The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development BUILD Las Vegas 2019 Event: Lessons Learned in Public Health Community Engagement

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) BUILD Las Vegas 2019 event brought together Las Vegas Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes Program (LVLHCHHP) staff, community leaders, and volunteers from multiple organizations for a neighborhood clean-up and community resource fair in a low-income, historic west Las Vegas neighborhood. In preparation for the event, LVLHCHHP staff encountered a lack of published guidance regarding past BUILD events or planning of community-based public health events. To address this gap in the literature, this brief report offers lessons learned from the process of planning and evaluating the HUD BUILD Las Vegas 2019 event. These include taking early planning measures, centering the focus on community needs, and forming strategic partnerships, which can provide a valuable foundation for future events that want to integrate community engagement with public health.

Keywords: Community engagement; Healthy homes; Housing & urban development; Lead hazard control.