Community Outreach & Education

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Given that the primary goal of the Center is to reduce morbidity and mortality from environmental agents in urban populations, it is fitting that the goals and theme of COEC be complementary. At the crux of the Center's philosophy on community-based research is that education is a critical and essential component of this process. COEC is an extension of this philosophy. Accordingly, COEC seeks to establish partnerships . with credible community agencies so as to create the opportunity to respond to specific concerns identified by community leaders and residents. These types of effective partnerships generate mutually beneficial relationships and assure positive outcomes through the translation of information and outcomes from the Center's Research Foci and Facility Cores into educational programs, into knowledge applied to public health and environmental health policy. Accordingly, COEC strives to meet the following goals: 1, to continue to serve as the conduit between the Center and community organizations on identifying environmental agents and issues which affect the health of the community;2, to continue to facilitate community based research in partnership with diverse community groups and organizations to address local needs as defined by community leaders and residents;3, to design educational materials and implement programs concerning the risks and effects of environmental agents that are of concern to the diverse groups with which we interact.;and 4, to develop interactions with organizations, both within and outside Johns Hopkins, who will facilitate our translation of the Centers research and public health goals. To achieve these goals the main focus of our attention will be on those communities in East Baltimore nearest to our Center. While we intend to focus on these communities, we will continue, as in the past, to serve as a resource, as needed, throughout the entire metropolitan region and beyond. It has been our operating philosophy for the past 10 years for our core to be comprised of faculty with diverse backgrounds and interests so that the Core can fulfill its goals and mission in the Center. As an operating procedure, the Core faculty and staff meet at regular intervals to discuss activities and projects.Inaddition, we have put together have established a stakeholders advisory board. COEC has established an evaluation plan to provide feedback concerning the successful achievement of our objectives. True success can only be achieved by maximizing communication and consensus among our diverse partners. As with the other elements of the project, evaluation will employ a participatory approach and by doing we will get immediate feedback regarding the importance and impact of are efforts