Illinois Bed Bug Task Force Finalizes Report

Executive Director, Rachel Rosenberg, is a member of the Illinois Bed Bug Task Force. The group convened six times this year to meet its goal to develop a report with recommendations on the prevention, management, and control for bed bug infestations. SPCP's participation was critical as we offered essential viewpoints that otherwise would not have been heard. SPCP provided information on the risks of pesticide use and the vulnerability of low income tenants to the financial and health impacts of this problem.

SPCP Launches Natural Lawn Care Outreach Program

Safer Pest Control Project is gearing up to launch a new retailer and consumer education project for Natural Lawn Care. With support from The Boeing Company, we will be working to influence customer purchasing decisions by increasing the availability of Natural Lawn Care products and information at points of purchase, such as hardware stores and garden centers. SPCP is planning to collaborate with the City of Chicago's Sustainable Backyards Program, which encourages Chicago residents to create more environmentally friendly landscapes in their yards through rebates and educational resources, in order to reach a wide audience throughout Chicago.

Lawn to Lake Collaboration

Our Lawn to Lake partnership, part of the U.S. EPA's Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), presented a successful halfday workshop at the College of Lake County on October 13 for municipalities, schools, and homeowner associations. This workshop featured presentations on integrating Natural Lawn Care and other sustainable landscaping practices, such as rain gardens, and promoting local ordinances.

SPCP is creating a two-day program in northwest Indiana, when the partnership will present Indiana's first ever Natural Lawn Care workshops of this kind on March 22 (for landscapers) and March 23 (for schools).

A Vote of Confidence: Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust Renews Grant

This essential renewal of our grant from Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust will allow us to continue improving environmental health in Chicago's low-income housing community and childcare facilities. The funds will allow us to raise awareness through education, outreach, and technical assistance about the dangers pesticides pose.

Illinois Loses Key Position for Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Education in Schools & Childcares

For three years, SPCP and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) collaborated on a strong program of statewide IPM education and outreach to schools and childcares. This program provided SPCP the funding to offer free training and technical assistance to hundreds of teachers and childcare staff across Illinois. In 2009, due to state budget cuts, SPCP lost its contract with IDPH for this work. In addition, Illinois' IPM Coordinator position is currently unfilled. This leaves Illinois with no dedicated staff to educate and enforce this important avenue for protecting children's health. It is imperative that this vital work continue, and we hope that the State will reinstate the funding.

The importance of education and outreach was abundantly clear this fall when a local school, Hinsdale South High School, was in the news for sending four students to the hospital after herbicides were sprayed in an interior courtyard during school hours. SPCP immediately contacted IDPH and the Illinois Department of Agriculture. SPCP reached out to the principal of the school and offered resources. Two key areas of the law were violated: lack of notification and the use of an unlicensed pesticide applicator. While this violation made the news, it is impossible to know how often these types of violations occur due to the lack of outreach and data collection by the state.

The Hinsdale example illustrates not only how important the law is, but also how important it is to have dedicated resources for statewide education and outreach (both on the risks of pesticide exposure and legal pest control) for schools and childcares.

SPCP and Green Job Creation - New Partnerships

SPCP has embarked on a new adventure that combines our expertise with IPM into job training collaborations. Two concurrent projects have allowed us to create a program designed to match participants with the needs of the pest control industry using IPM as the focus. The first program is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, The Partnership for New Communities, and other local foundations. The program was created to provide IPM job training to low-income residents of the Chicago Housing Authority. SPCP provides an IPM intensive training course coupled with job skills training and reinforced with 8 to 10 weeks of subsidized on-the-job experience.

The second program is a collaboration with Greencorps Chicago, a City of Chicago program for ex-offenders. This program provides a course on indoor and outdoor IPM that combines classroom instruction with hands-on interactive activities. The developed curriculum will be integrated into a larger year-long Greencorps Chicago program.

Bed Bug Policy in Chicago

SPCP's bed bug work has provided us with firsthand experiences with the consequences of not having bed bug laws in place. Landlords are treating the problem incorrectly, tenants are often trying to deal with the problem on their own with ineffective and dangerous pesticides, and the problem continues to spread. Chicago, like most cities and states, has no bed bug specific laws on the books. Regulations that do exist were written with other pests in mind, and are inadequate for dealing with bed bugs. For instance, in Chicago a landlord isn't required to treat for a pest until two units are infested, which leads some to wait until multiple units are infested with bed bugs. This not only contributes to the ongoing spread of bed bugs, but also increases the costs of bed bug control for the landlord. Good legislation would make our bed bug work more effective by addressing this difficult problem with early detection and treatment. For this reason, SPCP has been working with City of Chicago decision makers to highlight the need for a comprehensive bed bug policy.

Our white paper, "Battling Bed Bugs in Chicago: Making the Case for a Comprehensive Plan," has been distributed to Aldermen as well as staff from the Mayor's office to educate them on the escalating impacts of bed bugs, demonstrate the necessity for taking action, and provide suggestions on how best to move forward. Thanks to generous funding for this work from the Field Foundation of Illinois, Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust, and The Polk Bros. Foundation, we will continue to engage the City on developing appropriate policies and programs to battle this formidable foe. The white paper is available on our website.