Community Outreach and Engagement Core

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ABSTRACT: Community Outreach and Engagement Core With its scientific theme of the exposome, HERCULES has been a unifying force for residents, community- based organizations, government agencies and academic partners in Atlanta. We propose to build on the momentum of our first three years to: 1) maintain and expand multi-directional dialogue around environmental health issues within the Atlanta community, 2) enhance community capacity to address local environmental health concerns and to partner in community-engaged research projects, and 3) guide and support HERCULES Scientists in community engagement and outreach. We have formed a large and actively engaged Stakeholder Advisory Board that not only serves as a platform for multi-directional communication about environmental health issues and research, but also makes decisions about how the Community Outreach and Engagement Core (COEC) should advance its agenda. Specifically, we plan to conduct “Exposome Roadshows” to further disseminate the exposome concept and employ concept mapping to ensure that community perspectives are integrated into exposome frameworks as they evolve. Our Community Grants program will address community-identified environmental health concerns that incorporate an exposome perspective, as well as strengthen community capacity to address environmental health concerns. Additionally, we will develop a Community-Based Participatory Research course for doctoral students in the Environmental Health Sciences Program to prepare future scientists for community-engaged research and we will consult with faculty who receive a CBPR pilot grant from HERCULES and/or who are interested in integrating community-engaged approaches into their environmental health research. The COEC will provide the needed mechanisms to ensure that community voices inform the HERCULES scientists of local environmental health concerns, with a particular emphasis on neighborhoods disproportionately affected by environmental exposures. In turn, exposome concepts and research findings will be discussed with local communities, public health professionals and policy-makers in a format that is both relevant and accessible. Through a robust evaluation, we will engage in continuous quality improvement of COEC approaches, as well as contribute to the science of community engagement in environmental health.