Minigrants to Local Health Departments: An Opportunity to Promote Climate Change Preparedness

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bush KF ; Cahillane M ; Dorevitch S ; English DQ ; Grossman E ; Hathaway M ; Holmes T ; Moran CE ; Uejio CK ; York EA
• Description:
  Context: Human health is threatened by climate change. While the public health workforce is concerned about climate change, local health department (LHD) administrators have reported insufficient knowledge and resources to address climate change. Minigrants from state to LHDs have been used to promote a variety of local public health initiatives. Objective: To describe the minigrant approach used by state health departments implementing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) framework, to highlight successes of this approach in promoting climate change preparedness at LHDs, and to describe challenges encountered. Design: Cross-sectional survey and discussion. Intervention: State-level recipients of CDC funding issued minigrants to local public health entities to promote climate change preparedness, adaptation, and resilience. Main Outcome Measures: The amount of funding, number of LHDs funded per state, goals, selection process, evaluation process, outcomes, successes, and challenges of the minigrant programs. Results: Six state-level recipients of CDC funding for BRACE framework implementation awarded minigrants ranging from $7700 to $28 500 per year to 44 unique local jurisdictions. Common goals of the minigrants included capacity building, forging partnerships with entities outside of health departments, incorporating climate change information into existing programs, and developing adaptation plans. Recipients of minigrants reported increases in knowledge, engagement with diverse stakeholders, and the incorporation of climate change content into existing programs. Challenges included addressing climate change in regions where the topic is politically sensitive, as well as the uncertainty about the long-term sustainability of local projects beyond the term of minigrant support. Conclusions: Minigrants can increase local public health capacity to address climate change. Jurisdictions that wish to utilize minigrant mechanisms to promote climate change adaptation and preparedness at the local level may benefit from the experience of the 6 states and 44 local health programs described. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Climate Change Community Health Services Disaster Planning Emergencies Health Promotion Occupational Health Public Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Climate Change Climate Change Community Health Cross Sectional Studies Emergency Preparedness Health Promotion Information Dissemination Local Health Department Minigrant Public Health
• ISSN:
  1078-4659
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Florida ; Illinois ; New Hampshire ; Oregon ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 9 ; Wisconsin
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  113-120
• Volume:
  25
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20063612
• Citation:
  J Public Health Manag Pract 2019 Mar-Apr; 25(2):113-120
• Contact Point Address:
  Samuel Dorevitch, MD, MPH, Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2121 W Taylor St, Chicago, IL 60612
• Email:
  sdorevit@uic.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• Performing Organization:
  University of Illinois at Chicago
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Public Health Management and Practice
• End Date:
  20290630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b0392b1a4ee762b2a46a30ee96ad672d39ea44221e967f855b6407ca8871f50eddce340b1ea7916b305558788af5b4f813282fa19ce4006485bbe270c8d9c871
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/222185/cdc_222185_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 133.83 KB ]