MARION COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT
July 2004 PACE-EH Progress Report

Date:         August 12, 2004

To:             Daniel Parker, MSP, GAL
                   Assistant Division Director, Division of Environmental Health

From:         Samuél Brobbey, Jr
                    Senior Health Educator

Subject:     Update - West Ocala Neighborhood PACE-EH Project.
                    Marion County Health Department, Environmental Health Division

Project Summary:

The West Ocala Neighborhood PACE-EH Project moved into high gear after several months of information gathering and familiarization with the PACE-EH processes at other sites. A lot of time was spent making contacts and having several one-on-one and group meetings with organizational leaders, City and County officials, and leaders of the faith community and most importantly members of the West Ocala community. Additional contacts and presentations have been made to the Ocala City Council members, the Governors West Ocala Neighborhood Revitalization Council, Inc., and several churches in the community.

So far, many residents have expressed enthusiasm and communicated willingness to participate in the process. Several meeting with various City Officials have been organized to give a broad overview of the PACE-EH tool. The City of Ocala Community Programs office and the Planning Department have expressed support and active partnership in moving PACE-EH along.

So far, we were given airtime to educate the community, advertise and drum up support for the PACE-EH Project on three local Radio Stations WKSG, WOCA and WMFQ.

With such strong expectation from the community and support from organizations with interest in the West Ocala Community, our first community-wide meeting was scheduled for the evening of August 2nd. Two local Newspapers The Star Banner and The Mahogany Review - published articles about PACE-EH prior to the meeting. This undoubtedly brought additional publicity to our project.

The first community meeting was very encouraging compared to similar meetings for the West Ocala community. A broad representation of community members and leaders, city officials and local organizations were in attendance. The PACE-EH Process was presented followed by an engaging discussion on environmental Health issues. An important decision was made by the group to include the whole West Ocala Community instead of just the Historic District. Active recruitment strategies were outlined to include other organizations previously not identified as stakeholders and partners. The group agreed to form a Community Environmental Health Assessment Team (CEHAT) which will meet in two weeks Monday August 16th to initiate concrete action steps for accomplishing the goals of PACE-EH Project in the West Ocala Neighborhood.

PACE EH Work plan

PACE-EH Tasks	Action	Outcome	Target Date
Task 1: Determine community capacity	Specific resources, skills and capacities needed for the project have been identified. New working relationships with other agencies, businesses and organizations have been formed. Current collaboration possibilities have been broadened. Expressed community concerns has made this project a timely venture. Potential strengths and weaknesses of community outlined. First community meeting Conducted.	Completed. Decision to form a Community Environmental Health Assessment Team made with date of first meeting scheduled for August 16, 2004.
Task 3: Assemble Community Health Environmental Team	1st Community Environmental Health Assessment Team Meeting scheduled o Clarify expectations of team. o Vision formation o Develop governing and decision-making structure, and ground rules o Describe scope of environmental health issues to address o Encourage and recruit community and other organization involvement. Review PACE EH Tasks and set timeline for the process	Pending	8/31/04

In order to capture a wider variety of organizations and other grassroots community members, we have canvassed the broader West Ocala area with flyers inviting them to participate in the Community Environmental Health Assessment Team. Additionally formal invitation letters have been mailed to the approximately 66 Churches identified in the West Ocala area. Because we want this to be a truly grassroots community driven initiative, we anticipate the Community Environmental Health Assessment Team (CEHAT) to decide how the various Tasks and processes will be conducted.