COMMUNITY HEALTH &ENVIRONMENTAL REAWAKENING

University Of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The long-term objective of this project is to improve[unreadable] environmental health conditions in the rural South by[unreadable] strengthening education and research collaborations between[unreadable] community organizations, environmental scientists and medical[unreadable] providers. Low land prices, wage levels and lack of political[unreadable] influence have made the Black Belt of the rural South, which is[unreadable] home to most rural African Americans in the USA, susceptible to[unreadable] polluting industries and toxic wastes. Our project seeks to make[unreadable] a long-term impact on environmental injustice by facilitating[unreadable] technical and political capacities of rural African Americans to[unreadable] be partners in research, to engage in community education, and to[unreadable] organize around environmental health issues. Our project builds[unreadable] on a current NIEHS-funded collaboration led by the Concerned[unreadable] Citizens of Tillery (CCT), located in the eastern North Carolina[unreadable] Black Belt. The Tillery area is 98 percent African American.[unreadable] Community Health and Environmental Reawakening brings together[unreadable] CCT, the NC Student Rural Health Coalition, and environmental[unreadable] health scientists from the University of North Carolina. Over[unreadable] the last 3 years we built new partnerships with community-based[unreadable] organizations and the NC State Health Department, sponsored the[unreadable] first NC Environmental Justice Summit, and conducted original[unreadable] environmental Justice and health effects research. With[unreadable] collaboration of the State Health Department, our new coalition[unreadable] will expand environmental health knowledge of North Carolina[unreadable] residents, students and health professionals; involve community-[unreadable] based organizations in community-driven health research; promote[unreadable] community and medical provider involvement in prevention and[unreadable] remediation of environmental hazards; and, develop field methods[unreadable] for exposure assessment and medical monitoring to support[unreadable] innovative community-based research on health hazards of[unreadable] intensive livestock operations.[unreadable]