Translating evidence into practice via local grass roots capacity

Community outreach and engagement (COE) is at the forefront of developing communication approaches between environmental health researchers and community groups, policy makers, and healthcare professionals. COE programs build and sustain a bi-directional bridge between the various stakeholders. Additionally, COE programs convey the voice of the community to researchers. This provides to researchers the environmental health issues that are of importance or concern to the community. Furthermore, the community capacity provided by COE programs has proven to be critical in the response mobilized to environmental threats such as hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Ike and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010. This presentation will encompass the accomplishments, progress, and future goals of the COE program at the University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences. With funding provided by the NIEHS' Community Outreach and Education Programs, this program has been able to sustain a partnership between academic researchers and communities built on the Promotores model. The goal of this partnership is to provide continuous environmental health education to underserved and disadvantaged populations in Shelbyville, Kentucky; a neighboring community of Louisville. The Promotores model initially focused on strengthening partnerships and credibility with community-based organizations providing services to the target population. This was followed by the creation of a Lay Health Educators/Promotores Network. To date, the Shelbyville Promotores have completed the first ever comprehensive community help and needs assessment required to define the health status, needs and priorities of community residents. The program is currently extending this model of environmental education while bringing a culturally-appropriate environmental health approach on conveying the critical intersection of genes, culture, environment and diseases.