What to know
From 2014-2017, the ATSDR Land Reuse Team facilitated seven Community Partnerships projects in the US and formed one North American-European Land Reuse Working Group partnership. With BROWN, we provided consultative and technical assistance to these communities.
What is the Community Partnerships Project?
ATSDR’s Brownfields & Reuse Opportunity Working Network (BROWN) has a wide range of expertise. This can be used to help community’s shape redevelopment plans to include community health improvements. Basically, the Community Partnerships concept is a conversational brainstorm. The ATSDR Land Reuse Team or individual BROWN members can review overviews from communities seeking to create a revitalization vision. The team or members can then share this outline, from the community seeking assistance, among the entire BROWN network. Additional BROWN members can provide a rapid “blitz” opinion, based on their expertise. Communities can use these opinions to determine which projects can be implemented that help the community move towards their vision.
From 2014-2017, the ATSDR Land Reuse Team facilitated seven Community Partnerships projects in the US. They also formed one North American-European Land Reuse Working Group partnership. With BROWN, we provided consultative and technical assistance to these communities and partners. Currently, several pilots continue to grow. BROWN has helped to leverage millions of dollars in funding into the partnerships. We are excited to see our BROWN partners working together to provide assistance to the Community Partnerships projects.
How can a Community Participate in a Community Partnership?
ATSDR or BROWN members may already have been working with the community or would like to work with a community. As long as the community feels ready to commit to a revitalization vision, they can participate in a Community Partnership. These guidelines can help a community determine if they are ready to participate:
- Community characterizes themselves in terms of socio-demographic status
- Community has at least one potentially contaminated site believed to present exposures (or harm) to the population
- Community provides a summary of environmental and health concerns related to the site(s) and a specific request for assistance
- Community has a dedicated group of partners invested in revitalization and can demonstrate some successes in this effort
WHO WE ARE
The Brownfields & Reuse Opportunity Working Network (BROWN) is a coalition of stakeholders with a wide range of expertise in redevelopment. These ATSDR partners help our National Brownfields/Land Reuse Health Initiative reach out to more communities to integrate health in redevelopment.
BROWN is composed of experts from these agencies and fields:
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
State Health Agencies
Local Health Agencies
Academia
Agriculture/Urban Agriculture
American Planning Association
Brownfields Redevelopment
Community Outreach and Education
Economic Development
Educational Film/Video
Food Systems/Food Policy
National Association of County and City Health Officials
Smart Growth/Built Environment
Technical Assistance to Brownfields
Urban Planning
- Contact the ATSDR Land Reuse Team to get started! Atsdr.landreuse@cdc.gov
- Community Partnerships Assistance Request Form [PDF – 125 KB] Tell us about your community! Please fill this form to help us learn how we can assist you. Send us the completed form via e-mail to atsdr.landreuse@cdc.gov.