Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #115945

Henry C. Topper, PhD, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (7406M), U.S.Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, DC 20460, 202-564-8534, topper.henry@epa.gov

This presentation, by the program co-chair, will describe CARE, the new community based environmental health initiative of the Environmental Protection Agency. CARE is an innovative new EPA program to help communities understand and take action to reduce toxic risks at the local level.

The CARE program achieves it goals by: -Empowering and building the capacity of communities to understand and take voluntary actions to reduce environmental and health risks at the local level -Encouraging and supporting the formation of collaborative problem solving partnerships that can bring all sectors of the community and governments together to mobilize local resources and get results -Building the long term capacity of communities to continue to improve their environments and health

Through CARE, EPA works directly with communities, to provide: -Help to build and strengthen collaborative partnerships and leverage resources -Funding and support to help communities develop a comprehensive understanding of all sources of risk from toxics and set priorities for effective action training -Technical assistance and information

The presentation will describe the origins, organization, and current activities of the CARE program, including: - the communities currently participating in the CARE program - the training and resources provided to build the capacity of the CARE communities - the new cross-program organization developed in EPA to support community environmental health - the process that will be used to expand CARE to up to 80 new communities in 2006 - the national partnerships formed to support CARE communities - the tracking and measurement system designed to measure results and improve program performance

Learning Objectives:

• Session participants will learn the history and origins of this new community based environmental health initiative, understand the goals of the program, identify the communities participating in the program, learn how to gain access to the training and resources provided to CARE communities, understand the tracking system that this program will use to measure results and improve program outcomes, and understand opportunities for partnering with and applying for funding from this new initiative. At the end of the session, participants will be able to explain the CARE program to potential participants, partner with CARE communities, use the training and resources developed by the CARE program to intiative similar community based initiatives, and track the environmental health results resulting from the CARE program.

Keywords: Community Health, Environment

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation