Partners in this proposal include the University of Massachusetts Lowell Center for Family, Work and Community/CIRCLE (Center for Immigrant and Refugee Community Leadership Empowerment), Lowell Community Health Center; and the Coalition for Better Acre. We propose an environmental justice partnership for Lowell, Mass, a city of 100,000, with some 40,000 are immigrants and refugees from over a dozen nations. Lowell's environmental problems include a high number of lead painted homes, over 300 brownfield sites, contaminated surface waters, and over 120 known toxic waste sites. Refugees and immigrants are the fastest growing segment of the population. Newcomers often liver in the poorest, most contaminated urban settings and hold low-wage, low-status, dangerous jobs. Immigrant youth may find their roles within the family reversed as they become the contact between their parents and the outside world. With all the problems newcomers face, environmental issues are not primary in their lives. So environmental education must not only be linguistically and culturally accessible, but also available to people at times when they are open to it. We call our project New Ventures because when people consider changes such as taking new jobs, opening businesses, moving or renovating housing, adapting their diet and food choices to a new culture, etc. they face questions about environmental issues that might not otherwise occur to them. They are making decision about environmental health. New Ventures follows four strands: Expanding the Partnership beyond our very successful NIEHS funded Southeast Environmental Partnership; Sharing our Innovations in new and creative ways; Universities Becoming Better Partners which builds on UMass Lowell's strengths in environmental health and community partnerships to develop more sustainable and responsive community/research partnerships, and Drawing From the Strengths of Immigrant Youth, where we involve youth as planners, community educators, and bridges between cultures. In years 1, 2, and 3, the New Ventures project will systematically follow the four strands listed above through three areas of life that are of great concern to our newcomer groups: economic development, housing, and food. In Year 4 we will emphasize integrating the four strands of activities so that they will continue to be sustained beyond the grant period and will complete the evaluation of the partnership.
