Core D: Outreach Core

由于环境基础设施不足、危险废物处置不受控制以及采矿和金属加工中广泛接触重金属，美墨边境地区受到日益严重的环境健康危机的困扰。外联核心在处理影响边境地区居民的环境卫生问题方面有着悠久的传统。过去的外展核心资金已用于利用250万美元的财政支持来启动和管理美墨两国环境科学和毒理学中心（两国中心）。外展核心的首要目标是

The US-Mexico Border region is plagued by a growing environmental health crisis resulting from inadequate environmental infrastructure, uncontrolled disposal of hazardous waste and widespread exposures to heavy metals from mining and metal processing. The Outreach Core has a long tradition of working on environmental health issues impacting residents of the Border region. Past Outreach Core funding has been used to leverage $2.5 M in financial support to initiate and administer the US-Mexico Binational Center for Environmental Sciences and Toxicology (Binational Center). The overarching goal of the Outreach Core is to empower underrepresented community members of the Border region to become active participants in recognizing and resolving hazardous environmental contamination risks to human health. The objective is that they will become active partners in the implementation of solutions in their communities. The specific aims planned for the renewal will introduce new approaches of empowering community stakeholders as well as continue with the most successful approaches from the past outreach efforts. The new challenges for the competitive renewal are as follows: Aim 1) Training of Mexican women health advocates (promotoras) in environmental toxicology in order to multiply outreach efforts as they network in their local neighborhoods; Aim 2) Facilitate community-based-participatory-research opportunities between community stakeholders and superfund project researchers; Aim 3) Mentoring programs to cultivate future professional environmental health advocates The continuation of the most successful tasks from the previous program is as follows: Aim 4) Informing regional community stakeholders through bilingual workshops/meetings, community oriented publications and radio broadcasts; Aim 5) Increase human capital in the Border region by providing professional workshops, bilingual educational materials and leveraging funds for graduate fellowships; Aim 6) Administrative support and coordination of the Binational Center.