Local health departments (LHDs) are imperative in ensuring the early childcare facilities are located in safe spaces. Thus, the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) invite interested LHDs to join the upcoming Choose Safe Places (CSP) grantee small group calls to learn more about the CSP initiative and identify collaborative opportunities.
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) funds 28 state health departments to evaluate past and present exposures to environmental hazards and to prevent future exposures through ATSDR’s Partnership to Promote Local Efforts to Reduce Environmental Exposure (APPLETREE). Through the APPLETREE program and ATSDR’s Choose Safe Places for Early Care and Education (CSPECE) program, states are given resources and guidance to assess and respond to site-specific issues involving exposure to hazardous substances in the environment by identifying exposure pathways, reviewing environmental and health data for potential health risks, making recommendations for prevention, and educating affected communities and local health professionals.
ATSDR’s CSPECE is implemented in collaboration with the Children’s Environmental Health Network, the Environmental Law Institute, and NACCHO.
Beginning in May, NACCHO will facilitate small groups to provide a space where CSPECE grantees can discuss and share their experiences including challenges, successes, and lessons learned, with safe siting. Each call will be scheduled for one-hour and consist of structured and facilitated dialogue on the selected topic via conference calls. Call participants will be asked to share information about their safe siting efforts within their jurisdiction. We have the capacity for five LHDs per call and sign-ups are first-come-first-serve.
Please see below for small group call dates and descriptions. You can sign up to attend a small group call here.
Date |
Call Topic |
Call Description |
May 14th 2pm ET |
COVID-19 Impacts on CSP Initiative + Peer sharing |
This call will serve as an open forum for states to learn and peer share with each other on the impact of COVID on CSP initiatives and how they’ve addressed their challenges. States will detail how other geographic specific disasters (hurricanes, fires, etc.) coupled with the pandemic has impacted their work. |
June 18th at 2pm ET |
A Health in All Policy (HiAP) approach to CSP sustainability |
An overview of the Health in all Policies (HiAP) approach to CSP sustainability. HiAP is a change in the systems that determine how decisions are made and implemented by local, state, and federal government to ensure that policy decisions have neutral or beneficial impacts on the determinants of health. HiAP emphasizes the need to collaborate across sectors to achieve common health goals and is an innovative approach to the processes through which policies are created and implemented. This call will discuss how CSP states initiatives can utilize a HiAP approach for policy change and collaborate across sectors to ensure safe siting for ECE facilities. |
July 16th at 2pm ET |
Updated Resource Sharing |
During this call, CEHN and NACCHO will share available updated resources with CSP grantees. Grantees will have the opportunity to discuss the resources they find helpful and what additional resources they need. |
Please send all questions to [email protected].