Community Engagement Core

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT (Community Engagement Core: Chief, Field, Maier, Moreno Ramírez) The UA Superfund Research Program (UA SRP) is focused on the health and environmental impacts of metal mining. The interface between mining and public health is one with urgent need of innovative solutions at the community level. The UA SRP's Community Engagement Core (CEC) has developed extensive experience working with communities throughout Arizona and Northern Mexico. In this renewal, we will continue our successful work with Hispanic stakeholders and expand our efforts to include Native American communities that are impacted by mining. The CEC will work to deliver community-engaged science-based information to affected community stakeholders so they can become active players in understanding and making informed decisions on health issues related to mining. The CEC will provide a platform for community stakeholders to influence and potentially participate in the science that the UA SRP is conducting to maintain the relevance of the research to the community concerns. An evaluation component has also been woven throughout our activities to allow quantitative and qualitative measurements of success and lessons-learned to optimize the usefulness of our work. The CEC fills an existing gap in Hispanic and Native American participation in mining issues that impact their communities. Our partners in this effort will include local communities, government agencies, non-profit organizations, academic institutions, and the mining industry. The objectives of UA SRP's CEC are to: 1) Engage Native American groups and Mexican communities in health and environmental research related to mining, which includes incorporating them in the design and implementation of projects as well as development of innovative mitigation strategies to decrease risks identified; 2) Build stakeholder capacity: a) by implementing state-wide environmental health training as well as evaluation metrics targeting Hispanic community health workers (promotoras de salud) and Native American community health representatives; b) work with Tribal Community Colleges to create and implement educational modules focused on the mining process and its social and environmental impacts to supplement existing STEM curricula and build a cadre of STEM focused higher education students; 3) Involve impacted individuals and groups living adjacent to Superfund and other contaminated sites in Arizona through multilingual/cultural workshops, specialized meetings, informational brochures, and cutting-edge communication tools. These tools will incorporate quantitative and qualitative mechanisms to assess efficacy and; 4) Assist in the outreach and administration of two centers initiated by the UA SRP, the Dean Carter Binational Center for Environmental Health Sciences and the Center for Environmentally Sustainable Mining both of which have components of community training and outreach on issues related to environmentally and socially-responsible mining. The UA SRP, advancing the mission of UA, serves to heighten the participation of underrepresented minorities along the continuum of scientific research, and ultimately, to addressing environmental and health issues.