PCHE

Partnership Overview

The Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment is a growing North American coalition with 175 individual and organizational members representing government, academic, medical and community-based organizations committed to building a strong, sustainable and collaborative movement to protect current and future generations from harmful environmental exposures.

Partnership Background

The Partnership coalesced following the Children's Environmental Health Summit held in September 1999. The Summit, co-convened by the Institute for Children's Environmental Health (ICEH) and the Children's Health Environmental Coalition (CHEC), was an invitational gathering for key leaders in government, academic and community-based organizations committed to working on children's environmental health concerns. The intention of this meeting was to map the growing field of children's environmental health and to determine how we might more effectively communicate, strategize and collaborate across sectors in order to catalyze a strong and sustaining children's environmental health movement.

The first joint action of the Partnership was to draft and adopt the Guiding Principles for Children's Environmental Health. ICEH facilitated the drafting process and continues to serve as the coordinator for the Partnership. Now almost sixty organizations in the United States and Canada have signed on to the Guiding Principles and joined the Partnership. In doing so, members demonstrate their commitment to this shared set of values and principles regarding children's environmental health and to building a strong, sustainable and collaborative movement to protect current and future generations from harmful environmental exposures.

Highlights

Searchable Bulletins. Our weekly email bulletins are now archived and searchable on our Bulletins page. Each week, we compile news stories, announcements, and upcoming events related to environmental health.

Searchable Database. We are pleased to offer the ability to search our list of partners according to location, focus, and interests. Please see our Members' Information page.

Conference Calendar. Visit our list of meetings and conferences relating to children's environmental health. International, national, and regional conferences are posted. To submit a conference, please send a message to our office manager.

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Publication. The AAP has released Pediatric Environmental Health, Second Edition by American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Environmental Health, Edited by Ruth A. Etzel, MD, PhD and Sophie J. Balk, MD. This guide to the identification, prevention, and treatment of pediatric environmental health problems addresses parents' questions. Chapters address air pollution, mercury, waste sites, environmental tobacco smoke, DEET use and other pesticides, and dozens of additional topics. For more information, please see the website of AAP's Committee on Environmental Health.

Raffi. Raffi's CD cover Read popular children's performer Raffi's statement about the Partnership and children's environmental health. His CD, Country Goes Raffi, benefits the Partnership. His most recent CD, Where We All Belong, includes three brand new songs to help promote the Earth Charter, an international declaration of interdependence.

Children's Environmental Health News

from Environmental Health News

Environmental Health News Archives

Partnership Activities

ICEH, as coordinator, is facilitating the following activities for the Partnership:

Recruiting a wide range of organizations to sign on to the Guiding Principles for Children's Environmental Health and encouraging those groups to use the principles as a tool to raise broader public awareness as part of their respective initiatives.
Creating maps of the organizations and their activities in the burgeoning field of children's environmental health to clarify the current efforts and highlight opportunities for more collaborative work as part of building a longer-term and sustainable movement.
Helping to underscore initiatives such as: the national Child Proofing Communties campaign, which is initially focusing on pesticides in schools and school siting issues, spearheaded by the Center for Health, Environment and Justice; the Healthy Building Network, which is working to eliminate hazardous building materials throughout the life-cycle of these products; the national Environmental Childproofing Campaign launched by the Children's Health Environmental Coalition, which is helping parents make healthier choices for their newborns and children in terms of environmental exposures; the first National Healthy Schools conference being organized by the Healthy Schools Network for the Fall 2001 with the intention of creating a national healthy schools platform; the StopPOPs campaign, an international initative to establish protocols for banning Persistent Organic Pollutants globally; among many other efforts.
Developing a Partnership website that will serve as a resource for ongoing and emerging campaigns and initiatives and events, in order to deter duplicative efforts and encourage more cohesive efforts.
Hosting conference calls every four to six weeks to highlight ongoing and emerging intiatives and campaigns, to discuss how to coordinate efforts more effectively, and to determine appropriate joint actions the Partnership can undertake.
Facilitating the Partnership listserv and providing updates on initiatives and pertinent resources and materials.
Following up on face-to-face meetings of May 2001 and Sept-Oct 2002. For comprehensive notes on these meetings, see our Conferences page.

Coordinator

The Partnership is now a project of the Institute for Children's Environmental Health (ICEH). If you are interested in signing on to the Guiding Principles and joining the Partnership, please see our invitation letter or contact

The Institute for Children's Environmental Health
P.O. Box 991
Freeland, WA 98249
360-331-7904, Fax: 360-331-7908
ICEH email