The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #45156

Max Weintraub, MS, Toxics Section, US Environmental Protection Agency, 75 Hawthorne Street, Mail Code CMD-4-2, San Francisco, CA 94105, 415-947-4163, weintraub.max@epa.gov

Community partnerships often consist of health professionals going into a community with a public health problem and, through advisory panels and hiring, involving the community in the implementation of an educational outreach program designed to diminish the problem. This approach reflects an important step in equalizing relations between health care provider and potential patient. However, such efforts are, in the end, dependent on funding being allocated by public health professionals. The next step is to create sustainable educational outreach programs in at-risk communities that further maximizes community capacity for self-education and resource utilization. Community Toolbox for Children's Environmental Health is a non-profit organization that provides capacity building training, technical assistance, and small grants to community-based organizations with annual budgets under $150,000 per year. The goal is to nurture and strengthen the infrastructure of community-based organizations in order to ensure their long-term viability and, consequently, expand the breadth and depth of the community reached through their educational outreach efforts. Data collected from 20 grantees from around the country will be presented and evaluated in order to identify successes and challenges associated with this approach.

Learning Objectives:

• Evaluate a model for sustainable environmental health education
• Construct organizational development tools to support community-based health education
• Identify cultural competency challenges to community-based health education

Keywords: Community-Based Public Health, Health Education Strategies

Related Web page: www.communitytoolbox.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Community Toolbox for Children's Environmental Health
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: I am on the board of directors