not already known or may not be immediately obvious, by analyzing and clarifying complex health effects, by identifying any differential impacts on vulnerable populations, and by generating health-based recommendations not already under consideration;
The potential for the HIA to build new and enduring partnerships between public health organizations and nonhealth sectors such that health will be more regularly factored into future decisions;
A well thought-out staffing plan with adequate staff time and commitment of senior leadership;
Reasonableness of proposed budget and project timeline.

For more information see:

Request for proposals document [Microsoft Word 2007-2010 docx format file].

Grant opportunity announcement.

More about HIA in the USA.

Video on the health impacts of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Light Rail Project

On Januar 28, 2013 By // Keine Kommentare:

From the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which funded a health impact assessment of the project in conjunction with the Pew Charitable Trusts as part of the Health Impact Project.

Funding announced for Denver metro region

On Oktober 11, 2012 By // Keine Kommentare:

The Health Impact Project, with support from Kaiser Permanente Colorado, will fund one health impact assessment (HIA) program grant, of up to $250,000, for applicants in the Denver metropolitan region. The award will support:

At least two HIAs. Preference will be given to proposals that address transportation-related policies, projects, and plans. This includes land-use decisions related to transportation projects, such as transit oriented design. But, applicants are not limited to this sector.

A tailored, two-day HIA training for the grantee and their stakeholders, as well as ongoing mentoring and technical assistance throughout the grant period.

The development and implementation of a sustainability plan that establishes the relationships, systems, and funding mechanisms needed to maintain a stable HIA program that endures beyond the grant period.

Participation in the Health Impact Project’s national HIA program grant learning community comprised of all HIA program grants funded under this round.

Attendance at the September 2013 annual Grantee and National HIA Meetings in Washington, D.C., which will provide grantees an opportunity to meet, collaborate, and solve challenging questions that arise during their projects, as well as learn from leading HIA practitioners.

No prior HIA experience is necessary to be eligible for this HIA Program grant. Training, technical assistance, and mentoring will be provided throughout the grant period.

HIAs on transportation-related topics will be given preference. This includes land-use decisions related to transportation projects, such as transit oriented design. But, proposals are not limited to this policy area.

***NOTE: All eligible HIA program grant applicants from the Denver metro region that have already applied to the Health Impact Project’s national call for proposals (CFP) process will automatically be considered for the Kaiser Permanente Colorado grant opportunity.

Two differences of note between this funding opportunity and the Health Impact Project’s current national CFP include:

The Health Impact Project will host a conference call for potential applicants on October 18 at 2 p.m. MT. Registration is required.

Applications for the Kaiser Permanente Colorado Denver metropolitan HIA program grant opportunity are due Wednesday, October 31, 2012, at 5 p.m. MT.

Visit the Health Impact Project Funding Opportunities page to learn more about the announcement and to begin the online application process.

Courtesy of Aaron Wernham, Health Impact Project

Health Impact Project Grant Funding: Deadline Extension!

On September 14, 2012 By // Keine Kommentare:

From Aaron Wernham,

We hope everyone’s back from Labor Day refreshed. The first big news is that we are extending the deadline for the open call for proposals.

HIA Program Grants: Brief proposal due Friday, September 28

Demonstration Projects: Full proposal due Friday, October 12

We hope the extra two weeks will allow applicants that have been traveling over the summer an opportunity to submit high quality HIA proposals. We look forward to reading them.

If you’re planning to apply, but haven’t yet, we strongly encourage you to start your application. Creating an account in the online system will give you access to details, instructions, and other information that you will need.

Please also check out all the resources on our funding opportunities page, including frequently asked questions, and recordings of the webinars.

[Sal's Editor's Note: If you are in the US and you are thinking of doing a HIA then you really must apply. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.Someone has to get that money; it might as well be you.]

Guide for Stakeholder Participation in HIA

On September 13, 2012 By // Keine Kommentare:

From Tim Choi:

http://www.hiasociety.org/documents/guide-for-stakeholder-participation.pdf

"This guide is a collective product of the Stakeholder Participation Working Group, which emerged from the March 2010 HIA in the Americas Workshop. The Guide primarily targets HIA practitioners who are working to improve stakeholder participation and leadership in the practice of HIA.

It may also appeal to community groups and stakeholders who want to more effectively participate in, lead, or influence an HIA.

The guide distills stakeholder participation techniques, case studies, and guiding principles from various fields of expertise, including HIA, environmental and social impact assessment, land use and transportation planning, community-based participatory research, and public health.
This is a living document that will be updated as new information becomes available.

The Guide is available online at the Society of Practitioners of HIA (SOPHIA) website:
http://www.hiasociety.org/rguidance.html

Any questions, suggestions or comments can be directed to:
Kim Gilhuly, Human Impact Partners, kim@humanimpact.org, (510) 684-1275."