Celebration of Learning 2017: Poster session II

Sustainable Working Landscapes Initiative (SWLI)
GÄVLE ROOM, THE GERBER CENTER
11-11:45 a.m.

Emma Nordmeyer
Project advisor: Dr. Angie Carter, sociology
How Do Communities Proactively Address Lead Remediation? Community Case Studies from Iowa

SWLI Poster #1

Scott County Health Department officials reached out to the Sustainable Working Landscapes Initiative (SWLI) program at Augustana College to start a partnership to address environmental issues related to lead hazards in Scott County homes. Students
in Fall 2016 Contemporary Social Issues class worked in teams to perform case studies on communities in Iowa that address lead remediation proactively. Teams of students studied Dubuque, Linn, Polk, Marshall and Black Hawk counties in Iowa. The students worked to identify obstacles, successes, key questions and recommendations for future directions in lead remediation from these communities. This report is a summary of those findings.

Tori Charnetzki, Joe Oliger
Project advisor: Dr. Carolyn Yaschur, multimedia journalism and mass communication
Lead Poisoning: Diagnoses and Recovery

SWLI Poster #2

This is a journalistic piece that tells the story of a family affected by lead poisoning in Scott County. It was created in collaboration with the Upper Mississippi Center.

Brittany Poynor, Layne Porembski, Arielle Bloemer, Brandon Schattner, Sarah Hanson
Project advisors: Dr. John Delaney, accounting; Dr. Michael Reisner and Rosalie Starenko, Upper Mississippi Center
Exploring Alternative Funding Methods for the Lead Remediation Program in Scott County, Iowa

SWLI Poster #3

For this project, five students worked to put together five alternative funding solutions for the Scott County Health Department’s lead remediation program. With limited government grants available, the health department is now considering local funding in order to address the issue of lead poisoning in Davenport, Iowa. These reports, along with other Sustainable Working Landscapes Initiative (SWLI) research, provide valuable information and are the foundation of the up-and-coming remediation program for the county.

Marissa Iverson, Caitlan Lange
Project advisors: Dr. Jennifer Burnham, geography; Rosalie Starenko, Upper Mississippi Center
Scott County Lead Risk Maps

SWLI Poster #4

These maps have been created to express the lead risk levels
within the communities of Davenport, Iowa. The maps’ design has been chosen with great thought given to what information is being provided and how it will be viewed by the audience. The audience will be the residents of Davenport.

Tanner Osing
Project advisor: Dr. Lena R. Hann, public health
Addressing Childhood Lead Poisoning with GIS: A Proactive Approach in Scott County, Iowa

SWLI Poster #5

Many communities are weathering lead’s detrimental health impacts on children, and health departments are looking for new ways to address the problem. Addressing childhood lead poisoning through geographic information systems (GIS) allows health departments to shift from a reactive approach to a proactive approach. While using GIS to analyze lead exposure risk is not new, the scale used in this study, which analyzes risk at the tax parcel level, is less common. The tax parcel level is the most detailed scale that can be examined for residential properties, the place where children are most commonly exposed to lead. Taking place in Scott County, Iowa, where approximately 50 children are diagnosed with lead poisoning every year, this study presents an exposure risk model using four widely recognized risk factors of housing age, median household income, renter occupancy and African-American populations. A GIS spatial analysis was conducted after these risk factors were categorized and weighted against one another to produce a lead exposure risk map. The resulting risk map displays residential properties in four priority levels that can be used by public health officials for targeted prevention programs at areas of greatest impact. Ultimately, this study hopes to reduce the number of lead contaminated residences and in turn, prevent children from being exposed to lead. Since similar risk models have been found generalizable, this model’s applications may stretch beyond Scott County, Iowa.

Melisa Ribikawskis, Kirsten Burke, Krista Dawson, Kayln Engel, Shavaun Grant, Allison Groch, Kayleen Macy, Claire Martin, Tanner Osing, Benjamin Payne, Margaux Payne, Nicholas Phalen, Samuel Templeman, Mark VanderHeyden, Noel Zapata
Project advisor: Dr. Christopher Strunck, environmental studies and geography
DeWitt Smart Growth Design

SWLI Poster #6

As part of the Sustainable Working Landscapes Initiative (SWLI) project, our Urban Design and Sustainable Cities class researched Smart Growth principles and their applicability for the city of DeWitt, Iowa. Smart Growth is a cohesive set of design philosophies that prioritizes mixed-use development over single-use development, pedestrian-friendly and bike-friendly transportation over automobile-dominated transportation, and infill development over peripheral development. Dozens of government, business and civic organizations—including the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—have recognized the movement by founding the Smart Growth Network, a national organization that focuses on the promotion of these principles. Local officials in DeWitt are revising the city’s zoning regulations and are interested in incorporating the principles of Smart Growth into their plans. This class project examined ways to improve the city of DeWitt in terms of Smart Growth principles such as infill development and adaptive reuse, mixed-use development, environmental and agricultural development, setbacks, lot sizes and the walkability of the city.