Community Engagement
Community residents and stakeholders provide valuable input that reflect local perspectives, experiences and information and that is important for planning processes. That is why engagement is an essential element of the health impact assessment (HIA) process.
The HIA process seeks to engage with a wide range of people. These include people who could be impacted by a proposed change; individuals and organizations with public health expertise; public officials and staff; researchers and subject matter experts; and non-profit organizations.
If you are interested in learning more about the HIA or providing feedback, please leave us a comment or contact us.
A Statement from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council:
Note: This statement is from 2018 and specifically concerns community engagement. To read MAPC's other statements, click here.
MAPC is currently wrapping up a health impact assessment of a proposed natural gas compressor station in the Town of Weymouth. When we agreed to facilitate the HIA for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) and Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH), we knew that the Fore River compressor station proposal was controversial and would - rightly - draw scrutiny.
We would like to express our appreciation for the robust civic engagement that this process has stimulated and for the care and attention that community members have taken to participate and inform themselves about the compressor station.
As facilitators of the health impact assessment, we ask what the potential effects - positive and negative - of the compressor station could be. It is the same question we ask when we conduct any HIA. We then try to offer solutions to mitigate adverse results and amplify positive ones. The assessment will paint a picture of what could happen if the station is built so that decision-makers are aware of and consider potential health implications. For more information about MAPC's health impact assessment process, visit www.mapc.org/our-work/expertise/public-health/health-impact-assessments.
This process launched in Spring 2018, and since then, we have held two community meetings and assembled an advisory committee made up of community members, government representatives, and subject matter experts who have met monthly to provide advice and guidance. The HIA process now moves into the reporting phase and will go through the MDPH and MassDEP for final review and issuance.
We invite residents to continue to provide feedback on the health impact assessment here: www.surveymonkey.com/r/foreriver NOTE: We've replaced this survey form with a new one. Click here to access it.