Department: Public Health Services
Department Head/Elected Official: Leah Barton - Interim Executive Director
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Grant
Project ID (if applicable): N/A
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request by Public Health Services for approval to submit an application to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for grant funds up to $200,000 annually, with no required match, for the FY 25 Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net) Program.
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Background and Discussion:
The Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net) grant, administered through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), supports state and local health departments in conducting practice-based research to improve retail food safety, targeting key risk factors that lead to foodborne illnesses. As a current EHS-Net partner, Harris County Public Health seeks the court's permission to apply for continued funding to advance our mission of protecting public health in Harris County and beyond. Our long-term goal is to foster a proactive, collaborative environment where all county stakeholders engage in preventing foodborne illnesses. The grant will enable HCPH to enhance food safety culture at the retail level while refining protocols to better identify, respond to, and mitigate foodborne illness outbreaks. In addition to supporting research, the grant promotes collaboration between environmental health, epidemiology, and laboratory teams to improve data collection, outbreak reporting, and the dissemination of findings through the CDC's National Environmental Assessment Reporting System (NEARS). This continued partnership aligns with our commitment to ensur...
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