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Community Outreach & Education Program
Environmental Health Sciences Core CentersCOEP DescriptionAs part of the EHS Core Center Program the NIEHS has fostered community-university partnerships through the integrated Community Outreach & Education Program (COEP). Each EHS Core Center has the option to establish a Community Outreach and Education Core (COEC) to build and sustain a bi-directional bridge between the EHS Core Center and its defined community. COECs communicate environmental health research findings and concepts to their partners and convey the voice of the community to researchers within the Core Center. In so doing, COEP increases community awareness of environmental health and provides researchers with the understanding of what environmental health issues are of importance or concern to the community. The COECs are at the forefront of developing communication approaches between researchers and community groups, policy makers, and healthcare professionals. Activities include creation of interactive websites, educational videos, and public service announcements among a variety of print materials. COECs implement innovative and culturally appropriate outreach efforts, including community theater productions, environmental health outreach at local community markets, and model healthy homes. Educational outreach through schools has been a primary approach for many COECs. They have developed and implemented innovative curricular materials that are being used in classrooms across the United States. Many of these materials are available on the NIEHS Health and Education page. Another major strength of COECs is their ability to bring people together to address common environmental health issues. Several COECs from across the country mobilized rapidly in response to hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Ike that affected much of the Gulf Coast region. COEP Goals and Expected Outcomes The goals of the Community Outreach and Education Cores are to:
COEP Target Audiences
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