Community Outreach and Education Core

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11. COMMUNITY OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT CORE 11.1 GOALS AND OBJECTIVES The goals of the Community Outreach and Education Core (COEC) are to: 1) promote environmental health in rural Midwestern communities and other vulnerable populations; 2) translate environmental health research results into knowledge for our community members; and 3) deliver appropriate, science and technology-based information. We intend to achieve these goals through the following four Objectives: Objective 1) Revitalize and enhance an organizational structure that ensures bi-directional communication and interaction with stakeholders through the re-establishment and further development of the Stakeholders Advisory Board. Objective 2) Increase awareness and understanding of existing and emerging environmental health issues among community citizens, professionals and legislators in the Midwest. Objective 3) Respond appropriately to environmental health emergencies when they arise and serve as a conduit for dissemination of educational materials through formal and social media outlets, and websites. Objective 4) Evaluate progress towards these objectives through both process and outcome evaluations. 11.2 RELATION OF COEC TO OVERALL CENTER The COEC has been and will continue to be an integral part of the overall center activities. The proposed COEC activities here are developed around 1) fostering bi-directional communication with stakeholder and constituent populations with guidance of the Stakeholder Advisory Board, 2) disseminating findings of the core research areas and strengths of the Center around adverse health effects of environmental contaminants among rural and agricultural populations (e.g. organic dust exposure and lung disease, pesticide exposure and cancer, rural childhood asthma, community health problems arising from industrialized livestock production). Dissemination and translation activities will be based on the research of the Center's 60 members, many of whom have previously been engaged in COEC activities. The COEC will involve the active participation of Center experts at presentations, policy briefings and community forums; as well as for technical reviews of all materials, such as fact sheets, developed by the COEC staff. As described in Strategic Vision, to ensure Center researcher participation in COEC activities, the following structures will be in place 1) Strategic areas for outreach will be discussed at Center Retreats, and Internal Advisory Committee Meetings; 2) Dr. Parker, as COEC leader, will serve on the Internal Advisory Committee, allowing her to both report on COEC activities as well as learn about new research findings to be disseminated; 3) Dr. Thorne, Center Director, will serve as COEC Co-Director and will be actively engaged in all COEC leadership and Stakeholder Advisory Board meetings, thus providing another avenue for Center-COEC communication.