For more information on this project, contact Samir Elmir, Environmental Health Director at the Miami-Dade County Health Department.
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT
July Little Haiti PACE-EH Project Report
To: Daniel Parker, M.S.
Assistant Division Director, Division of Environmental Health
From: Trevor D. Coke
Environmental Supervisor II
Through: Samir Elmir, MS, PE, DEE
Environmental Administrator
Subject: Little Haiti PACE EH Project
MDCHD selected the Little Haiti area for this project because it embodies most of the socioeconomic characteristics found in urban areas, such as abnormal amounts of trash, garbage and rodent control issues. The majority of the residents are from Haiti. They are accustomed to different community hygiene standards in comparison with our standards. The unemployment rate is much higher than the state average and income is significantly lower.
We found the community median household income to be $31,879.00; and the median value of homes to be $174,300.00. This is half the median family income for the City of Miami and one-third of Florida?s median income. Only 20% of all housing units in the Little Haiti community are owner occupied.
One of the reasons why this community is experiencing some environmental stressors is simply because the tax base is low and therefore less public funds are available to be spent within the community. This information completes task 2.
We scheduled and held our first meeting on May 19, 2006 with the governmental agencies who regularly conduct code enforcement and inspection activities within the Little Haiti community. The purpose of this meeting was to explain the PACE EH project to these agencies and to solicit their complete support if there is a need for code enforcement issues. This meeting was a success which also supports task 1.
We also scheduled and held our first community meeting on June 8, 2006.This meeting was attended by approximately 20 representatives from the community. We found that there are several business owners, political activists, home owners, radio stations and governmental agencies that are interested in participating in the PACE-EH project designed for their community.
On July 20, 2006 I attend a PACE EH conference in Tampa which provided several valuable information on how to develop and strengthen a successful PACE EH Project. We have also identified a person who we believe will be ideal to represent the community as a community liaison. We have started the paperwork to hire her and we anticipate that we will have her on board within four weeks. We are currently developing the position description and job duties for the position. Our third meeting was also scheduled and held on August 10, 2006.
Work Plan and Process Update |
| PACE-EH Tasks |
Action |
Outcome |
Target Date |
| Task 1: Determine Community Capacity |
| ? On April 15, 2006 we started to gather information on the community. |
Completed |
|
| ? The community is bounded on the North by 82nd Ave, the East by NE 2nd Ave, the West by I- 95 and the South by NW 36th St. |
Completed |
|
| ? We looked at the demographics of the community and found that there are several persons who will adequately represent the community. |
Completed |
|
| ? We already have a working relationship with the community and other Governmental Agencies. |
Completed |
|
| ? Several representatives of the community have expressed their willingness to participate in this project. |
Completed |
|
| ? This community uses the local Haitian radio station to communicate with their counter part. |
Completed |
|
| ? One identified weakness is the fact that several representative of the community have their own political agendas in mind. |
Pending |
Sept. 30, 2006 |
| ? The First community meeting was scheduled and held on June 8, 2006. |
Completed |
|
| ? We were able to identify a possible person from the community who could serve a community liaison. |
Pending |
Sept. 30, 2006 |
| Task 2: Define and Characterize the Community |
? On April 25, 2006 we conducted a survey and found that there were several characteristics of the community such as the different community representatives, and environmental conditions affecting the community, such as trash, garbage, rodent infestation and other environmental stressors. We also conducted several field visits to determine who the key players in the community are. We found that there are several business owners, political activist, home owners, radio stations and governmental agencies that have the capacity to take on a PACE-EH program. |
Completed |
|
| Task 3: Assemble Community Environmental Health Assessment Team. |
? At our August 10, 2006 meeting we identified a group of community residents who volunteered to serve on a committee that will coordinate the emerging issues of the community. |
Completed |
|
| ? We are now in the process of hiring a person from the community who will act as a community liaison. |
Pending |
Sept. 30, 2006 |
| ? I have attended a PACE EH conference in Tampa Florida that was very helpful. It identified areas in the process that could slow down the progress of the project; it also afforded new project managers the opportunities to network with other counties who are further along in the process who shared information on the tasks. |
Completed |
|
? Speakers at the conference also discussed the importance of conducting and staying on target in a community meeting.
Completed |
Completed |
|
Completed
Completed
Completed
Completed
Completed
Pending
Outstanding Issues/Concerns |
As we started to implement the PACE EH project in the Little Haiti community we experience several challenges and opportunities.
-
Our county has several low moderate communities that are not receiving adequate governmental support to deal with their environmental health and safety issues.
-
We had to schedule the community meeting s at locations we believe are neutral.
-
Several offers of locations were made to hold community meetings but we thought some of the locations were to politically sensitive to hold a community meeting.
-
We already have an excellent working relationship with all the state, federal and local governmental agencies within our county. We routinely call on each other to handle unusual cases.
-
I have encountered television reporters, radio reporters and newspaper writers within the Little Haiti Community, who are eager to assist us with the educational portion of the project and to disseminate the information to the community.
-
We have encountered several business owners within the community that are also willing to work with the program.
-
We have also identified a group of community residents who has volunteered to serve as community representatives.
-
Concern: We have community members on the committee who works for the local newspaper, the local radio station and the local television station. How do we effectively utilize their specialize service and ensure that the correct information is being disseminate to the community.
We have formed a committee from volunteers within the community. We intend to break down the community in to quadrants and have each committee representative collect the emerging issues then pass the information on to the community liaison who will in turn prepare this issues to be discussed in our monthly meetings. The idea then will be to help the committee prioritize the issues and provide accurate technical advice on how and where to find the assistance and resource to successfully resolve the identified issues.
Previous Miami-Dade County Reports |
Little Haiti Community Reports
June, 2006
West Perrine Community Reports
July/October, 2004
May/June, 2004
|
