Community Engagement Core (CEC)

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ABSTRACT The Community Engagement Core (CEC) supports the theme of the UNC Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility (CEHS), translating interdisciplinary research on environmental health susceptibility to improve public health in North Carolina. The work of the Community Engagement Core (CEC) in the UNC- Chapel Hill Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility (CEHS) is grounded in the Center's research foci, and the CEC's reach extends broadly across the state and deeply into North Carolina's communities of public health and education professionals. The CEC prioritizes partnering with public health professionals and educators who engage our state's most vulnerable populations, such as minority and low-income populations, because these populations tend to be more at-risk of the adverse health outcomes being studied in CEHS and tend to have more serious health outcomes. The goal of the CEC is to enhance public understanding of environmental health sciences research and foster environmental health literacy among public health professionals and secondary science and health teachers, raising awareness of environmental health issues and facilitating informed decision making that reduces harmful environmental exposures in homes and communities. We accomplish this goal through four aims: (1) To foster dialogue among CEHS members and community partners to inform development of environmental health sciences research that is responsive to community concerns; (2) To enhance the capacity of public health practitioners to engage vulnerable populations and other residents on locally relevant environmental health issues using a train-the-trainer approach; (3) To enhance the capacity of secondary science and health educators to engage adolescents in meaningful and socially contextualized education by facilitating incorporation of cutting-edge research into instruction; and (4) To facilitate development of science communication skills among CEHS investigators and trainees. The CEC is a vital element of the CEHS as it connects CEHS investigators with community partners, facilitating multidirectional communication and ensuring broad relevance to the State, both of which are critical to meeting the translational goals of the CEHS.