Community Outreach

Outreach Projects

Durham Environmental Lead Collaborative (DELC)

In 2006, tap water samples with high lead levels from a number of Durham residences heightened the awareness of lead exposure hazards in Durham, North Carolina. In response, community organizations, city, county, and state agencies, and organizations from local universities formed the Durham Environmental Lead Collaborative (DELC) to prepare a comprehensive plan for lead exposure prevention in Durham County. Vist the DELC site for more information.

Lead Poisoning Prevention in Durham: Community Partnerships

In 2002-2003, multiple organizations, agencies, and community members identified lead exposure for young children as a priority area for education, outreach, and policy change in Durham, North Carolina. An integrated strategy combining the interests, resources, and expertise of all stakeholders was critical to achieving meaningful change. Community Partners Against Lead (CPAL), formed around this impetus in order to develop a mission statement, identify available resources from different groups and grants, and create an action plan to fulfill the mission statement.

With a mission to eliminate childhood lead poisoning in Durham County by 2010, CPAL arrived at a set of eight goals focused on testing kids, testing houses, and enforcing (and, where necessary, changing) the City’s minimum housing code. Each goal is supported by a series of specific activities to be undertaken, the collaborators who have agreed to take the lead on those activities, and a timeline for execution of those activities.

Lead Exposure Risk Model Dissemination

North Carolina
In 1999, as a direct result of initial seed money from NIEHS, the Nicholas School of the Environment secured a research grant funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The project seeks to improve the capture rate of children targeted for lead screening in North Carolina and to facilitate preventive intervention before lead poisoning occurs. The project uses GIS spatial analysis of county tax assessor and U.S. Census block group data to create a household-level predictive model of lead exposure risks across the state.

CEHI has already created predictive models for 6 counties in North Carolina and is currently funded to develop similar models for 27 additional counties across the state. CEHI staff work with health departments, environmental health workers, GIS departments, and community groups on the county level to tailor specific aspects of the model so that the end users have the most useful product.

National
The National Replication project was funded by the office of the Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (when Dr. Ken Olden was director). The project is an effort to expand current North Carolina childhood lead risk modeling efforts to national audiences in order to promote GIS spatial analysis for improving children's environmental health programs. Through presentations at regional and national conferences and the publication of the methodological article in Environmental Health Perspectives, CEHI has initiated model dissemination to national audiences and continued efforts to establish partnerships with several states and cities of various geographic regions of the country. Through this effort, CEHI has identified several potential national partners interested in replicating the Mapping for Prevention model for their constituents.

Environmental Exposures to Latinos and Latin Americans

From 2003-2004, CEHI partnered with the North Carolina Rural Communities Assistance Project (NCRCAP) to offer education, outreach, and screening of pesticide exposures from indoor soil and dust sources to 33 Latino households. NCRCAP develops and maintains a broad network of Latino families within Chatham County, NC. The collaboration between CEHI and NCRCAP offered this network of families a free indoor environmental exposures assessment along with bilingual information and education on indoor environmental health exposures. A comprehensive Spanish language report of the findings was provided to the residents at no charge along with a package of Spanish language information materials on environmental exposures. After the sampling visit, NCRCAP staff individually followed up with residents for education on limiting indoor exposures to pesticides and other contaminants. CEHI continues to work with NCRCAP to place advanced technologies in service to Latino communities in North Carolinawww.ncrcap.org/

The Ronie Garcia-Johnson Melanoma Education Fund

The Ronie-Richele Garcia-Johnson Melanoma Education Fund was established to educate people of color about the dangers of melanoma. Melanoma is the most serious type of skin cancer, with approximately 55,000 new cases of malignant melanoma diagnosed each year, and has the potential to affect anyone. However, because it is more prevalent in people with a fair complexion, people of color often do not realize that they too are at risk. The Melanoma Education Fund seeks to reach out to people of color about the risks of melanoma and provide education about prevention strategies.

The fund was established in honor of Dr. Ronie-Richele Garcia-Johnson. An Assistant Professor at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Ronie was a gifted scholar, devoted mother of two daughters, a loving wife, and an adored daughter. She passed away in April, 2003 at the age of 34, after battling malignant metastatic melanoma.

Community Inventory

CEHI is approaching its community outreach work by tailoring our efforts to the stated needs of the Durham community. Our mechanism to determine community health needs is an ongoing series of focus groups. The focus groups are designed to emphasize a two-way discourse on the subject of environmental health, environmental justice, perceived risks, healthy behavior, and other health related topics to the concerned citizens of Durham. For the purposes of CEHI, these conversations serve as a challenge by the Durham community to more accurately address relevant environmental health issues. Consequently, these challenges help direct our work in Durham. Because CEHI is dedicated to the environmental health of children, all outreach efforts emphasize bilingual access and family-friendly organization, involving evening meeting times, weekend events, and child centered activities.

Asthma Outreach to Coaches and Local Sports Leagues

CEHI is currently organizing an asthma outreach and education campaign to coaches of youth sports teams, associations of youth coaches, and representatives of youth sports leagues. The outreach and education campaign will involve communicating topics such as awareness, risks, and prevention of childhood asthma with coaches of various youth sports. CEHI staff are in contact with the broad network of youth sports leagues across the Research Triangle area, including Durham, Orange, Wake, Chatham, Granville, and Person Counties. A major outreach event is planned for the spring of 2005 and will be hosted in collaboration with the Duke Asthma Center. In later years, CEHI plans to expand the program to youth sports networks in other parts of the state.

Environmental Health Nursing School Curriculum

As part of the COEP Core, with support from several EHSRC investigators, CEHI has been working with the Duke University School of Nursing to systematically incorporate issues of environmental health into the Nursing School curriculum. Preliminary lectures were developed and presented in September 2004 with plans to broaden and deepen the penetration of environmental health issues into the curriculum.

CEHI is a research, education, and outreach program committed to fostering environments where all children can prosper.