Re: CDC and resident capacity building program

[Emery Graham <"egraham"@ci.wilmington.de.us>]

Thanks,
I'm forwarding this info. to a community group here who really needs to
hear about
this Trenton experience.

Ann Goode wrote:

> I am taking the liberty of giving a bit more detail on one of Marty
> Johnson's programs, though many on the listserv may already be up to speed
> on this one.  ISLES, the CDC in Trenton, NJ, has developed a tremendous
> training program called Leadership Environmental Training Series (LETS).
> It was put together in 1996 in response to community requests for
> assistance with participating in the acronym-laden regulatory system that
> surrounds cleanup programs.  It has gone a long way to helping affected
> parties understand and therefore participate in the cleanup AND development
> aspects of a brownfield project.  The response in Trenton was quite
> positive, and residents living near some seriously contaminated sites (e.g.
> Magic Marker, an old battery factory 25' from lots of homes and across the
> street from and elementary school) were clearly motivated and capable of
> comprehending the process.  To my knowledge, LETS' goal is not to turn out
> a bunch of developers but to build the capacity of the community to
> participate in the cleanup and redevelopment process.
>
> ISLES, Inc.
> 10 Wood Street
> Trenton, NJ  08618
> 609/393-5656
>
> Thanks,  Annie Goode
>
> At 10:17 AM 7/30/99 -0700, you wrote:
> >Marty,
> >It's tough enough to get good developers from our graduate and
undergraduate
> >schools. What is it that makes you think that "community" people can be
> taught
> >to do land development? Do you perceive land development as a traditional
> >"volunteer" activity? I'm confused. It has been one of the glaring
> >downfalls of
> >U.S. domestic development policy to expect that a large number of poor,
> >uneducated, undisciplined community folk to do land development in the
> >economically least desireable places for businesses to invest? This is the
> >very
> >same irony in that accompanies the poor's involvement in brownfields. Do
they
> >have the money, the mind, the motivation to be effectively involved in the
> >process? I don't think so.
> >
> >Emery
> >