Develop and Evaluate a Targeted Education Campaign in Northern Manhattan and the South Bronx to Protect West African, South Asian, and Latinx Populations from Hazardous Skin Lightening Products.

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Project Summary (30 lines of text): The proposed project seeks to develop evidence-based education materials and culturally-specific dissemination strategies in order to increase awareness on the use of and potential risks from skin lightening products among vulnerable and underserved communities. Our proposal is relevant to the FDA’s mission of protecting public health and ensuring the safety of cosmetic products, and to the FDA Office of Minority Health and Health Equity’s (OMHHE) commitment to promote and protect the health of diverse populations through research and communication of science that addresses health disparities. The project will develop and test a community-based educational intervention targeting South Asian, West African and Latinx populations in Northern Manhattan and the South Bronx. It will be designed to increase awareness about: (1) health risks of hydroquinone, mercury, and other substances commonly found in skin lighteners; (2) upstream social and cultural drivers of skin lightening use, including colorism; (3) strategies for individual and collective action to avoid toxic exposures and ensure safer beauty products. The aims of the educational intervention and subsequent evaluation are consistent with the aims of the FOA, to: (1) better understand public perceptions about skin lightening products, through discussions with CBOs and participant surveys, (2) identify and provide information needed for individuals to make informed decisions and/or take action, in terms of reading labels, avoiding dangerous products, and reporting banned products to authorities including the FDA, (3) and develop key messages for communications, though the development of a culturally appropriate educational module. Our core team and partners, with decades of combined experience engaging with disadvantaged and underserved communities on issues of toxic exposures and toxic cosmetics, including skin lighteners, are well-suited to engage with communities and to develop, evaluate, and subsequently refine messaging designed to inform and protect women from toxic skin lightening products. We will achieve these aims through the following Aims: (1) Develop an educational module, based on the format of WE ACT’s existing Environmental Health and Justice Leadership Training program (EHJLT), designed to provide community members with strategies to recognize banned skin lightener products and avoid them as well as to take action to report them; (2) Develop a train-the-trainer guide to supplement the EHJLT module, and conduct a train-the-trainer process with staff members at three selected community groups serving South Asian, West African and Latinx populations in Northern Manhattan and the South Bronx (with materials translated appropriately for all three groups); (3) Deliver the module via the newly trained CBO staff to about 20 participants drawn from each CBO’s grassroots constituency (60 participants total); (4) Evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention; (5) Revise the intervention in response to participant feedback, and disseminate the module and our findings via a report and a dedicated landing page on the WE ACT website.