Tribal Public Health Summit

Using the EPA Cleanups in My Community website, look up information about Brownfields in your community.

1. Go to https://www.epa.gov/cleanups/cleanups-my-community and click on Lists or Tables. Then click Create a listing of cleanup sites or grants.

2. On the Cleanups and Grants Listing page define your geographic area of interest. This can be tribal lands, a city, county, watershed or other region.

3. Choose the programs (we will use Brownfields) and click Apply. Your data table will appear at the bottom of the page.

4. Click on the Actions button, the choose download and CSV as your format. Download the CSV file to your laptop (make sure you know where you are saving it).

5. You now have a spreadsheet file that can be opened in Excel, Google Sheets and My Maps. We will use this file for the second activity.

6. If you have problems with your file, use the example file in the folder below (Omaha Brownfields) so that you can participate in the next activity.

Create a My Maps of the Brownfields sites in your community

1. Go to drive.google.com and sign in (or create an account if you need to).

2. Add a folder, name it and use this folder for everything you develop for your project.

3. Add a file; upload the CSV file that you obtained for Brownfields properties during the first activity.

4. Open the spreadsheet in Google Drive and take a look at it.

5. Add a Google My Maps to your folder. Name it and add the source of your data (EPA Cleanups in My Community) to the description box.

6. Import your spreadsheet from Google Drive. You will need to choose which columns have location data (street address, city, state) and which columns you want to use as titles (for example, property name).

7. Fix the errors in the data table.

8. Add a new layer. You can build a layer of locations with vulnerable populations by searching for places like schools, daycare centers, retirement homes, hospitals, etc. then clicking on the map markers you are interested in and clicking Add to map in the icon popup balloon.

9. Style your map by changing the basemap, changing the icons, setting the default view and other customizations that help provide an informative visual image. 

In this activity we will hold a mock public hearing to add content to the Omaha map example used in the previous activity.

1. Workshop participants will be given cards with a location, a demographic profile, and a health condition. Each participant will be asked to help locate the place on the map which is projected on the screen, then they will explain who they are and what their concerns may be. This information will be added to the map during the interview.

2. All of the information from the mock hearing will be added to a new layer on the map, along with the background material of Brownfields sites and vulnerable populations. Participants will then be asked to examine the map for patterns and discuss the utility of this approach.