Oral

For over a decade researchers and federal agencies have become increasingly aware of the inherent value of working in partnership with community groups and residents to address the expressed environmental and occupational health concerns of the individuals. Researchers and federal agencies recognize that there are many communities facing disproportionate burdens from environmental exposures in the places they live, play, work and pray. This awareness raising has generally taken place when researchers and federal agencies have met with and listened to the voice of community members. Since the late 1990s, the federal government through its different agencies and offices has developed various research, capacity-building and partnership-building programs to bring together the appropriate partners to address these environmental justice and occupational justice issues. The sophistication of the science and the approaches for community-based research has evolved tremendously over the last ten years. This scientific advancement has been achieved in part by the increased support of federal programs. Materials, messages and approaches have been developed, refined and disseminated widely via community meetings, radio, the internet and at large professional conferences. These strategies to facilitate collaborations with communities have had clear, well-documented public health and policy impacts; however, environmental and occupational justice issues still face many communities. The purpose of the session is to highlight the various approaches used in five environmental/occupational health projects, consider the funding strategies, identify tools or resources developed, discuss the overall benefits, and provide recommendations to community groups, researchers, and federal partners. Presenters will discuss their environmental public health projects that have been supported by different federal agencies to achieve the goal of building partnerships with community groups and residents to address the environmental/occupational health concerns of the community. While much has been accomplished to address environmental and occupational injustices, there remains much to be done. This session will provide a forum to acknowledge accomplishments, as well as a venue to further the dialogue on how federal agencies, researchers and communities can continue to work collaboratively for the shared goal of environmental and occupational justice.

Session Objectives: 1. Attendees will be able to identify different approaches to build partnerships with communities to meet the environmental/occupational health concerns of the residents. 2. Attendees will be able to enumerate the benefits of engaging the participation of community residents in projects that address environmental/occupational health issues. 3. Attendees will be able to highlight various culturally appropriate communication strategies employed by environmental/occupational public health projects to increase awareness of environmental exposures and methods by which they can reduce those exposures.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)