2010 URBAN ISSUES FORUM (a Non-Partisan Event)
Closing the Racial and Ethnic Disparity Gap: Pursuing Results Based Accountability in Health, Education, Social Justice and the Political / Election Process

WHEN: April 24, 2010
WHERE: Legislative Office Building, 300 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT 06106
TIME: 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (EST)

SUCCESSFUL OUTCOMES: SUMMARY REPORT WITH PHOTO COLLECTION AND SURVEY RESULTS

This historic state-wide non-partisan forum was a collaborative event that included the following fourteen Connecticut Organizations and Agencies: 1) The CT Health Foundation, Inc., 2) Foundation for Educational Advancement, Inc., 3) The State of CT Office of Protection and Advocacy, 4) The State of CT Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission, 5) Black and Latino Caucus, 6) African American Affairs Commission, 7) African Caribbean American Parents with Children with Disabilities (AFCAMP), 8) Sojourner Women’s Political Institute, 9) CT Federation of Black Democratic Clubs, 10) CT Commission on Health Equity, 11) The Permanent Commission on the Status of Women, 12) CT State Branches of the NAACP, 13) Connecticut Commission on Children and 12) The YMCA Hartford Regional Office. It strategically offered U.S. Congressional Elected Officials, CT State Constitutional Elected Officials, CT State Elected Officials, CT State Candidates running for office, Urban Issues Experts and State Agency Leaders the platform and opportunity to meet “face to face” with concerned citizens for an “interactive dialogue session” on issues affecting communities throughout CT.

Patricia Baker, President and CEO of the Connecticut Health Foundation, Inc. was the Forum moderator.
The 2010 Urban Issues Forum included participants from 26 Connecticut towns, U.S. Congressional and
Connecticut Constitutional political leaders and candidates for elected office. The public and members of the
press were encouraged to participate by asking CT’s current and future political leaders important questions
about their strategies for improving conditions in CT’s urban centers.

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2010 Bridgeport Health Education Lead Poisoning (H.E.L.P.) Initiative

Bridgeport Teachers, Nurses, Administrators and Parents are Educated about Impact of Childhood Lead Poisoning on Children's Learning and Behavior

Renowned national experts and researchers, as well as, state and local officials provided Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention and Awareness Training for School Educators, Health Professionals, Students and the Community at Large as part of a state funded iniatiive to improve the quality of health and education for Bridgeport's children and families.

1. 2009 EARLY CHILDHOOD HEALTH EDUCATION LEAD POISONING LEGISLATIVE INFORMATIONAL FORUM - MORNING SESSION (11/19/2009)

2. 2009 EARLY CHILDHOOD HEALTH EDUCATION LEAD POISONING LEGISLATIVE INFORMATIONAL FORUM - AFTERNOON SESSION (11/19/2009)
   This forum includes presentations on the educational, developmental and behavioral implications of childhood lead poisoning, as well as, presentations on educational programs that provide early intervention for lead exposed / poisoned children.  This Legislative Informational Forum is a joint effort by sponsoring state legislators, state commissions, state agencies and organizations for the purpose of improving the quality of health and education for CT's children, youth and families.

1. CONNECTICUT'S GOVERNOR RELL'S BILL SIGNING CEREMONY FOR CHILD PRODUCT SAFETY ACT (7/10/2008)

2. 2008 LEAD POISONING COMMUNITY & PARENT INFORMATIONAL FORUM (5/22/2008)
   Part of an ongoing effort to focus attention on the impact of early childhood lead exposure, this forum includes community awards, as well as a review of a new mandatory lead screening law and presentations on lead abatement procedures and dangers
   

3. LEAD POISONING PREVENTION CONFERENCE FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS & EDUCATORS (1/31/2008)
   Keynote forum presenters included:
   1. Dr. Marie Lynn Miranda, Research Professor of Environmental Sciences & Policy - Director of the Children's Environmental Health Initiative at Duke University. Dr. Miranda's is the lead author of the Landmark Research Study Entitled: "The Relationship between Early Childhood Blood Lead Levels and Performance on End-of-Grade Tests"
   2. Dr. James Comer, Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine's Child Study Center and founder of the Comer School Development Program. Dr. Comer is internationally renowned for his promotion and focus on child development as a way of improving schools and supporting the healthy development of young people.
   
   

1. LEAD POISONING PREVENTION AND CONTROL PROGRAM SEMIANNUAL MEETING (10/24/2007)

2. CAPITOL NEWS BRIEFING WITH HOUSE SPEAKER ON LEAD POISONING PREVENTION LEGISLATION (5/31/2007)

3. LEGISLATIVE INFORMATIONAL FORUM ON LEAD POISONING (3/14/2007)
   Forum presenters:
   
   1. David Bellinger, Ph.D., M.Sc. -  Professor of Neurology - Harvard Medical School and Professor of Environmental Health - Harvard School of Public Health
      
   2. Attorney Howard Klebanoff, Legal Expert on Special Education Law
   3. Bruce P. Lanphear MD, MPH, Director of the Cincinnati Children's Environmental Health Center and Professor of Pediatrics and Environmental Health 
   4. Dr. John F. Rosen,  Professor of Pediatrics - Head of the Division of Environmental Sciences - The Children’s Hospital of Montefiore -  The Albert Einstein College of Medicine -  N.Y., N.Y.    
   5. Connie Thomas, Consultant and Specialist - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Lead Poisoning Prevention Program            
   6. Dr. Theodore Lidsky - Head of the Laboratory of Electrophysiology; Director of the
      Center of Trace Element Studies and Environmental Neurotoxicology  Thomas
      Jefferson University School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Adjunct Professor
   7. Jay Schneider, Ph.D., Professor of Pathology, Anatomy and Cell Biology and Neurology Jefferson Medical College -  Thomas Jefferson University Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
   8. Neil Kelly, Assistant Attorney General for the State of Rhode Island
      

1. EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF CHILDHOOD LEAD POISONING CONFERENCE AT  THE LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING (5/9/2006)
   Presenters included the Following Nationally Renowned Researchers and Experts, State and Local Representatives:
   
   1. Dr. Herbert Needleman, Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
   2. Dr. John F. Rosen,  Professor of Pediatrics - Head of the Division of Environmental Sciences - The Children’s Hospital of Montefiore -  The Albert Einstein College of Medicine -  N.Y., N.Y.

1. ENDING LEAD POISONING FORUM AT THE LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING (11/17/2005)
   The 2005 Legislative Roundtable is the historic event that launched the Health Education Lead Poisoning Initiative in the State of Connecticut that resulted in the passage of major lead legislation to improve the quality of health and education for Connecticut's Children and Families. Multiple state agencies and organizations discuss what they are doing about childhood lead poisoning and how they are or are not working together to address the major environmental health problem of childhood lead poisoning in the state of Connecticut.  Participating Connecticut  Agencies and Organizations include: 1) Connecticut State Department of Public Health;  2)  Connecticut State Department of Education;  3)  Connecticut State Department of Social Services;  4)  Connecticut State Department of Mental Retardation (Currently renamed in 2007, Department of Developmental Disabilities) Birth to Three System;  5) Connecticut Health Foundation; 6) Yale Regional Lead Program; 7) Foundation for Educational Advancement, Inc. Center for Urban Research, Education and Training, Inc. 8) Connecticut's Children's Medical Center, 9)  LAMPP, 10) Advisory Commission on Multicultural Health; et. al.