Cooperative Agreement 96711601

DESCRIPTION:THE AGREEMENT PROVIDES FUNDING TO KANSAS DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT. SPECIFICALLY, THE RECIPIENT WILL IMPLEMENT MEANINGFUL ENVIRONMENTAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH STRATEGIES IN LABETTE, MONTGOMERY, AND CHEROKEE COUNTIES IN KANSAS. THIS PROJECT FOCUSES ON CLIMATE RESILIENCY AND ADAPTATION THROUGH PUBLIC EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION PLANNING IN SUPPORT OF CLIMATE RESILIENCE AND ADAPTATION, IN PARTICULAR ADDRESSING SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS IN PUBLIC GREEN SPACES. THE PROJECT AIMS TO IMPLEMENT MEANINGFUL ENVIRONMENTAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH STRATEGIES IN LABETTE, MONTGOMERY, AND CHEROKEE COUNTIES IN KANSAS. THIS WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH WORKING CLOSELY ALONGSIDE THE HEALTHY BOURBON COUNTY ACTION TEAM (COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATION), AND LOCAL HEALTH EQUITY ACTION TEAMS (LHEATS) (COMMUNITY COALITIONS) IN EACH OF THE THREE COUNTIES. ACTIVITIES:THE ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE WORKPLAN FALL WITHIN THREE PRIMARY CATEGORIES: HEALTH PROMOTION AND EDUCATION; COMMUNITY-DRIVEN STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND FOOD EQUITY; AND COMMUNICATIONS AND EVALUATION. UNDER THE FIRST CATEGORY, A MOBILE LABORATORY WILL DEPLOY A TOTAL OF 25 TIMES ACROSS THE THREE COUNTIES WORKING ALONGSIDE LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT EXPERIMENTS TAILORED GRADE LEVEL. STAFF WILL ENGAGE IN EDUCATION GEARED TOWARDS PARENTS AND GENERAL COMMUNITY MEMBERS. UNDER THE SECOND CATEGORY, LOCAL HEALTH EQUITY ACTION TEAMS WILL PRIORITIZE PLACEMAKING INTERVENTIONS TO ADDRESS ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES TO ADOPT IN COMMUNITY SETTINGS TO EXPAND FOOD ACCESS. THE TEAM WILL USE MONTHLY MEETINGS THAT ARE OPEN TO RESIDENTS, COMMUNITY -BASED ORGANIZATIONS AND COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS TO IDENTIFY A MENU OF EVIDENCE-BASED, BEST PRACTICES OR COMMUNITY-DRIVEN INTERVENTIONS TO EXPAND FOOD ACCESS. AFTER THE COMMUNITY HAS SELECTED THE DESIRED INTERVENTIONS, EACH COMMUNITY WILL BEGIN IMPLEMENTATION. FOR EXAMPLE, MAIN STREET EDIBLE GARDENS, RAISED-BED GARDEN KITS, OR RAINWATER COLLECTION. UNDER THE THIRD CATEGORY, COMMUNICATION AND EVALUATION, ACTIVITIES INCLUDE THE DEVELOPMENT AND DISSEMINATION OF PROMOTION COMMUNICATIONS TO HIGHLIGHT EFFORTS AND DISSEMINATE INFORMATION ABOUT THE LOCAL HEALTH EQUITY ACTION TEAMS AND TRACK TEAM'S MEMBERSHIP AND ACTIVITIES. THIS WILL ALSO INCLUDE DIGITAL STORYTELLING. SUBRECIPIENT:HEALTHY BOURBON COUNTY ACTION TEAM (HBCAT) IS A COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATION THAT WILL SERVE AS A KEY PARTNER FOR THE PROJECT. HBCAT WILL HOUSE THE ON-THE-GROUND PROJECT MANAGER AND FACILITATE LHEAT WORK ACROSS THE THREE COUNTIES. THEY WILL ALSO SERVE AS THE FISCAL AGENT FOR LHEAT FUNDS. KUMC'S COPE PROJECT DIRECTORS (KESSLER AND PACHECO) WILL SERVE AS TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND EVALUATION SUPPORT FOR THE PROJECT. THEY WILL ALSO SERVE AS FISCAL AGENCY FOR A CHW STAFF CURRENTLY HIRED THROUGH COPE THAT WILL SUSTAIN THEIR POSITION ACROSS MONTGOMERY, LABETTE, AND CHEROKEE COUNTIES THROUGH THIS PROJECT. THE MLE WILL DEPLOY A TOTAL OF 19 TIMES ACROSS THE THREE COUNTIES OVER THE GRANT DURATION, WITH AN AVERAGE STAY OF 3 NIGHTS. DURING THESE DEPLOYMENTS, THE MLE WILL WORK ALONGSIDE THE LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT THE EXPERIMENTS, BEING RESPONSIVE TO LOCAL CONTEXT SUCH AS EDUCATIONAL LEVEL AND AREAS OF FOCUS. IN ADDITION TO MLE 'FIELD TRIPS' FOR STUDENTS, DEPLOYMENTS WILL ALSO INCLUDE COMMUNITY EVENTS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. THE MLE STAFF WILL ENGAGE IN EDUCATION GEARED TOWARDS PARENTS AND GENERAL COMMUNITY MEMBERS AS IT RELATES TO CONCEPTS ACROSS THE ONE HEALTH FRAMEWORK, WHICH TAKES A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO INTEGRATING HUMAN, ANIMAL, AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH. EACH COUNTY WILL LEVERAGE THE PRE-EXISTING LHEAT STRUCTURE TO PRIORITIZE PLACEMAKING INTERVENTIONS. THE LHEATS WILL USE MONTHLY MEETINGS THAT ARE OPEN TO RESIDENTS, COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS, AND COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS TO IDENTIFY A MENU OF EVIDENCE-BASED, BEST PRACTICE, OR INNOVATIVE COMMUNITY-DRIVEN INTERVENTIONS TO EXPAND FOOD ACCESS AND SUSTAINABLE