The predominantly Latino communities of Barrio Logan, Logan Heights, and Sherman Heights in San Diego are among the poorest in the County and home to the County's largest concentration of hazardous materials. Environmental Health Coalition (EHC), Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center, and the Logan Heights Family Health Center will implement the Clean Air for Barrio Children's Health Project to create a long term relationship with these communities based on respect of the experiences of the community. The major goals of the project are to: * Empower community residents to resolve toxic pollution problems in their neighborhoods; * Educate the community, with a particular emphasis on youth, concerning the relationships between asthma and air pollution, on proper asthma management, and on available health care services; * Create a profile on air pollution and respiratory illness, including asthma, in the community; * Reduce pollution sources within and adjacent to the communities; and * Improve health care provider skills in assessing and preventing environmental exposures. The Project activities to achieve the project's goals are summarized below. * Environmental Health Research: Identify and fill data gaps on air quality and asthma and other respiratory illness in the target area. * Community Education: Educate the community at large, students at the local junior high, and the health care providers, about the relationship between air pollution, respiratory illness, and environmental justice. * Community Empowerment: Organize the community to advocate for a local air toxics monitoring station; to demand enforcement of existing environmental laws; and to create a community-driven pollution prevention strategy for area industry.
