A Monthly On-Line Newletter for Home*A*Syst Coordinators, Partners and Friends
At Home with the National OfficeGrants. Grants. Grants. If you're like us at the national office, you're madly writing grant proposals and probably don't have time to read this issue of the Threshold! I, for one, will be happy when June 6 has come and gone. For those of you with a moment to spare, I wanted to update you on what proposals the Home*A*Syst national office is submitting. First, we just sent off a large proposal to US HUD, for their Healthy Homes Initiative. Our proposed education and outreach program is a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin-Extension and the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services. We will build on efforts that created the Help Yourself to a Healthy Home booklet, with activities that include: 1) a statewide, 3-year media campaign, 2) rural and urban in-depth community pilot education projects, and 3) a statewide expansion of successful educational strategies in Year 3. Second, we're submitting a national coordination proposal for Home*A*Syst under CSREES Section 406 - Water Quality. If funded, the proposal will provide the support needed to maintain national coordination of our program. Third, we're submitting an integrated proposal under CSREES Section 406 - Food Safety. This funding would allow us build on our existing project to develop, pilot test and deliver a self-assessment tool focused on in-home consumer food safety, targeted at underserved, low-income families. We're currently launching a pilot program and are seeking funding to revise the tool, deliver it nationally, research in-home food safety behaviors and document impacts through a multi-state evaluation process. |
As you know, Home*A*Syst has come a long way from it's roots as a drinking water wellhead protection program. Home*A*Syst brought the entire realm of indoor environmental health risks to our standard of drinking water protection. Rhode Island Home*A*Syst has now closed the circle by creating a guidebook for residents who rely on public water supplies.
With support from the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, Rhode Island Home*A*Syst published:
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| Click here to view PDF copy of the English version |
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| Click here to view PDF copy of the Spanish version |
The material, written in both English and Spanish, focuses on public drinking water supplies and services. The model addresses consumer concerns (water quality testing and frequency, the treatment process, contaminants in drinking water and their sources, what the drinking water standards and concentrations mean) as well as the issue surrounding source water protection in urban and residential areas. The 14- page booklets thoroughly answer consumer questions about water and provide consumers with recommendations for strengthening ties with their public water supplier and taking actions to protect water supplies in their community. This bilingual tool, written at a fifth grade reading level, will help Rhode Island to expand it's community outreach to urban audiences.
In addition to enabling Rhode Island Home*A*Syst to reach under-served urban residents, this program helps Home*A*Syst make connections with public water suppliers, health professionals and other partners such as primary care physicians, pediatricians and nursing home administration and staff. The Rhode Island Program is using the publication in its work with Department of Health's Source Water Assessment Program.
The Home*A*Syst national office has already used Rhode Island's materials to create it's drinking water chapter in the HUD-sponsored, "Help Yourself to a Healthy Home" booklet. Rhode Island is now seeking to continue it's opportunities to work with HUD by finding unique ways to distribute drinking water information to urban residents.
As a complement to this project, Rhode Island is creating new pages on their web site addressing public drinking water. Visit http://www.edc.uri.edu/homeasyst/pwhome.html and you will find an interactive map that Rhode Islanders can use to contact their water suppliers; and a guide to community organizers with ideas and materials for starting public water education. You can also access the publication at the web site.
For more information on Rhode Island Home*A*Syst and the public water supply assessment, contact Alyson McCann, Program Coordinator at (401) 874-5398, alyson@uri.edu.
$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ FUNDING OPPORTUNITY $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $TITLE: ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY - Funds for Source Water ProtectionSUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeks proposals from organizations interested in working with communities across the nation that are served by public water systems with highly or moderately susceptible drinking water sources to protect their sources of drinking water from contamination using a watershed or "resource-based" approach. DEADLINE: Received no later than June 12, 2000 MORE INFO: Contact Betsy Henry, EPA Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water at (202) 260-2399; or see the federal register announcement http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-WATER/2000/May/Day-11/w11818.htm. |
PAST ISSUES OF THE THRESHOLDAugust 1999 - New York works with EFNEPSeptember 1999 - Wisconsin HAS and Native American Nation October 1999 - Michigan improves its program November 1999 - New Jersey works with watersheds January 2000 - Extension/EPA Partnership in Tennessee February 2000 - Montana delivers HAS through realtor training April 2000 - Alaska Home Stewardship |
© 2000 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. UW-Extension provides equal opportunities in employment and programming, including Title IX requirements. UW-Extension programs are open to all persons without regard to race, color, ethnic background, or economic circumstances. All rights reserved.
Comments may be directed to Kadi Row, krow@facstaff.wisc.edu.
Created by Janice Kepka, jkepka@facstaff.wisc.edu.
