CCED Flint Office Update
By: Robert Brown, MSU CCED Flint Office, Associate Director, brownr23@msu.edu
Water/Lead Recovery Efforts
The Community Partners Recovery Team is merging with the City of Flint to create one local structure (Flint FACT) to continue our recovery efforts. CCED Flint continues to participate on the communications group and attend the bi-weekly Flint FACT information meeting. This continues to be a long term effort.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma (ReCAST) Grant
CCED Flint is participating in a 5 year, $5 million grant to:
- Assist high-risk youth and families
- Promote resilience and equity in communities that have recently faced civil unrest through implementation of evidence-based, violence prevention, and community youth engagement programs
- Promote linkages to trauma-informed behavioral health services
The goal of the ReCAST Program is for local community entities to work together in ways that lead to improved behavioral health, empowered community residents, and reductions in trauma and sustained community change.
Initiative partners include UM Flint Public Health & Health Sciences (Vicki Johnson-Lawrence, Ph.D. is the P.I. for the project), City of Flint, Genesee Health Systems, State of Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, CCED-Flint and others.
MSU-Hurley Children's Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative (PPHI)
In January 2016, Michigan State University and Hurley Children's Hospital formed the Pediatric Public Health Initiative (PPHI) to address the Flint community's population-wide lead exposure and help all Flint children grow up healthy and strong. The initiative brings together experts in pediatrics, child development, psychology, epidemiology, nutrition, toxicology, geography, education, and community and workforce development. Hurley Hospital is joined by MSU College of Human Medicine, MSU Extension, MSU College of Education and several other MSU Colleges. CCED Flint is helping with recruiting and will be part of the Parent Partner Group.
The initiative is led by Mona Hanna-Attisha, MD, MPH, FAAP, director of the pediatric residency at Hurley Children's Hospital and assistant professor of pediatrics at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.
Equitable Regional Food System
The effort to create an equitable and sustainable food system in the Flint area has relaunched. When the water crisis hit we put it on hold. This is a Community Foundation effort. CCED Flint, MSUE Center for Sustainable Food Systems and MSU Public Health (College of Human Medicine) are involved in the initiative. This is very important work given that Flint is a food dessert and that foods high in Vitamin C, Calcium, and Iron are needed to mitigate the effects of lead poisoning. CCED Flint, MSUE, MSU Public Health are on the steering committee.
The Tendaji Talks
We have received funding for our second year of the Tendaji Talks, our effort to reduce systemic racism. Last year, MSU faculty members Ruben Martinez and Dorinda Carter Andrews participated in our speakers' series. This year's speakers' calendar will be released in the near future.
CCED Flint: REI Aquaponics house
Finally, we continue to work on CCED REI innovations. They center on creating an Aquaponics initiative in Flint: developing a learning center to teach aquaponics, creating a neighborhood aquahouse for small scale year round food production, and long term, building an aquaponic greenhouse onto our North Flint cooperative grocery store.
North Flint Cooperative Grocery Store
Once again this is very important work given that Flint is a food desert and that foods high in Vitamin C, Calcium, and Iron are needed to mitigate the effects of lead poisoning.
The grocery store project is 4 to 6 million dollar effort. We've secured about $1.5 million in addition to the
site. Partners include:
- North Flint Food Market members, investors, and residents
- North Flint Reinvestment Corp
- CCED-Flint
- Mayor's Economic Recovery Taskforce
- Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce
- Michigan Economic Development Corp
- Genesee County Land Bank/ State Land Bank
- LISC
- Uplift Solutions
- CDS Consulting
- Food Co-op Initiative
We are excited about the amount of community interest and community engagement in this endeavor. For more information on CCED action in Flint, contact Robert Brown at brownr23@msu.edu.