Brownfields to Healthfields: Transforming Polluted Sites into Useful Community Spaces

Brownfields to Healthfields: Transforming Polluted Sites into Useful Community Spaces

Formed in the 1990s, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields Program provides grants and technical assistance to communities, states, tribes and others, to assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse contaminated properties. "Heathfields" refers to the transformation of Brownfields sites from contaminated areas to reusable sites that improve access to health and healthcare within the community. Join Dr. Carroll as she leads us through the Brownfields to Healthfields StoryMap, a tool developed to inspire brownfield practitioners and link assessment and cleanup to highlight reuses that can contribute to health.  Examples cited include improving access to health care, fresh food, affordable housing and parks and recreational spaces on brownfield sites and in brownfield areas.  
 

Since 2002, Ann Carroll, DrPH has been working with EPA’s Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization. Her work with tribal, federal state and local leaders highlights not only past land uses, contaminants, cleanup and reuse associated with brownfields, but also ways reuse planning can further the creation of a healthier community as part of a brownfield assessment, cleanup and reuse planning process. Ann has a science and public health education background. Carroll received her DrPH from the Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2019 and is a former Center for a Livable Future fellow interested in urban agriculture.