Child Study Center Grand Rounds 03.08.2022

March 21, 2022

Information

Beyond Silos: A Triple Bottom Line Justice Approach to Advance Child and Family Health

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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.