Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing. For more information on this project, contact Frank Kruppa, Environmental Health Director at the Highlands County Health Department.
HIGHLANDS COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT
May, 2007 PACE EH Progress Report
Date: May 25,
2007To:
Daniel Parker, MSP
Assistant Division Director, Division of Environmental Health
From: Emerita Denefield
PACE-EH Coordinator
Through: Frank Kruppa
Environmental Health Director
Subject: Highway Park PACE EH
Project
Five core teams were formed to handle the key issues and
concerns of the community. The team leaders of each team have agreed to
do a monthly meeting for learning, sharing, coordination and updates.
Following are the key working agreements and results reached this
period:
-
Training and learning on leadership skills will be
done hands on; the PACE-EH coordinator will just give written and
verbal pointers for conducting meetings etc. This means the PACE-EH
Coordinator will be joining each Team Leader when conducting their
respective team meetings.
-
Each Team Lead will do their own recruitment of
volunteer members from the community. Each of them was given the
necessary forms: the Volunteer Sign-up Sheet and the PACE-EH
Commitment Form.
-
The volunteers will take on the production and
distribution of the Highway Park Newsletter each month, beginning
the month of June. Two volunteers will be involved during the
preparation and publication of the May issue.
-
Team Strategies of all five teams have been
completed and finalized. Three teams are ready with their detailed
action plans; two others are in the process of finalizing theirs as
of this writing. The completed team strategies and work plans are
now posted in the Sharepoint drive.
Inventory of programs and services that are available in
the community is almost complete. The Team Leads will be working with
the churches and organizations on programs and projects related to their
respective action plans. The inventory of external resources available
will be prepared right after and distributed to the Team Leads for their
reference as they go through their respective projects.
2. Work Plan and Process Update
|
| EH Tasks |
Action |
Outcome |
Target Date |
| Task 1: Determine
Community Capacity |
1. Continuing effort to invite
residents and organized groups to become PACE-EH volunteers.
NOTE: This month we have the 7th church: Bethel AME
Methodist Church |
Five new individual volunteers
joined this month, total volunteers now at 53 |
On-going |
| Task 2: Define and
Characterize the Community |
3. Do an inventory of programs
available being sponsored by the different organizations in
Highway Park |
April target moved due to
change of 2nd general meeting schedule |
May, 2007 |
| 4. Training of volunteers on
basic skills/processes like brainstorming, problem analysis,
leading, organizing, planning and monitoring |
Teaser information given to
volunteers for motivation. Copy in the Sharepoint
file. |
June 2007
- All three will be using their e-mails for contact
and coordination. |
| Task 3: Assemble a
Community-based environmental health assessment team |
5. Identify external resources
needed and establish working relations and formal
representation |
Helping relationship with 2
agencies formed with immediate results (see summary above).
Agencies are: The Highlands County Engineering Dept. and the
Highlands County Parks & Recreation Dept. |
June 2007 |
| Task 4: Define the
Goals, Objectives and Scope of the Assessment |
6. Facilitate the visioning
process for different work teams |
Vision & Strategies finalized,
copy will be posted in the Sharepoint drive |
Completed |
| 7. Definition of Goals,
objectives and Scope of the different work team |
Completed |
Completed |
| Tasks 12: Develop
an Action Plan |
8. Development of specific
action plans of each team complete with target dates and
measures of success. |
60% complete |
|
| 9. Implementation of plans on
a per project basis. Some projects that have started: |
Plan specific |
|
| 9a. Facilitate community
residentÂ’s access and application for the Energy Assistance
Program. Coordination with the agency completed, flyers and
forms distributed for information |
Coordination with the
concerned agency completed, flyers and forms distributed
for information |
|
| 9b. Coordinate with Greater
Love Church on their GED Program; encourage full use of the
program by qualified residents. |
Information flyers done and
distributed actual classes will be conducted within the
community, decrease expected fall out by running a
mentorship program that would work alongside the GED
Program. |
|
| 9c. Information campaign on
Water Quality and Safety arranged with the County
Engineering office |
County Engineering Dept
requested for change of date from mid May to June. |
|
| 9d Follow through the promise
given by County Engineering on a well irrigation system. |
Highway Park Enhancement and
Preservation Council has agreed to take responsibility of
maintenance once the well irrigation is completed. |
|
3. Outstanding Issues/Concerns
|
Volunteer motivation to be active in different work
teams is a challenge. The Team Leaders were asked to recruit
residents (current volunteers or not) to join their team. The
selection criteria would be those they know as having the personal
motivation and desire to help improve the community. This way, the
recruitment would be at the personal level rather than at the
concept level.
The Highway Park Neighborhood Preservation and
Enhancement District Council started to sponsor softball games and
form their playing team. Their softball easily became the Lake
Placid softball team, with 95% of members being Highway Park
residents. Some games are done in Highway Park; the Porta Johns
given by the Department of Parks and Recreation are now in use.
Some pictures taken during the May 5 softball game:
April,
2007
March,
2007
February,
2007
January,
2007
|
