What do you CARE about?? We have looked at all the comments people have made over the summer and fall, and we have identified 24 environmental and health concerns that reflect the diversity of responses we’ve heard:
- Access to health care, health disparities
- Air pollution – dust, fumes, smoke
- Asthma
- Bugs and pests
- Community blight – graffiti, litter, rundown buildings
- Crime and personal security
- Economic instability, unemployment, poverty
- Empty storefronts, business vitality
- Energy consumption, reliance on fossil fuels
- Environmental sustainability, climate change, overpopulation
- Food access and security
- Lack of community
- Lack of trees, parks, green space
- Lead in homes and yards
- Mold
- Obesity, nutrition, hunger
- Pollution from vehicles, traffic
- Radon
- Second-hand smoke
- Soil contamination
- Toxics in the home
- Trash – hazardous waste, recycling, composting, illegal dumping
- Unfriendly bike and pedestrian environment
- Water quality, storm water runoff
Over the next few months, we will be working with community members to prioritize a handful of these issues to work together to address in the coming years. Stay tuned for more information on upcoming meetings.
Last summer, the CARE project team talked to over 700 people living, working, and visiting the Longfellow and Phillips area about the assets and issues facing the community. People we met at the farmers market, community events, libraries, places of worship, and other locations were eager to share their perceptions of the area.
We found that the community’s primary assets are its people, its diversity and its sense of community. People also value the area’s proximity to many destinations — including parks, restaurants, shops, and downtown — and the ability to bike, drive, walk, and use transit to get places. Primary issues that impact the community include access to food, air quality, safety, traffic, and water quality.
We received 100’s of comments on assets and issues in the community – far too many to list out. One helpful way to present a large amount of information is through word clouds. This technique provides a visual depiction of how often people use different words to describe their community — with the size of the word representing its frequency of use. The two word clouds below depict community members’ comments on community assets and environmental and health issues:
1. Community Assets in Longfellow and Phillips
2. Environmental and Health Concerns in Longfellow and Phillips
Tell Us What You CARE About!
If you live in, work in, or visit the Longfellow or Phillips communities, we want to know your thoughts! What are the communities’ assets? What are your concerns? The CARE project Community Survey is now available at the following links in English, Somali, and Spanish.
Hennepin County’s Minnehaha-Hiawatha Community Works project recently received a Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) award of $100,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The CARE program aids communities in creating partnerships to reduce toxins in the local community. Hennepin County and community partners will use the grant to launch the Minnehaha-Hiawatha Corridor Environmental Collaboration, which will identify, prioritize and address environmental health risks.
Investment in transit isn’t just about transportation. It’s about creating healthy and sustainable communities for residents,” said Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin, who represents the area. “This grant will help us design a healthier Hiawatha Corridor and guide us in building it.”
Historically, the Minnehaha-Hiawatha corridor has served as a rail, highway, and utility services corridor, and remains a hub of industrial activity. The collaboration will consider all potential environmental risks along the corridor, including indoor/outdoor air quality, hazardous waste, lead paint, radon, water quality, and brownfields. Brownfields are sites whose reuse or redevelopment is hindered by the known or perceived presence of contamination, and are common in industrial areas.
The Women’s Environmental Institute and Longfellow Community Council will help lead the Minnehaha-Hiawatha Corridor Environmental Collaboration, which will include community groups, environmental and environmental justice organizations, and government agencies, whose work will focus on the geographic area encompassing the East Phillips and western Longfellow neighborhoods.
The information gathered as a result of this award will allow the county to:
- Help area residents and businesses gain an understanding of the major sources of exposure to toxic pollutants and environmental concerns in the corridor.
- Collect all existing cumulative environmental health data and present information on extent of existing risk.
- Collaborate with the community to prioritize risks for reduction.
- Develop an action plan for responding to the prioritized tasks.
- Build capacity with project collaborators to address these environmental issues.
Keep checking this webpage for more information on this project.
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