 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Max Weintraub, MS, Environmental Justice and Health Union, 528 61st Street, Suite A, Oakland, CA 94609, 510-594-9864, ejhu@ejhu.org
Race and class disparities are evident environmental diseases ranging from asthma to lead poisoning. The environmental justice movement developed, in part, as a response to such harmful impacts. Partnerships between environmental justice groups and governmental health agencies play an increasingly important role in remedying such problems. The factors required for partnerships accrue as the transition is made from public health groups (e.g., funding and disease expertise), to community groups (e.g., sharing of power and duration of effort), and environmental justice groups (e.g., differences in race, class, and language). The Environmental Justice and Health Union has reviewed several federal health agency partnerships with environmental justice groups that are sponsored by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Though increased planning was required to partner with environmental justice groups, the partnerships achieved greater success in at-risk communities eliminating environmental disease, diminished the resources allocated over the long-term necessary to prevent environmental disease, and raised awareness of environmental disease. Lessons learned from these successful partnerships and next steps to address other diseases, such as lupus, with environmental triggers that disproportionately harm low-income communities of color will be discussed.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Environmental Justice, Community-Based Partnership
Related Web page: www.ejhu.org
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Environmental Justice and Health Union
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 the director of the Environmental Justice and Health Union