Child Study Center Grand Rounds 03.08.2022

Transcript

• 00:02Good afternoon everyone will be
• 00:03getting started in just one moment.
• 00:12Axel.
• 00:14I could use my supper.
• 00:21Yeah.
• 00:51Good afternoon once again everyone
• 00:54and welcome to Grand Rapids here
• 00:56at the Child Study Center and it
• 00:58is such a pleasure to be back with
• 01:00so many of you here in person in
• 01:02the Cohen and a warm welcome to
• 01:05everyone that is joining us via zoom.
• 01:08So for those of you who don't know me,
• 01:10I'm Kieran O'Donnell and
• 01:11together with Doctor Andrews,
• 01:12Martin and Doctor Crystal Finch,
• 01:14we Co chaired the.
• 01:15Grand Rounds Committee,
• 01:16which really represents a fantastic
• 01:18collaboration with multiple members
• 01:19of our community where we seek to
• 01:21try and bring diverse topics and
• 01:23speakers to you every week for
• 01:25our grand Rounds seminar series.
• 01:26And on that point we are beginning
• 01:29to fill up our seminar slots for
• 01:32the fall semester and into 2023.
• 01:34So if you do have suggestions for
• 01:36speakers that you would like us to see
• 01:38here and on in our grand rounds series,
• 01:40please do reach out to myself.
• 01:42Doctor Martin, Dr Finch or Rosemary Sarah.
• 01:45With your suggestions and,
• 01:47we'd be delighted to try and make that
• 01:50happen for the fall semester or 2023.
• 01:52Now, in terms of our speaker next week,
• 01:55we're going to hear from Kathy Koenig,
• 01:57Julie Wolf,
• 01:58and Leah Booth and Christine Cooker Kapisa.
• 02:01We'll talk about patient and provider
• 02:04perspectives on diagnosis and with
• 02:07regards to autism in a in a presentation
• 02:10entitled when it isn't autism.
• 02:12And following that,
• 02:14we'll have our next external.
• 02:15Speaker for a ground round series.
• 02:17Doctor David Olds,
• 02:18who many of you will know,
• 02:19founded the Nurse Family Partnership
• 02:22and evidence based home visitation
• 02:24program that seeks to improve,
• 02:26improve maternal perinatal health and child
• 02:29development and and now to our speaker.
• 02:32Today,
• 02:32it's my pleasure to introduce
• 02:35and welcome Susie Rule and to
• 02:37our Grand Rounds Seminar series.
• 02:40Now Susie's work really cuts to
• 02:42the quick of what we seek to do
• 02:44here in the CHILD Study Center.
• 02:46I think we all ask ourselves how we can
• 02:48have an impact on the lives of children,
• 02:50parents and families,
• 02:51and Susie worked Susie's work,
• 02:53seeks to do that on a broad and
• 02:56grand scale and by trying to
• 02:58influence and affect change in policy
• 03:01development and implementation.
• 03:03Now I'm not going to go into too much
• 03:06detail about Susie's a lustrous career,
• 03:08which included a stint as a senior
• 03:10attorney in the Environmental
• 03:11Protection Agency in the Office
• 03:13of Environmental Justice.
• 03:15Susie is going to do.
• 03:16Fantastic job of giving an overview of
• 03:18her trajectory to the Child Study Center,
• 03:20but I will say two things about Susie and.
• 03:24The first is that for those of
• 03:25you that have had the pleasure
• 03:27to interact with Susie,
• 03:28you will recognize her as a
• 03:31passionate advocate for children,
• 03:32parents and families,
• 03:34and she works tirelessly to try and reduce
• 03:38the inequities that affect underserved,
• 03:41underrepresented,
• 03:41and historically marginalized communities.
• 03:45And the second thing I'll say
• 03:46about Susie is that she is and.
• 03:47Expert sailor and so please
• 03:49be on the lookout for
• 03:51many nautical references as we go
• 03:54on this voyage with Susie rule where
• 03:57she talks about her background in
• 04:00policy development and implementation
• 04:01and how she will affect change here
• 04:04and help us in the CHILD Study
• 04:06Center to develop and affect change
• 04:08in in policy in the United States.
• 04:10So please join me in welcoming Susie rule.
• 04:14So much.
• 04:18Good afternoon,
• 04:19I always like to start whatever I
• 04:23do with an expression of gratitude.
• 04:24So thank you Karen for introducing me.
• 04:26Thank you. The other members
• 04:28of the Grand Rounds Committee.
• 04:30Thank you so much Linda for bringing
• 04:32me to the Child Study Center where
• 04:34I can be engaged with the the the
• 04:36world class experts in research
• 04:38and clinical care and education.
• 04:39And I'd also like to thank Hilary
• 04:41Hahn with the Elevate Policy Lab
• 04:43for giving me a venue to really
• 04:45think of the intersection.
• 04:47Of policy and triple bottom line
• 04:49justice with policy and practice.
• 04:55Yep.
• 04:596.
• 05:02Wrong button.
• 05:07Why did that happen in one second? I'm sorry.
• 05:09Well, while we're I, I tend to do
• 05:12this with technology so it comes.
• 05:15It comes perhaps with being lawyers.
• 05:17I think a lot of people
• 05:19think we're disruptive,
• 05:19but but but again, like I said it,
• 05:21it's so important right now with
• 05:24all that is happening in the world
• 05:27to be surrounded by who I believe
• 05:30a people who have the solutions
• 05:31to so many of the problems.
• 05:33And I feel like my role is to try to help.
• 05:35Take what you're doing and get
• 05:37that place into the governance
• 05:39process so that we are seeing
• 05:41changes not just in a policy,
• 05:43but on the day-to-day level
• 05:45of of children and families.
• 05:46And that's that's what you do,
• 05:48so hopefully we're back to working perfect.
• 05:50Linda had asked me to tell you
• 05:52a little bit about myself,
• 05:53my mentioning that to Karen that I tend
• 05:56to operate as a shadow government.
• 05:57The more people know who you are,
• 05:59the more they threw out roadblocks.
• 06:01But since you asked me to do that,
• 06:02I will do that.
• 06:03And I have a couple of career
• 06:05building blocks that got me too.
• 06:07Here to the Yale Child Study Center
• 06:10and the first is with with law school.
• 06:12When I was in law school,
• 06:13I really I really didn't like law and
• 06:15really didn't want to become a lawyer.
• 06:17But at the time I just finished the
• 06:19decade where rivers were catching
• 06:21on fire and then when I was in law
• 06:23school there was a proliferation of
• 06:25hazardous waste dumping going on in
• 06:27the Deep South where where I was living.
• 06:30And so I decided to do what any
• 06:32person out of law school does.
• 06:33I started my own public interest
• 06:35law firm and it was the first
• 06:37time that a law firm was created
• 06:38not to deal with national policy.
• 06:40There were organizations like the
• 06:42Natural Resources Defense Council,
• 06:44but there were no public interest
• 06:45law firms helping the people who were
• 06:47bearing the burden of pollution,
• 06:48disease, poverty and crime.
• 06:50And so why not?
• 06:51I started it, started it in my basement.
• 06:53My best Friends,
• 06:55Brothers,
• 06:55sisters had a somebody that worked
• 06:58at baskin-robbins.
• 06:59They donated an ice cream cake and we were
• 07:02able to get our first office but we had.
• 07:04We came from very humble beginnings and
• 07:06I'll I'll tell you more about the work,
• 07:08at least because that is actually connected
• 07:10to the work that I'm still doing today.
• 07:13But after working with communities
• 07:15who were suffering from pollution
• 07:17from poverty from disease,
• 07:19I decided that I needed to tap a
• 07:21little bit of a broader audience.
• 07:23And so I went to work for the
• 07:24Environmental Law Institute,
• 07:25which was actually created by
• 07:27the literal authors of our modern
• 07:29environmental laws.
• 07:30And it was an honor and a privilege
• 07:32to be able to work with those who had
• 07:34set this congressional base for how
• 07:36we protect our land, air, and water.
• 07:38And then,
• 07:39after a little bit of a stint there,
• 07:40when Obama was elected,
• 07:42I got recruited to become senior counsel
• 07:44for EPA's Office of Environmental Justice.
• 07:47And again, giving them a really
• 07:49hard time setting a high bar.
• 07:50I found that that that most of
• 07:52my effective work was actually
• 07:53not at EPA because they never
• 07:54went far enough and fast enough.
• 07:56And I formed relationships
• 07:58across the federal family,
• 08:00and one of them that was very profound
• 08:02was the HUD EPA deoti partnership
• 08:04for Sustainable Communities,
• 08:06which basically changed how
• 08:07government treats where you live
• 08:09and how you get to where you need
• 08:11to be so that its protective of
• 08:13your health and of your environment.
• 08:15And I launched Team EJ as
• 08:16part of that effort.
• 08:18And then from there I engaged as
• 08:20Co chairs of several committees
• 08:22of the Federal Interagency Working
• 08:24Group on Environmental Justice,
• 08:26which represented 17 different departments.
• 08:29Looking at the full suite of challenges
• 08:31and I'll talk a little bit about some
• 08:32of the work that I've done there.
• 08:34So that's who I am.
• 08:35That's all you're going to hear
• 08:36about me personally.
• 08:37Now I'm going to talk about the fun,
• 08:38exciting work that that that has
• 08:40been underway through each of
• 08:42these these career paths,
• 08:44as you know from the title,
• 08:46the topic of this.
• 08:48Is triple bottom line justice and having
• 08:51worked with communities from day one,
• 08:54we know that they're not just
• 08:56concerned about the environment.
• 08:57There's a lot of work,
• 08:58a lot of conversation on the
• 08:59environment is about their health,
• 09:01and it is about their economics
• 09:03and their economic vitality.
• 09:04So,
• 09:05working with these communities over
• 09:07the decades we formulated and Co.
• 09:09Created the concept of what we
• 09:11call triple bottom line justice.
• 09:13And it's recognizing what is
• 09:15government doing that works?
• 09:17What is government doing that's not working?
• 09:20And what are the gaps that need to be
• 09:22done and the key components again,
• 09:24are the represent the recognition
• 09:26that we need to tackle these
• 09:28issues simultaneously?
• 09:29Not an aside sidebar and coming here to Yale,
• 09:34which is so exciting for me,
• 09:36is this recognition.
• 09:37While it's important to have
• 09:39your physical health,
• 09:40if you don't have your your mental health,
• 09:42your behavior, health, your Wellness.
• 09:43You don't have the capacity to
• 09:45assail these other challenges,
• 09:47and so we,
• 09:48we've woven in the concept of
• 09:50triple bottom line justice.
• 09:51Into the environmental justice arena.
• 09:53So that's that's the underpinning
• 09:56of my talk today.
• 09:57So what I want to do here,
• 09:59and again,
• 10:00it's the beauty of the Child Study
• 10:02Center is that you have the researchers,
• 10:04you have the clinical care providers.
• 10:06You have the educators all in one spot,
• 10:08all focusing on the same objective,
• 10:10the same beneficiaries which are
• 10:12our children and the caregivers
• 10:14of families and and mothers and
• 10:16grandparents all in one place.
• 10:18And so I'm going to tell you
• 10:20three different stories.
• 10:21Trying to highlight the role of each
• 10:24of these of these pillars of the
• 10:26child Study Center and they're to me.
• 10:28They're they're very profound stories.
• 10:30There were stories that that I was part of.
• 10:32I was a key player,
• 10:33so you're going to get a little bit
• 10:35more about who I am and what I do.
• 10:37And so I will go ahead and
• 10:39start with our first story,
• 10:41which is dealing with mercury contamination.
• 10:45This adversely affecting
• 10:46children and families.
• 10:47And as I mentioned,
• 10:49LEAF started legal Environmental
• 10:50Assistance Foundation started
• 10:52with very humble beginnings.
• 10:53But we were quickly recognized by
• 10:55the powerhouses of civil rights,
• 10:57the powerhouse of environmental justice,
• 10:59and I'm so honored to say that John
• 11:01Lewis served on our Board of Directors,
• 11:03and he recognized,
• 11:04as is quoted here,
• 11:06that that there's more toxic
• 11:07pollution in minority and low income
• 11:09communities than any other communities.
• 11:11And he recognized the role
• 11:13of empowering communities.
• 11:15Those who are impacted with
• 11:16their lived experience,
• 11:18expertise going after those
• 11:19violations of the law,
• 11:21and so he supported us in what we did.
• 11:24And as it turns out,
• 11:26we because we were relying on lawyers
• 11:28who who were working for nothing,
• 11:30but we opened up for offices really quickly,
• 11:32and one of our one of not our.
• 11:35We have several key key cases was
• 11:37actually one that came out of Tennessee,
• 11:40Linda's home state where we were contacted
• 11:43because the US Department of Energy
• 11:45had lost £2.4 million of mercury in lost it.
• 11:49We didn't know where it was their their
• 11:51record reporting showed that it was gone.
• 11:53Well, we knew where it went.
• 11:54It went into a tributary
• 11:56of the Tennessee River.
• 11:57It was the East Fork.
• 11:59Poplar Creek,
• 12:00again,
• 12:00in a community that was low income.
• 12:03It was rural and that Mercury was
• 12:05carried home and impacting the children
• 12:07and the families both from the workers
• 12:10who came home and had that exposure,
• 12:12but also the the the people lived
• 12:14and swam and recreated it in the
• 12:16rivers and they were exposed by
• 12:18eating the fish when they were
• 12:20pregnant the pregnant mothers were
• 12:22exposing their children and there was.
• 12:25Significant concern about kidney damage.
• 12:27About neurodevelopmental damage,
• 12:29brain damage.
• 12:30A very, very, very difficult situation.
• 12:33So LEAF filed a lawsuit against
• 12:36the Department of Energy.
• 12:39We sued Hodel,
• 12:40who was the secretary at the time,
• 12:43and we basically won on summary judgment,
• 12:46which means there's no question of fact.
• 12:48It's just a question of law,
• 12:50and we want because the the Department of
• 12:52Energy and the federal government was saying,
• 12:54well, we don't have to comply
• 12:56with environmental laws.
• 12:57It's national security.
• 12:57Let us do whatever we want to if we
• 13:00want to lose £2.4 million of mercury,
• 13:02fine,
• 13:02they also lost some plutonium in the process.
• 13:05But the courts came back and said,
• 13:06no, that's that's not acceptable.
• 13:08You have to comply with environmental laws.
• 13:11Well,
• 13:11the significance of this lawsuit
• 13:14was made evident by the US
• 13:17Department of Energy's website,
• 13:19where they list the main events by
• 13:22decade and so in the decade of the 80s,
• 13:25the 1980s when we filed this lawsuit,
• 13:28we see Chernobyl. And there are
• 13:30those that say that Oakridge was the
• 13:32Chernobyl of of of the United States.
• 13:35Sadly in heartbreakingly we also saw the
• 13:38fall of the Soviet Union, and then we had
• 13:42our lawsuit in equal stance for that.
• 13:44But most importantly what happened is,
• 13:46as a result of the lawsuit, we were able to.
• 13:50But the Department of Energy established
• 13:53an Office of environmental Remediation,
• 13:55which is now the legacy program.
• 13:57But their budget today is almost half a
• 14:01billion dollars of a $7 billion budget,
• 14:03and that all started with our lawsuit.
• 14:06And I'll say this repeatedly throughout.
• 14:07What does that have to do with research?
• 14:10Because it was incontrovertible about
• 14:12the adverse health effects of mercury.
• 14:14We were able to go forward without
• 14:16having to have any battle,
• 14:18any discussion, any debate.
• 14:18We could not have done this without
• 14:20the research, and so that's.
• 14:22Called Action for continued work
• 14:24with what you're doing,
• 14:25but the story doesn't end there.
• 14:28Two decades later when I was recruited to go
• 14:30work for the Environmental Protection Agency,
• 14:32the first Environmental impact
• 14:33statement that I reviewed,
• 14:35which governs federal activities.
• 14:36And I'll talk about it more in
• 14:39a minute was for the disposal
• 14:40of the waste at the Y 12 plant.
• 14:42So 20 years later,
• 14:43even though we held them accountable by law,
• 14:46in practice,
• 14:46the waste was still there,
• 14:48and the sad part is,
• 14:50while initially the waste was located.
• 14:52In Tennessee and adversely affecting
• 14:54the the community and and in
• 14:56South South eastern Tennessee now
• 14:58because of the disposal,
• 15:00it was going to be exposing
• 15:02communities across the country.
• 15:03And it turns out that the waste
• 15:05disposal site that they wanted to to
• 15:07to locate the the waste to bury the
• 15:10waste was in a community that was 46%
• 15:13Latino was in border of Texas and Arizona,
• 15:1640% did not speak English,
• 15:18yet even under the Obama
• 15:19administration they said, oh,
• 15:21there's no environmental justice.
• 15:22Issue here because the majority
• 15:24of the population is minority,
• 15:25so again applying the the the
• 15:28evidence from research,
• 15:29applying the law,
• 15:30we were able to convince the
• 15:32Department of Justice that that was
• 15:35an unacceptable conclusion and that
• 15:36they needed to to take action and and
• 15:38we were able to get the emergency
• 15:40response materials translated into Spanish.
• 15:43We were able to get health care access
• 15:46considered, not just for for accidents,
• 15:48but for routine releases.
• 15:49So once again, applying research,
• 15:51applying science,
• 15:52applying the law together.
• 15:54We're able to have a good result.
• 15:56But the story doesn't end there,
• 15:58because this was an example of
• 16:00sustained failure on the part of
• 16:03the government to consider the
• 16:04environment and the human environment
• 16:06for low income people of color.
• 16:08So I worked with the law and executive
• 16:12orders and you'll hear me tell more
• 16:16about executive orders to focus on the
• 16:19national Environmental Policy Act,
• 16:21and I worked with a group of federal
• 16:24nipa and environmental justice practitioners,
• 16:28and we started at 12 and we ended
• 16:30up with
• 16:30200 so. So, Linda, we're going to get
• 16:33over 200 for our policy work and we
• 16:36actually developed an environmental
• 16:37justice methodology and we we laid out the
• 16:40components of what needed to be considered.
• 16:42And again, obviously transparency and
• 16:44meaningful engagement at the front end.
• 16:46Considering the impact of the alternative
• 16:49sinking of not just the land,
• 16:51air and water impact,
• 16:52but the human environment.
• 16:54The statute recognizes the
• 16:56human environment being health,
• 16:57cultural, economic, historic.
• 16:59So we we have a methodology for.
• 17:02For for addressing all of these concerns,
• 17:05again, the the the call out for
• 17:07researchers is that we have set with
• 17:09this document which we produced and
• 17:11is now part of the the requirements
• 17:13of the federal government,
• 17:14including the White House is we need
• 17:16help and and continuing to build out
• 17:19those relationships beyond mercury.
• 17:20There's 770,000 contaminants in common
• 17:24use and there's regulations for about 100,
• 17:26so the work is is urgently needed
• 17:29on in that respect.
• 17:31So again,
• 17:31for for every story I'm going to
• 17:34give you the story building blocks
• 17:36and A and a commercial break,
• 17:38but I think the building blocks
• 17:40for for researchers and for the
• 17:42walkaways is number one.
• 17:43Like I said,
• 17:44because we had that solid evidence of
• 17:46the health impacts of of a contaminant,
• 17:49we were able to to get the the the,
• 17:52the, the,
• 17:52the problem fixed and a place
• 17:55based perspective.
• 17:56We were also able once again to apply the
• 17:58the local disaster and create systemic.
• 18:01A framework for systemic protection,
• 18:05but this is the area that the next
• 18:06two blocks are really where it is.
• 18:08That road map for?
• 18:09What?
• 18:09For what researchers can be doing is
• 18:12that what's happening now with this
• 18:15heightened emphasis on environmental
• 18:17justice amplified by COVID with with climate,
• 18:21there's an urgent need for the
• 18:22research looking at health effects
• 18:24from the legacy contamination,
• 18:26historic contamination,
• 18:27but also the emerging contaminants.
• 18:29So that's a very fertile
• 18:30opportunity with a lot of research.
• 18:32Dollars that are available.
• 18:35There's the recognition that a protection
• 18:38of the population at large is insufficient.
• 18:40You need to look at the sub
• 18:42vulnerable populations,
• 18:43and there's recognition based
• 18:44on race based on income status
• 18:46based on medical vulnerabilities.
• 18:48So the the world is there now recognizing
• 18:51what we think needs to be done.
• 18:53They just need help in doing it.
• 18:55And last but not least are
• 18:57the psychological stressors.
• 18:59The words that were used are psychosocial.
• 19:01I don't know if that's what
• 19:02y'all would choose to use.
• 19:03But it really is getting
• 19:04to that mental health,
• 19:05and I think we're no longer in the
• 19:07space of it being whether we address it,
• 19:09it's how.
• 19:10And the federal government needs
• 19:11a lot of help,
• 19:12and figuring out how and again in
• 19:14terms of the roles of the researchers,
• 19:17just your understanding of this
• 19:19whole space can be very valuable to
• 19:22government decision makers so that
• 19:24they can understand the issue of
• 19:27contaminated exposure, exposure routes,
• 19:29vulnerability sensitivities,
• 19:30and so just helping.
• 19:32With that understanding, I think, is.
• 19:33Is a very important role.
• 19:35There's also a huge amount of data
• 19:37that's available at the federal
• 19:39government on environmental exposures,
• 19:41and that data comes from
• 19:42government collecting that data.
• 19:43But it also comes from the
• 19:45environmental laws that require
• 19:46the polluter to collect that data.
• 19:48And it's also available.
• 19:49So there's a whole world of data out
• 19:51there that you could be accessing
• 19:52as you look at environmental
• 19:54influences and then and then.
• 19:55Finally, is this this world of
• 19:57new funding opportunities and
• 19:58the way government works are not
• 20:00going to get along timeline.
• 20:01You may get two weeks.
• 20:02You may get two months, but.
• 20:04But yesterday,
• 20:04as a time to start thinking about
• 20:06how we can pull together the
• 20:08expertise of the of the child
• 20:09Study Center so that we're able
• 20:11to to Marshall those resources.
• 20:12So that's the end of my first story.
• 20:16But the commercial break here again,
• 20:18just a walk away for you is with
• 20:20the federal environmental laws.
• 20:22They're about 12 to 15 that
• 20:25are administered by EPA.
• 20:27The federal government tends to
• 20:29cluster the laws by resources,
• 20:31land laws, air laws,
• 20:33water laws,
• 20:34all of the laws require consideration
• 20:36of protection of the environment
• 20:38and the human health or the
• 20:40public health and the focus on
• 20:43public health is anemic at best.
• 20:45Most of the work the predominant work
• 20:47is on the natural resources affected
• 20:49or the critters that the the fish.
• 20:51The birds that the wildlife,
• 20:53and so it's a huge opportunity
• 20:54to start applying what we're
• 20:56doing to get that that systemic.
• 20:57Policy change and so you know,
• 21:00love to talk to anybody about
• 21:02any of these statutes.
• 21:03That could be another whole
• 21:04whole lecture and of itself,
• 21:05but but there's just a lot of
• 21:06authority out there to help
• 21:07us do what we want to do.
• 21:08For for children and families.
• 21:11The second story alright.
• 21:13Switching gears from researchers
• 21:15now to the Clinical care program.
• 21:18Is about a a methodology that we've
• 21:21developed which we put under the
• 21:23triple bottom line justice umbrella.
• 21:25It's what we call brownfields to
• 21:27health fields and we shorten that
• 21:28to be 2 H and I'll tell you a
• 21:30little bit about what that means.
• 21:32But I I want to start with the
• 21:35story and in the 90s there was a
• 21:37coalescing of this recognition of
• 21:39the disproportionate burden of
• 21:41pollution on people of color and low
• 21:43wealth and at the same time there
• 21:45was a big movement to start redeveloping.
• 21:48Vacant properties,
• 21:49some of which were contaminated,
• 21:5230% were not,
• 21:52but they wanted to turn that
• 21:54into productive use, and so,
• 21:56having worked with communities
• 21:57on a lot of pollution,
• 21:59I reached out to Miss Willa Carson,
• 22:01who is smiling here.
• 22:02And I will tell you why she's smiling.
• 22:04And as Karen pointed out,
• 22:05it's not because she wanted her
• 22:07friends to stop dying at the bus stop.
• 22:08There is a good story behind that,
• 22:10but I asked her what did
• 22:12she want from this
• 22:13coalescing of money and power
• 22:15and authority on environmental
• 22:17justice and contaminated lands?
• 22:19And she said, I want my friends
• 22:20to stop dying at the bus stop.
• 22:22And I said, well, is it drive by shootings?
• 22:24Is it drunken driving? No.
• 22:26When people in her community
• 22:27had a heart attack or a stroke,
• 22:29they had to go to the bus stop to
• 22:31get on the bus to go to the hospital
• 22:33they had in Florida at the time.
• 22:35Out of 64 county, 17 counties were
• 22:38unserved for community health care,
• 22:40and so we said, bingo, let's,
• 22:42let's start getting health care
• 22:44access in your neighborhood,
• 22:45and we found an abandoned gas station.
• 22:47We used EPA dollars to get
• 22:50the site remediated and then.
• 22:52The reason why she's smiling is it's
• 22:54OK so we got the property given to
• 22:56the community for low or no cost.
• 22:58But what about construction?
• 23:00What about operation?
• 23:01And it turned out that the the state
• 23:04senator from that area was was the
• 23:07Senate Republican president and I
• 23:09found out that he had just gotten
• 23:12appropriation for the local hospital
• 23:14for a parking lot for $500,000.
• 23:17So I took Willa with me and we went
• 23:20and met with the senator and I I.
• 23:22I asked her this question as to
• 23:23why she wanted to put environmental
• 23:25justice in brownfields together
• 23:26and she said I want my friends
• 23:28to stop dying at the bus stop.
• 23:29So I turned to Senator Lott Val and I
• 23:31said isn't this community work worth
• 23:33a parking lot and we got our $500,000
• 23:35through the tobacco funding at that time,
• 23:37but that's that's why she's smiling
• 23:39because we were able to tell that
• 23:41story to make the point and to
• 23:43get to get action so that that's
• 23:45what we've done in terms of of the
• 23:48the the access for clinicians by
• 23:51applying an environmental policy.
• 23:53But from this this story here
• 23:57that started in Florida,
• 23:58we were able to get state legislation
• 24:01to establish a Community health
• 24:03advisory program within the
• 24:05State Department of Health,
• 24:06which would look at that relationship
• 24:09between health and access to health
• 24:11care and and to environmental justice.
• 24:13And we were also able to to spawn
• 24:16a practice not just with local
• 24:18government and with the private sector,
• 24:21but but really much more broadly.
• 24:24Before I tell you a couple of more
• 24:26success stories which have come
• 24:28after the will of Carson story to
• 24:30give you a little bit of background
• 24:32'cause I know you don't come from the
• 24:35environmental perspective is you know
• 24:36what are brownfields and and what is
• 24:38a health field that you could probably we.
• 24:41We could take a little little tour
• 24:43outside this building and I could
• 24:44probably show you at least 20 or 30
• 24:46brownfields and and a half hour.
• 24:48But it's it's the notion could
• 24:49be abandoned gas station.
• 24:51It could be a landfill.
• 24:52It could be illegal dumping.
• 24:54It could be historic mining operations.
• 24:56It's it's what's bad,
• 24:57but once again we have a
• 24:58significant programming and
• 25:00significant funding from the federal
• 25:02government and the state government
• 25:04to get these sites cleaned up.
• 25:06And when they get cleaned up we can
• 25:07come in and work with the communities
• 25:09to get them turned into something
• 25:10that's going to be healthy for them.
• 25:12We look at the definition of health
• 25:14with the World Health Organization.
• 25:16It's not the absence of disease,
• 25:18but it's the mental, physical, spiritual,
• 25:20social well being of individuals,
• 25:22families and communities so.
• 25:24This is what brownfields revitalization is.
• 25:27Keep in mind that when we talk about
• 25:30these contaminated sites and brownfields,
• 25:32not all of them have that contamination or
• 25:34some like gas stations have contamination
• 25:36that could be fairly easily remediated.
• 25:39So keep keep that in your mind
• 25:41because I'm going to land the
• 25:43plane right here in Connecticut.
• 25:45Again,
• 25:45I I mentioned that we created the
• 25:47concept with the Community with with,
• 25:50with Willa Carson and with others what
• 25:52we call brownfields to health fields
• 25:54B2H with the B2H representing getting
• 25:58rid of what's bad the be the two is
• 26:00the engagement of the people who are
• 26:02living in that community so that they
• 26:05can determine what needs to go on
• 26:07that property as it's being reused.
• 26:10When, when Brownfields first started,
• 26:12there was a very real risk that would
• 26:13be a double edged sword that that
• 26:15it could be used for gentrification.
• 26:17For for displacement,
• 26:18but by empowering the communities
• 26:20who lived there,
• 26:21they could then decide that their
• 26:22future so that it could be healthy.
• 26:24And so the notion of B2H is that
• 26:27transformation of contaminated
• 26:28properties to strengthen the
• 26:30community health and well being and
• 26:32and looking at ways to to deal with
• 26:35disease and and poverty and violence.
• 26:40Continuing with this concept because
• 26:42there is a relationship that clinical
• 26:44care that Linda and I are just starting
• 26:47to have have a conversation about is
• 26:49the notion and the way we played it out.
• 26:51As we've been developing brownfields to
• 26:53health field, is that as we're bringing
• 26:56cost savings for the cost of a property,
• 26:58taking that from 1/3 to to practically
• 27:010 as we're bringing in additional
• 27:04resources to do the construction,
• 27:06there's a lot of cost savings to
• 27:08the operator of that of that health.
• 27:10Entity whether whether it's a hospital,
• 27:12whether it's a federally qualified
• 27:14Health Center,
• 27:14whether it's a grocery store and
• 27:16the negotiation now and and the TB.
• 27:18LJ approaches to somehow convince
• 27:20and work with the the people who
• 27:22are making that cost savings.
• 27:24To put that money back into services.
• 27:26And that that's that's the foundation
• 27:28that has been successful in
• 27:29other parts of the country,
• 27:30and we're trying to maybe think
• 27:33about applying it here if we can.
• 27:35But again, from a clinical perspective.
• 27:39The the the point,
• 27:41regardless of what happens in the future,
• 27:44is that when the the the, the patient,
• 27:46or the client comes through the
• 27:47door is that they're exposed to
• 27:49all of these stressors,
• 27:50and some of them may have that that
• 27:52direct impact on their health and
• 27:54well being on lead and drinking
• 27:56water we know affects children.
• 27:58We're seeing data that's showing that
• 28:00it may contribute to schizophrenia.
• 28:03We know that when a mother cannot
• 28:05get to her appointment or can't
• 28:07get to her job or can't get to.
• 28:09Her kids to school because there's
• 28:11no transportation that that's
• 28:12an environmental justice issue,
• 28:14so it's just being mindful
• 28:16of what is out there,
• 28:17what's influencing their their
• 28:18ability to take care of themselves
• 28:21from from that perspective,
• 28:22again, like we said,
• 28:23it gives us that ability to really think,
• 28:25not just on access to care,
• 28:27but on prevention.
• 28:28There examples of of
• 28:30brownfields to health fields,
• 28:32with pharmacies and pharmacy is spelled FARM,
• 28:36not PHARM where we're having.
• 28:39The the the scripts that are
• 28:41being provided for a patient with
• 28:43diabetes is to walk around the
• 28:45park for a couple times a week,
• 28:46so we're seeing that,
• 28:47and I think now with the huge
• 28:50influence in the huge resources
• 28:52coming down on workforce development
• 28:54across the federal family,
• 28:56we're talking billions of dollars.
• 28:58There's a really important opportunity
• 29:00to start thinking of training and
• 29:02the mental health fair training for
• 29:04community mental health ambassadors
• 29:06that that elevate works on it.
• 29:08And so on and so forth so.
• 29:09Again with triple bottom line justice
• 29:11it the relationship to clinical care is
• 29:13not quite as obvious, but it's very,
• 29:15very profound and very deep.
• 29:17So now I want to give you a couple
• 29:20more examples again because I like to
• 29:23think of things as one could be an accident.
• 29:26Two could be a pattern,
• 29:28three attend a trend for a rhythm
• 29:30and five a song,
• 29:31and we're definitely into the songs
• 29:33of brownfields to health fields B2H,
• 29:34and this is probably my favorite story
• 29:37and it comes from from from Linda.
• 29:39Linda connected me with this
• 29:40community and we we worked there,
• 29:42but it's it's a Grundy County,
• 29:44Tennessee in southern Appalachia
• 29:46and this success story.
• 29:47Represents a geographic expansion of B2H.
• 29:51Like I said,
• 29:52I started B2H working with communities
• 29:54when I was with LEAF in Florida.
• 29:57We soon had ample activity
• 30:00by local governments and the
• 30:02private sector in Florida,
• 30:04but when I got to EPA we wanted
• 30:05to go broader and so our next
• 30:07our next sites was Appalachian.
• 30:09We actually worked in Central Appalachia
• 30:11with an optometry school and because
• 30:13one in 10 people in Central Appalachia
• 30:16were legally blind and converted.
• 30:18And up gas station into a
• 30:20vision care provider, but it,
• 30:22but in grunt in Grundy County,
• 30:23Tennessee,
• 30:23when Linda had me come visit them once again,
• 30:26you start with the question of what
• 30:28is it that you want and the Community
• 30:30leader pointed out the window
• 30:32and said I want that high school
• 30:34rehabilitated and turn into something
• 30:35that's good for the Community and it was
• 30:37the abandoned high school for the county,
• 30:39which was a a a place where people came
• 30:42but it was in a great state of disrepair
• 30:44you can see from from the top slide.
• 30:47There was also a need to
• 30:48connect the community.
• 30:49This is rural areas and there was
• 30:51a an old railroad trail that they
• 30:53wanted to turn into the Mountain
• 30:55Goat Trail and the Long story short,
• 30:57by applying B2H working with the community,
• 31:00bringing in their partners,
• 31:01we were able through through the
• 31:04communities leadership and direction able
• 31:05to get that high school rehabilitated.
• 31:08And now there's there's providers of
• 31:10of children, care, mental health care.
• 31:13There's there's food, food,
• 31:15opportunities,
• 31:15and then we have the Mountain
• 31:17Goat Trail that's connecting.
• 31:19I think 3 different counties
• 31:21kind of coming into that center
• 31:22with the Mountain Goat Trail.
• 31:24They were able to get
• 31:25$1,000,000 from CDC to do,
• 31:26uh to to do a diabetes care,
• 31:28but that's the nature of how the
• 31:31how these things come together.
• 31:32What's exciting to me about the Grundy
• 31:35County story is that it's one of the
• 31:38first times that we've actually had
• 31:40some some evaluation and some some
• 31:43some documentation about the impact.
• 31:45And when we first started Grundy County
• 31:47ranked 95 out of 95 counties in Tennessee.
• 31:50Out of the the Robert Wood Johnson
• 31:52County ranking system for all metrics
• 31:54related to health, economics,
• 31:55environment and through the work of
• 31:58this effort through a lot of players,
• 32:00a lot of reasons,
• 32:01it all contributed to Grundy
• 32:02County moving up two positions.
• 32:04And maybe it's still moving upland.
• 32:05I don't,
• 32:06I don't know,
• 32:06but that that's that's concrete and the
• 32:10life expectancy was was improving and
• 32:14we were also able to get 21 miles of
• 32:15the contaminated railbed turned into
• 32:17something that's really helping and
• 32:19fostering the community engagement.
• 32:21And I know that this this other part
• 32:23of the slide is death by acronyms
• 32:25and I didn't have the space here.
• 32:27But what I want to point out is
• 32:29that we were able to to bring in
• 32:31probably about maybe $5 million a
• 32:35lot of money going to the Department
• 32:37of Transportation going to the
• 32:39Department of Environmental Protection,
• 32:40going to housing, going into agriculture.
• 32:44So when we think about dollars coming
• 32:45in for health and for clinical care,
• 32:47we don't limit ourselves to just
• 32:49the health agencies.
• 32:51So, so this is an exciting story.
• 32:54The next story that I wanna tell you
• 32:56about and and again I'm I'm building
• 32:58the base as to why the investment
• 33:00of of your time into Brownfield
• 33:02Southfield can be very productive,
• 33:04is that once again as we expanded based on
• 33:08geography with B2H at the federal government,
• 33:10we wanted to expand from a industrial
• 33:13sector perspective and as it
• 33:16turns out in Los Angeles,
• 33:18there's the river.
• 33:19That's a concrete bed and it
• 33:21also aligns with Interstate 710,
• 33:23which is. A corridor that leads to
• 33:25the ports of LA and Long Beach,
• 33:27and these are the largest ports in the
• 33:30world with 24 hour activity with incredible
• 33:33pollution of land, air and water.
• 33:36Incredible stress on the community.
• 33:37Members who live there who
• 33:40are predominantly Latino.
• 33:41And so we started the process of B2H by
• 33:44trying to get an understanding and a
• 33:46mapping of what's going on in this area.
• 33:49So we took the entire watershed
• 33:50and we put into dots.
• 33:52Where were things like.
• 33:54Like parks and and grocery stores,
• 33:57and access to mental health facilities
• 33:59and access to primary care facilities.
• 34:01And then we did the overlay of race.
• 34:03We did the overlay of income and
• 34:05we look at the distances.
• 34:06And of course,
• 34:07if you were a person of color and low wealth,
• 34:10the distance was was was out of
• 34:12reach and so we launched B2H.
• 34:14Based on this this this evidence based
• 34:17approach and what's really exciting
• 34:19and in this this picture you'll see
• 34:22here is a former grocery store that
• 34:24had been abandoned for 40 years.
• 34:26That has now been turned into a
• 34:29Community sustainability center.
• 34:30It provides a variety of services,
• 34:32from from,
• 34:33from job training to workforce development,
• 34:36to financial planning.
• 34:37Health care is being provided
• 34:39all in one stop shopping,
• 34:42again coming together under the B2H umbrella,
• 34:45most recently in another part of and and and.
• 34:48Actually this particular site is in
• 34:49Thompson and I don't know if y'all
• 34:51are familiar with the the movie
• 34:52straight out of Compton and so our
• 34:54motto is straight into Compton.
• 34:55But our but our the next,
• 34:57the next side is another community
• 34:59in that same area where we're able
• 35:01to get $2,000,000 from the state
• 35:03legislature to redevelop a former
• 35:05landfill into a healthy end use.
• 35:07So again, it's it's real time,
• 35:09it's real space and negotiation now
• 35:11comes to get some of that money for services.
• 35:15Bringing it closer to home,
• 35:16and this is also very significant.
• 35:20We decided that in addition
• 35:23to expanding geographically,
• 35:25in addition to expanding it
• 35:27based on industrial sector,
• 35:28again with with with goods movement
• 35:30that's happening all over the country,
• 35:32so that model has has replica ability.
• 35:35We also realized that with climate and this
• 35:37was back in 2012 with Hurricane Sandy.
• 35:40But when Hurricane Sandy hit this area and
• 35:43I'm sure many of you were here at the time,
• 35:47the federal government allocated $50 billion.
• 35:51So it's community development block Grant,
• 35:53which was the largest community
• 35:54development block grant in the
• 35:56history of the federal government.
• 35:57$50 billion and working with Elevate
• 36:00Policy Lab and the the Moms Partnership,
• 36:05we were able to leverage $6.2 million
• 36:07of that funding through social services
• 36:10block grants to expand the the Moms
• 36:13Partnership locations into the space at
• 36:15which Hurricane Sandy had hit in Connecticut.
• 36:18So again,
• 36:19significant dollars increasing access.
• 36:21The health care and the variety variety
• 36:23of services that are available and
• 36:26the final the final story here in
• 36:29terms of B2H and and the here and now,
• 36:31is the work that we're doing with the
• 36:33Elevate Policy Lab in Bridgeport,
• 36:34CT, where we have launched the Moms
• 36:38Partnership to deal with the stresses
• 36:40the the maternal two generation
• 36:42mental health stresses.
• 36:44But we're also launching triple
• 36:46bottom line justice as a proof
• 36:49of concept and within within.
• 36:51The community that we're working on.
• 36:53There is a former municipal landfill,
• 36:5635,000 tons been around for two decades.
• 36:59Not only do you have the contamination,
• 37:00you have the farm and everything that
• 37:02comes with these types of properties
• 37:04and through a lot of work by a lot
• 37:06of people besides being cleaned up
• 37:08and we're on the verge of having
• 37:10a lease being signed,
• 37:12it's going to allocate that property
• 37:14for a dollar a year to the community
• 37:17organization that the the the fresh
• 37:19food market and CAFE to create a.
• 37:21Hydroponic farm and Wellness campus.
• 37:25Applying a containers because you
• 37:27can reduce your construction costs
• 37:29by about a third.
• 37:30Some of those containers will be
• 37:32used for that growing of the Greens,
• 37:33which will be job creation as well
• 37:35as nutrition for the community.
• 37:37But we're going to also have the
• 37:39capacity to do training on on stress
• 37:42management training on trauma
• 37:43training on on civic justice,
• 37:45engagement, teaching the community,
• 37:47how to use the laws to protect themselves,
• 37:50and so on and so forth and so.
• 37:52This is an exciting project underway.
• 37:54It was selected by Congressman
• 37:57Jim Himes as his earmark for FY22.
• 38:01I haven't gotten any money yet,
• 38:03but if we do, if we do get, it'll,
• 38:04it'll be profound.
• 38:06But once again,
• 38:07it's taking the concept of brownfields
• 38:08to health fields.
• 38:09It started with people dying at the
• 38:11bus stop to where now we want it to
• 38:13be full service care and prevention.
• 38:15So that's the story.
• 38:17For for, for the clinical care and.
• 38:20And again, I think as I said before,
• 38:22the walkaways are that that
• 38:25relationship to clinical care may
• 38:27not be as close.
• 38:29In that you're overwhelmed with
• 38:31the surge now, but knowing what
• 38:33the your patients are facing,
• 38:35I think is important.
• 38:36It also gets to the social
• 38:38determinants of health,
• 38:39and it also gets to a road map
• 38:41that we're working to develop on
• 38:44getting access to the $1.4 trillion
• 38:46in the infrastructure bill.
• 38:48And I'll talk about that in in a little bit.
• 38:50So like I said,
• 38:51it's it's a build out of what
• 38:53we can do with clinical care,
• 38:54but it's something that we we
• 38:57need to be exploring.
• 38:58And then.
• 38:59The commercial break for for clinical
• 39:02care is looking at the disproportionate
• 39:05impact factors and these factors
• 39:07which start with proximity exposure,
• 39:10which is, you know,
• 39:11obviously too much pollution
• 39:12in one particular community.
• 39:14Cumulative impacts recognizing
• 39:15that that the impacts are coming
• 39:18through multiple routes of exposure.
• 39:20Physical infrastructure could
• 39:21be drinking water supplies.
• 39:23Susceptible populations is
• 39:24100% what we're doing here.
• 39:27Looking at those unique exposure pathways.
• 39:29Such as fishing and hunting,
• 39:31participating in the decision
• 39:33making process as an important
• 39:35psychosocial stressor,
• 39:36and then finally looking at the
• 39:38overall impact on the stress.
• 39:40And so this particular work is
• 39:42embodied in a 2011 American Journal
• 39:45of Public Health Supplement which has
• 39:48100 peer reviewed articles on this topic.
• 39:51The third part that I want to get to again,
• 39:54the third story,
• 39:55let me look at the time I Karen's
• 39:59giving me hand signals here.
• 40:01Is the part that takes us to
• 40:03today and it takes us to the work
• 40:05that's underway thanks to Linda's
• 40:07leadership on policy program and
• 40:09we know that there is there is
• 40:11brilliant work underway by faculty
• 40:13in the space of policy and Linda
• 40:16has LED a concerted effort to try
• 40:18to bring the work that's been done
• 40:21and making a durable policy presence
• 40:23at the Yale Child Study Center.
• 40:25And we've been working with
• 40:27the consulting firm.
• 40:27Wellspring,
• 40:28who's helped us develop
• 40:29some some visuals on this?
• 40:31And I think what's exciting to me,
• 40:34Karen mentioned that I'm a sailor.
• 40:35You always want to have your
• 40:37coordinates because you want to find
• 40:38the island in the middle of the ocean,
• 40:39because if your coordinates are wrong,
• 40:41you're going to be sailing along time
• 40:42and running out of food and water.
• 40:44But Linda has done an amazing job on
• 40:46set on articulating that that vision
• 40:48of it's the whole health of children,
• 40:50which is not divided between health
• 40:52and mental health and physical health.
• 40:54It's looking at that that high
• 40:57quality accessible behavior,
• 40:58health care did that's recognized
• 41:00by policy and supported by policy
• 41:02and policy includes appropriation.
• 41:04Again,
• 41:05is that financial infrastructure
• 41:06and it's also recognizing the
• 41:08conditions of of of place on
• 41:10triple bottom line justice.
• 41:11And again it's the goal and the
• 41:13the the intent of the of the,
• 41:15the the policy center in the
• 41:17hub is to bring the researchers
• 41:19together the clinicians together,
• 41:21the educators,
• 41:22together across across the
• 41:23child study center,
• 41:25across the School of Medicine across Yale
• 41:27so that we can all be putting together
• 41:30our brilliance to help protect children.
• 41:33And it's also. Making sure that it's not
• 41:35just down from an ivory tower perspective,
• 41:37just looking at at at at at what academic
• 41:40researchers or clinicians are saying.
• 41:41But also the the people in the population.
• 41:44So that's a very exciting effort underway,
• 41:46and we really, really, really want the
• 41:49engagement of every faculty member at
• 41:52at at the CHILD Study Center or more.
• 41:55While we've been developing this durable,
• 41:57probably present policy presence and I
• 41:59am speeding up a little bit here is that
• 42:02we've had work underway and we've got
• 42:04vehicles underway and the first is the
• 42:06social innovation and policy workgroup,
• 42:08and I shout out to Aaron Warnick,
• 42:11who who has been leading this for
• 42:13a number of years.
• 42:14And then since I've been here, I've been.
• 42:16I've been the Guardian when the
• 42:18president was before the president
• 42:20was elected as part of the campaign,
• 42:22knowing that there would be
• 42:24an administration change.
• 42:25The SIP team decided that they wanted
• 42:29to play ball in the executive branch.
• 42:31There's a lot of work that's done
• 42:33in the congressional arena,
• 42:34and so so we came together and we thought,
• 42:37well,
• 42:37why not just tell the President
• 42:38what we want him to do,
• 42:40and so we developed a model executive
• 42:42order that we developed ourselves.
• 42:45We socialized that across 30 different
• 42:48organizations externally and through
• 42:51our environmental justice colleagues
• 42:52who were on the Biden campaign who
• 42:54were on the Biden transition team who
• 42:56became part of the administration.
• 42:57We got this information in front
• 42:59of the White House,
• 43:00which is a which was nice to happen.
• 43:03As it turns out,
• 43:04the president had his own
• 43:05ideas about executive orders.
• 43:07On day one he signed three that
• 43:09were relevant to everything that
• 43:11we talked about and the they were
• 43:13executive orders on racial equity
• 43:15on environmental justice and on
• 43:17whole of government solutions.
• 43:19And so,
• 43:20after we had presented what we
• 43:22thought to be the right coordinates
• 43:24for doing child policy,
• 43:25we went forward and started responding.
• 43:28To some of these executive orders
• 43:30through requests for information,
• 43:32and one of them was to the
• 43:34Office of Management and Budget,
• 43:36which is the gatekeeper for
• 43:37the federal government.
• 43:38Every regulation has to go them,
• 43:40and they issued a request for information
• 43:42and the Me O team submitted its comments.
• 43:45We did it for a couple of others when
• 43:48when OMB came out with its findings.
• 43:51It included things that we had
• 43:52been advocating for it.
• 43:53We can't take credit for it,
• 43:55but we can certainly say we're all
• 43:56in alignment and we could think
• 43:58we contributed to that front and
• 44:00center was the recognition that the
• 44:02Community's well being needs to have
• 44:03an in trauma informed approaches.
• 44:05That's big.
• 44:06That has not happened before,
• 44:07and the federal government across
• 44:09the federal government.
• 44:10It spoke to the research interests
• 44:12of having that data
• 44:13being shared and linked across the agencies.
• 44:16I know that's something that Emio team
• 44:18researchers were very concerned about,
• 44:19and I think probably most importantly.
• 44:21Does this recognition of the one stop
• 44:24shopping and the payment situation
• 44:26that allowed people to get care
• 44:28based on what their needs were and
• 44:30their capabilities were not what some
• 44:32what a government programming said.
• 44:34So again within the field of policy
• 44:36at the CHILD Study Center and we have
• 44:39some really exciting things underway
• 44:41and we welcome everyone to join us.
• 44:43This is another opportunity to
• 44:45just mentioned, very briefly.
• 44:46Is there's an emerging effort to create
• 44:49a faculty network working with the.
• 44:51Yale Institute for Global Health.
• 44:54Looking at biological embedding,
• 44:55global research.
• 44:56But seeing how we can take this issue
• 44:58of biological embedding and adversity,
• 45:00which is fundamentally tide to
• 45:02triple bottom line justice and use
• 45:05that to inform the health policy.
• 45:07So that's again another opportunity
• 45:09here under way that we welcome
• 45:11everyone and we're actively recruiting
• 45:13people to engage with us again.
• 45:16The building blocks here I'm walking away.
• 45:19What do you do and I know I
• 45:20didn't hit too much on education,
• 45:21but education really permeates everything
• 45:23that we do is recognizing the need to
• 45:26understand the process we need to understand.
• 45:28It's not just Congress that does policy,
• 45:30but it's the executive branch.
• 45:32And of course,
• 45:32there's a role for the judicial branch.
• 45:34And then you need to infuse the substance,
• 45:36the technical knowledge.
• 45:37That you have right now and the
• 45:39space that we're at the way we're
• 45:41going to get funding to cover all
• 45:43of the needs that we see out there.
• 45:45We've got to be thinking of a place based
• 45:47resources that are leveraged for the people.
• 45:50And then finally all of the work
• 45:52that you do from the the the
• 45:55research to clinical the educators.
• 45:57We need.
• 45:57The goal is the most informed
• 45:59decision making at the federal,
• 46:01state and local government and
• 46:02all of you are essential for that.
• 46:04Uh,
• 46:04last little teaser before my
• 46:06next to last slide.
• 46:07As I've already mentioned to you
• 46:09that there's the $1.4 trillion out
• 46:11of the infrastructure bill and the
• 46:14infrastructure bill can fund everything
• 46:15that I've talked about in this slide today,
• 46:18at the tune of billions of dollars.
• 46:20And so we need to come together and
• 46:23access that for the children when we
• 46:25see the the the funding that went out
• 46:28through the the the American Rescue
• 46:30Plan Act and and lindas championing
• 46:32some efforts here in the state,
• 46:34its funding,
• 46:35housing its funding transportation,
• 46:36its funding, childcare.
• 46:37So the money is relevant,
• 46:39we just have to think about repackaging
• 46:41what it is and how we do it so that we
• 46:44can get the resources to meet the needs.
• 46:46And finally,
• 46:47last but not least,
• 46:49with my concluding slide,
• 46:50I want to share with you a quote which
• 46:54to me represents the most significant
• 46:56statement of the importance of
• 46:58children to policy and governance.
• 47:01And I'm just gonna read it.
• 47:02I would very much like for you to not have
• 47:05my portrait in your office is no portraits.
• 47:08A president is not an icon nor an idol.
• 47:11A president is not a president is
• 47:14not a portrait. Put photographs
• 47:16of your children there instead.
• 47:18And before making any decisions,
• 47:20look them in the eyes.
• 47:22And this was by you, can't you.
• 47:25Can't Ukrainian President Zelensky
• 47:27and his inauguration address in 2019?
• 47:30We who work.
• 47:31At Yale are privileged and you
• 47:34represent some of the best and
• 47:36brightest minds for expertise.
• 47:38For experiences for ideas,
• 47:40the government is desperate for expertise,
• 47:43ideas and and ways to get us to where we can.
• 47:46Can can work and Save the Children,
• 47:49and so with the policy programming,
• 47:51we look forward to working with all of you.
• 47:53As I mentioned to Karen at the beginning.
• 47:55Usually when I come to give talks,
• 47:57I have a sign up sheet and so I'm
• 47:59please let us know if this is
• 48:01a very much of an open door.
• 48:02Our policy,
• 48:03and we definitely want everyone
• 48:04to to join us in this effort.
• 48:06So with that thank you very much
• 48:08and I guess we're open to questions.
• 48:17We we actually have a question
• 48:18from Amanda Detmer, so Amanda,
• 48:20if you'd like to unmute.
• 48:21Amanda is joining us by Zoom.
• 48:24Hi Susie, can you hear me OK?
• 48:26Oh there you are hello Bindu.
• 48:30Uhm, thank you so much for
• 48:32this fascinating presentation.
• 48:33I'm I don't know about everybody else,
• 48:34but I'm so jazzed to see how
• 48:37my research might be able to
• 48:39contribute to policy efforts.
• 48:40And I just I'm just so excited
• 48:42after hearing your talk.
• 48:43So thank you, I.
• 48:45My question is,
• 48:46where might we go to see where you know
• 48:50what research studies did in fact, or,
• 48:54I guess, are used by policymakers I know.
• 48:57This is really broad question,
• 48:58but I'm thinking in particular about how.
• 49:01You mentioned that research into
• 49:03the effects of mercury, for example,
• 49:05and the effects that that had on
• 49:07policy like how do we know what kinds
• 49:11of studies are actually being used?
• 49:13That's a great question.
• 49:15I love it.
• 49:16Basically in federal government decision
• 49:18making and administrative record has
• 49:20to be established for that decision,
• 49:22making venue and so the the first step
• 49:25is to identify the decision and if you
• 49:28don't know exactly the precise decision.
• 49:31You can look at well what is the topic and
• 49:33then what agency might govern that topic.
• 49:36And then we can look at the
• 49:37decisions and then from there find
• 49:39the administrative record and you
• 49:40we we will have that covered.
• 49:42I mean that I think that's one thing
• 49:44that because of the Administrative
• 49:45Procedures Act it's very strong
• 49:46to have that that basis.
• 49:48And I think that's a great
• 49:49suggestion on an activity to pursue.
• 50:01Thank you so much.
• 50:02I just want to say Amen to
• 50:04everything to every single slide.
• 50:06Very, very inspirational.
• 50:07You know COVID has taught us one thing that
• 50:10science can get distorted and politicized.
• 50:13We just when we thought scientists science,
• 50:16it's irrefutable for the most part,
• 50:18look what has happened these last two years.
• 50:20And so when you talk about the
• 50:22power science using science.
• 50:24To influence in a social change,
• 50:26how do we anticipate?
• 50:28Is there a way to anticipate
• 50:30the politicization of science?
• 50:33How do we?
• 50:34How do we safeguard and mitigate
• 50:36against that possibility?
• 50:38I think that's a great question.
• 50:39I know that subject to some laws in Congress
• 50:42right now in terms of misinformation,
• 50:45and I would actually draw from the
• 50:47experience with environmental justice
• 50:49to give us a little bit of a road map.
• 50:52I think that there is a tendency to think of.
• 50:55The population as one unit with same
• 50:58motivation, same understandings,
• 50:59and so on and so forth.
• 51:01And what we realized with
• 51:03environmental justice,
• 51:03which I think tracks what's going
• 51:06on with misinformation is that
• 51:08the the approach to dealing with
• 51:10rural environmental justice is
• 51:12different from urban and urban.
• 51:13You have predominantly people of
• 51:15color who are screaming because
• 51:17they want government to come in.
• 51:18They want the federal government
• 51:20to come in and the rural areas.
• 51:21And what I found in Tennessee is
• 51:24that it's largely low income.
• 51:25White populations who don't want
• 51:27government to come and who meet
• 51:29you with a with a shotgun.
• 51:31And so the conversation yesterday
• 51:33was thinking of applying that
• 51:36that scientific approach looking
• 51:38at in in the COVID situation,
• 51:41looking at the political side that
• 51:43you know the the the myth makers.
• 51:46But the basis for them not wanting
• 51:48to believe is the opposite of the
• 51:51basis of why we have such why
• 51:53we have had such difficulty in
• 51:55the black and brown communities.
• 51:56So again,
• 51:57with what we've done with environmental
• 51:59justice is that we've we've.
• 52:01We've taken the population and made
• 52:04a very granular assessment and
• 52:07communication with that population so
• 52:09that it's not a cookie cutter approach.
• 52:13And so you know, again,
• 52:14with the black and brown population,
• 52:16especially the black population.
• 52:17Tuskegee is alive and well and
• 52:19we have not overcome that.
• 52:21And even though people like to think
• 52:23that the doctors are your trusted
• 52:25providers in a lot of communities,
• 52:26they're not.
• 52:27And so we've got to start,
• 52:28we've got to start with assessing
• 52:30the validity of the assumptions
• 52:32of the people we're dealing with,
• 52:34and I think once we do that,
• 52:36the other part will fall.
• 52:37I think it'll happen.
• 52:38I think that's when the science can come in.
• 52:41Miller
• 52:47it's easy, just just to check Amanda,
• 52:49do you? Do you have another
• 52:51question just or great fun?
• 52:55You know you mentioned about
• 52:57the sign up sheet Susie.
• 52:58What would be concrete next steps for
• 53:00people that are listening today and
• 53:01thinking they'd like to get involved?
• 53:04Black, I said I think we need to create
• 53:06a virtual worksheet and I think that
• 53:08if any of you have any interest in
• 53:11either policy straight up or working on
• 53:14triple bottom line justice, let us know.
• 53:18I guess. Email me email Linda.
• 53:21Don't email, let it.
• 53:22Do not email. Linda email me,
• 53:24but I may be equally dangerous.
• 53:26We'll set up a system to do that,
• 53:28and I think as part of the
• 53:30rollout of the of the policy hub,
• 53:32we're going to want to have.
• 53:33We're wanting to to do some mapping
• 53:36on what people's interests are
• 53:37so we can start start helping
• 53:40to channel the the interest.
• 53:41One thing that I do want to say
• 53:44is I've never had access to such
• 53:46a wonderful braintrust as I did
• 53:48as we were developing the model
• 53:49executive order and the comments.
• 53:52To to office management.
• 53:54We we commented to NIH.
• 53:56We commented to other departments and
• 53:58so if any of you have any interest,
• 54:01there are a huge number of opportunities
• 54:04to apply your expertise in venues
• 54:07where government is asking questions,
• 54:10so that's part of it.
• 54:12Part of it is to help inform
• 54:14their thinking substantively,
• 54:15but also what is equally important
• 54:17is that we really need your help and
• 54:20packaging interventions so that that real.
• 54:22Relief can come to these communities
• 54:24because EPA and the federal
• 54:26government and I always look around.
• 54:28Hope I'm not going to get whatever
• 54:29for saying then in the government
• 54:30can't speak like that.
• 54:31I don't work for you anymore.
• 54:33Is that? They're doing webinars.
• 54:35They're doing charettes.
• 54:36They're doing justice journeys.
• 54:38They're not coming in and being
• 54:40accountable to the lives of the
• 54:41people that you're dealing with
• 54:43on a day to day basis.
• 54:44And it's not that they're
• 54:45against doing the right thing,
• 54:47they just don't have any idea of what to do.
• 54:49And so that creative problem solving,
• 54:51and I think Karen.
• 54:52We can look at the SIP team,
• 54:54the social innovation and policy.
• 54:56We're group as a venue to
• 54:57have these conversations.
• 54:58We can also look at the
• 55:00Begin faculty network.
• 55:02We'll make new venues if
• 55:03those two don't work,
• 55:04but those are two concrete
• 55:05places to get engaged.
• 55:08Wonderful, and I'd really
• 55:09encourage any trainees that
• 55:10are on zoom or in the room.
• 55:11If anyone any trainee would like
• 55:13to pose a question to Susie,
• 55:14please do raise your hand or
• 55:16unmute and just ask directly.
• 55:18Do we have any other questions while
• 55:20we're waiting in the in the room?
• 55:22Or on zoom.
• 55:25You know I would.
• 55:26I would also offer that if
• 55:28you do have any questions,
• 55:30put them in the chat because your
• 55:32questions are more important than the
• 55:34answers and I think what what your
• 55:36questions can help us do is have a
• 55:38better sense of what what your interests are,
• 55:39but also how we can be navigating our policy.
• 55:42So please fill the chat with with
• 55:44those questions or or send them to me.
• 55:51So far we're getting lots of just thank you.
• 55:53Amazing that was a fantastic talk.
• 55:58From from on your talk so far.
• 56:02Well, Karen, I know we have maybe
• 56:04time for one more question.
• 56:05I know you had a question that
• 56:07we were talking about beforehand.
• 56:08If there are no others.
• 56:11Mr hand. So go ahead and.
• 56:18Hi, thank you. Can you hear me yes.
• 56:22This is just amazing and I think
• 56:24we have briefly talked in the past
• 56:26about the intersection with our
• 56:29international work and policy,
• 56:30and so I just like the road
• 56:33map for your work in the US.
• 56:35It's it's just brilliant and I wonder
• 56:38what are your thoughts on similar Rd
• 56:40maps for international advocacy and how
• 56:43we can come together in that space.
• 56:45Thank you so much for that question
• 56:46because I think that's that's odd.
• 56:48There's multiple opportunities,
• 56:49I think clearly.
• 56:51To a certain level,
• 56:53with environmental justice,
• 56:54we've actually learned a lot more
• 56:56from from from international efforts,
• 56:58and I think that that I love
• 57:00that the definition of of,
• 57:02of of global health.
• 57:03It's applied where it's that recognition of
• 57:06the individual as well as the population.
• 57:08So I think that that it's applying
• 57:10the knowledge that we know from
• 57:12the international work to help
• 57:14improve the decision making here
• 57:16also knowing that many of the
• 57:18communities EJ communities that are
• 57:19working within in the United States
• 57:21actually have that connection.
• 57:22I'm internationally so I think
• 57:24at this point it's like take away
• 57:26the borders and let's get the best
• 57:28thinking in best thinking both in
• 57:30terms of the solutions but also
• 57:32understanding of the problems.
• 57:34So I think that that's great and
• 57:35I think maybe that's a space for
• 57:37the begin faculty network,
• 57:38because that's definitely got
• 57:39that global global presence.
• 57:40So please join us there.
• 57:44Yes Susie. I'm I'm sorry
• 57:46that I had to step out but
• 57:48amazing talk. Thank you so much.
• 57:50I didn't know a 10th of this.
• 57:52I love it. Love it, love it because
• 57:55so often we feel so paralyzed.
• 57:57You know we know that problem
• 57:58problem problem but we're frozen.
• 58:00So I think that you've given us a
• 58:02lot to chew on and to think about.
• 58:04And the other thing I was going to
• 58:05and I will approach you one on one.
• 58:06But I also wanted to say that
• 58:08my colleague Lilia Benoit.
• 58:09She's not here today.
• 58:10She's in Brazil doing some of the work
• 58:12that we do with environmental perceptions.
• 58:15And kids and families and
• 58:17the disproportionate toll
• 58:18on minoritized populations.
• 58:20Both African American communities.
• 58:22Native American communities.
• 58:23She's in the in Bay Area in the
• 58:26northeastern part of Brazil.
• 58:27Perceptions of kids and families about
• 58:30ecological disaster and how we can
• 58:33become more active rather than more.
• 58:35Jeremiah and I think that you gave
• 58:37us like a wonderful, wonderful.
• 58:38So thank you for that.
• 58:39It's been really fantastic, so thank you.
• 58:41Thank
• 58:42you so much and I've got a target for us,
• 58:43actually. Pull this to Linda.
• 58:46Is that the the federal government
• 58:48addresses climate and the impacts
• 58:50of natural disaster through its
• 58:52ppda Presidential Policy Directive.
• 58:548 It's the the natural
• 58:56disaster recovery framework.
• 58:57There is one reference to children
• 58:59and that entire document which is
• 59:01governed how all the federal government
• 59:03deals with with with disasters.
• 59:05And that's in footnote 9.
• 59:07There's a footnote that says
• 59:08we must consider the impact
• 59:10on children that is a target.
• 59:11That is something that we can go in there,
• 59:13and we can take that footnote
• 59:14and at least make it a chapter,
• 59:16if not an entirely new book.
• 59:18And yourself you got yourself
• 59:20a deal. I have all these witnesses so
• 59:21I love it. Thank you so much, Linda.
• 59:25Just one more question.
• 59:28Doctor Christina Emmons is
• 59:30asking and whether or not you
• 59:31collaborate with connect.
• 59:34You know, I have not, but I
• 59:35would love to tell me more.
• 59:39I'm not sure. Amanda, things I
• 59:43could probably send some information,
• 59:45perhaps because it kind of would do
• 59:48similar work and I think there would be
• 59:50good synergy between what you're doing,
• 59:52which is fantastic work
• 59:53and what they're doing,
• 59:55and they're of course here in Connecticut,
• 59:57and I would definitely like to get involved.
• 59:59I mean, this is wonderful work,
• 01:00:01that's fantastic.
• 01:00:02Please please send that to to me
• 01:00:05and we'll put it all together.
• 01:00:07Thank you, thank you so much.
• 01:00:10Wonderful, so I think we are just
• 01:00:12about at time, you know, Susie.
• 01:00:13I think the you know the
• 01:00:15excitement here is palpable.
• 01:00:15I think you've set the coordinates
• 01:00:17and I think everyone here is
• 01:00:19excited to go on this policy
• 01:00:20journey and voyage with you and
• 01:00:22so just to thank Susie Rule once
• 01:00:23again for a fantastic grand rounds.
• 01:00:26Thank you. Thank you all so much and
• 01:00:27thank you for letting me be here.