San Diego Healthy Homes Symposium, 2009

Community Forum May 28, 2009 | San Diego, CA

Presenter Bios   Rebecca Morley, Executive Director, National Center for Healthy Housing Rebecca Morley leads NCHH’s multi-disciplinary staff in creating healthy and safe housing for children through practical and proven steps. She led the development of the National Healthy Homes Training Center and spearheaded NCHH’s work in the Gulf Coast following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. She has authored numerous articles and publications on the topic of housing-related health hazards. She also worked for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where she developed lead paint regulations and managed an array of children’s environmental health projects. She served on the President’s Task Force for Children’s Environmental Health and Safety and contributed to HUD’s preliminary Healthy Homes Initiative plan and Strategic Plan to Eliminate Childhood Lead Poisoning by 2010.   Genoveva Aguilar, Director, Proyecto de Casas Saludables Genoveva Aguilar is the Director of Proyecto de Casas Saludables and a Community Organizer with the Employee Rights Center. Proyecto de Casas Saludables is an organization that seeks to empower the San Diego community by providing education, advocacy, and counseling on housing issues, while the Employee Rights Center is the only non-profit organization in San Diego that offers legal services for cases involving employment and labor law. Ms. Aguilar graduated from the University of San Diego with a double major in Spanish and Sociology, and a minor in Ethnic Studies. Her work has been highly recognized. While a student at USD, she won the Swearer Award, a prestigious national award for her involvement in organizing around gentrification issues in her community and organizing students on campus to develop an Ethnic Studies major. In 2003 she was named an Unsung Hero by KSBW Channel 69. She is currently the volunteer Co-Chair of Barrios Unidos Hoy Organizados which is a grassroots organization whose mission is to build leaders and support neighborhood town councils that are committed to and engaged in making their communities affordable, vibrant, safe and healthy through policy research, leadership development, organizing, advocacy, and training.   Yeni Linqui, Project Director, Healthy Homes Program, Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) Yeni Linqui works with community residents advocating for lead-safe housing to protect children in high-risk communities of San Diego and National City. EHC has been a leader in lead poisoning prevention in San Diego County since 1992 and has developed expertise in providing culturally appropriate outreach to the Latino community. She joined EHC in 2005 as a Community Organizer for the Lead Hazard Control Program in the city of National City. Now she works as a Project Coordinator for the Healthy Homes Program which focuses on making homes healthy by sharing with the communities the different easy, cost-effective and long term things you can do to keep your home healthy.   Arcela Nuñez-Alvarez, PhD, Research Director, Cal State San Marcos Dr. Nuñez-Alvarez oversees university and community applied research and education partnerships. She is the primary investigator on local and national evaluation and research projects that explore topics in the areas of environmental health and environmental justice, disparities, cultural and linguistic competency, civic engagement and disaster preparedness of vulnerable populations. She has extensive expertise on environmental health and justice issues in San Diego. She currently oversees research and evaluation projects including Community Action to Fight Asthma (CAFA), a state-wide strategic initiative funded by The California Endowment to create and implement policies and community advocacy efforts to reduce environmental risk factors for school aged children with asthma in the home, school, and outdoor air environments.

Homes should be safe havens for families. Sadly, it is the place where children are most likely to be injured or become ill. Every year in the US there are: Over 13 million home injuries Nearly 3,000 deaths due to house fires Two million emergency room visits for asthma An estimated 250,000 children with elevated blood lead levels With both our housing and health care sectors in crisis, there is a critical need to tackle the preventable disease and injury caused by unhealthy housing and neighborhood conditions. The Community Forum brings together community members, professionals and advocates in the fields of housing, health, policy, code enforcement, legal assistance, property management, community development and green building. Attendees will learn about the link between health and housing, especially as it relates to asthma and to reducing health disparities. The program will feature both recent data and promising approaches for application in the field.

Agenda     5:00 PM Dinner and Networking     5:15 PM Welcome and Opening Remarks   Speakers: Virginia Angeles and Nicholas Norvell, Congresswoman Susan Davis     5:25 PM Housing and Health Connection: National and State HH Policy Trends and Summary of Afternoon Session   Speaker: Rebecca Morley     5:55 PM Local Healthy Homes Programs Overview   Speakers: Genoveva Aguilar, Yeni Linqui, Arcela Nuñez Alvarez, Monique Rice, Fair Housing Program, Bayside Community Center     6:15 PM Healthy Homes Ordinances Across the Country   Speaker: Rebecca Morley     6:30 PM Building the San Diego Healthy Homes Ordinance - A Community Discussion   Speaker: Leticia Ayala     7:20 PM Invitation to San Diego Healthy Homes Day, August 29th     7:30 PM Conclusion, Evaluation & Raffle

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