1. Wabasso: Utilizing the PACE Methodology as a Tool for Improving the Quality of Life in Communities
Presentation by:
Julianne Renk
Indian River County Health Dept. division of Environmental Health
9/19/2018

2. Introduction What is PACE EH? How is the methodology applied?
Does it work?
PACE stands for Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence.
The basis of the methodology is to get to know a community and identify what THEY think are environmental health issues in their community. This methodolgoy can be applied by making direct contacts with residents of the community and assessing and investigating their responses.
Yes PACE WORKS! I’ve been doing it for one year and I’ve seen tremendous improvements in the community of Wabasso.
9/19/2018

3. The Community of Wabasso
Demographics
Lack of infrastructure
Mistrust of government
Census figures indicate that West Wabasso…
Lack of infrastucture was visually apparent the first time I drove off the main road. The roads weren’t paved, no streetlights, no sidewalks, no legal access to properties, condemned houses, etc.
There was a history of mistrust between the people and the government due to a history of broken promises for improvements to the area.
9/19/2018

4. Implementing PACE in Wabasso
Identify issues
Build partnerships
Low hanging fruit
Identify issues by making door to door contact and through distributing surveys to everyone. Take the top five most common responses and rank them by prioirty as indicated in the surveys.
There is a correlation between the issues that will arise and the county departments that exist. For example, safety issues such as streetlights can be addressed by contacting the public works departments traffic engineer. Drug trafficking can be addressed by the local sheriff’s department. The PACE process allows interagency communication so that issues are addressed and effective action plans are composed to address each problem.
Taking advantage of low hanging fruit is advantageous for the community to observe. Many communities have been promised or led to believe that improvements were to happen and nothing every materialized. They have no reason to believe that PACE will bring them results, so you have to look for issues that you can yield quick, visible results. An example is streetlights. The number one issue identified by Wabasso was streetlights. They had been trying for five years to get streetlights. Upon learning this, I went to the traffic engineer to investigate. The project had been sitting on his shelf for years and I convinced him that it really was necessary for streetlights to be installed for safety purposes in Wabasso.
9/19/2018

5. Results Streetlight Project Project Hope World Changers Water Project
Sidewalk Project
Park Improvements
9/19/2018

7. 9/19/2018

8. 9/19/2018

9. 9/19/2018

10. 9/19/2018

11. 9/19/2018

12. Lessons Learned Empowerment Agency cooperation
Building Bridges, Burning Bridges, Repairing Bridges
9/19/2018

13. 9/19/2018

14. Real Life Mrs. Black- new home, water, paved road, streetlight
PACE Process= Drastic improvement of quality of life for the community of Wabasso
9/19/2018