Environmental Health Leadership Training

In response to the expressed concerns of residents from three Northern Manhattan sites, the Community Outreach and Education Program (COEP) of Columbia University's NIEHS Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan, in collaboration with community partners West Harlem Environmental Action and the Harlem Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, developed the Environmental Health Leadership Training (EHLT) program. The goal of the EHLT is for community residents of Northern Manhattan and the South Bronx to improve their capacity to organize for community environmental health and justice in New York City. Participants learn scientific and regulatory foundations of environmental health issues affecting New Yorkers, and learn basic organizing and advocacy skills to address health disparities in environmentally influenced health outcomes. A 24-credit-hour curriculum was created for the program. The training is designed to convey sophisticated technical and health information while remaining accessible to people from a variety of educational backgrounds, literacy levels, and ages. Upon graduation, leaders are given a 200-page manual with extensive written and visual resources on all the issues addressed in the training. This presentation will highlight the process for establishing this training program and the positive outcomes achieved.