COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CORE

The CEC will serve as a connector between communities and CHARMED faculty to develop responsive, science-based, environmental health and translational solutions to community-identified needs. The CEC will serve as the conduit for community engagement that creates synergy between all CHARMED investigators and communities to fulfill a shared mission of reducing community-identified environmental health concerns. The CEC will build upon existing partnerships in the Maryland region (DelMarVa, Washington D.C., and southern Pennsylvania) focused on community, social, and environmental determinants of health. Community concerns include historical and ongoing challenges with air, water, and soil quality, solid and hazardous waste management, aging infrastructure, transportation, energy infrastructure, goods movement, and land use and development.

 

The CHARMED CEC will help

1. train the next generation of leaders to conduct responsive, science-based environmental health CEnR;

2. increase faculty capacity to understand and conduct translational CEnR;

3. sustain existing and newly established, multi-directional CEnR partnerships;

4. deliver educational and translational materials that improve environmental health literacy among community and stakeholder groups; and

5. co-generate knowledge that can reduce community environmental exposures and ultimately improve community health outcomes.