Environmental Health Coalition (EHC)

Land Use, Environmental Justice, & Children's Health

Joy Williams
joyw@environmentalhealth.org

Project Description

The Land Use, Environmental Justice, and Children's Health Project builds upon the successes of the EJ project, "Clean Air for Barrio Children's Health." The name has been changed to reflect a significant expansion of the target area and an increased emphasis on the relationship between the built environment and children's health. The expanded target area includes the Logan communities in San Diego, National City, and western Chula Vista, all low-income communities of color. The new project retains the same consortium partners: Environmental Health Coalition [EHC] as the community-based organization and applicant, Family Health Centers of San Diego [FHCSD] as the health-care provider partner, and the Southern California Environmental Health Science Center [SCEHSC] (at the University of Southern California) as the research partner. Children living in the expanded target area are currently exposed to mobile and industrial air emissions which increase their risks for respiratory impairment. Development plans in the area could increase these risks. The EHC and its grant partners are promoting the principles of environmental justice: promoting the precautionary principle, looking at the cumulative impacts of the multiple sources of air pollution, and ensuring open and meaningful community participation in land use planning issues that affect the health of their families and neighborhoods. Using the collaborative project model developed and applied so successfully in the Logan area, investigators are assessing the respective communities' air quality profiles, reviewing critical components of community respiratory health status, and refining and integrating previously developed educational curricula into appropriate youth leadership workshops and environmental health advocacy campaigns. Project activities include community environmental health research, community education, and community empowerment.

Collaborators

Ed Avol
Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center

Nancy Bryant Wallis
Family Health Centers of San Diego

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