COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CORE CoEC facilitates alignment of the goals and activities of the Center with stakeholder needs for actionable scientific knowledge that addresses the concerns of the communities we serve. CoEC fosters durable relationships between stakeholders (New Jersey communities, health professionals, and policymakers) and CEED scientists. Through these relationships, bidirectional communication enables scientists to learn about community knowledge, issues, and perspectives, and stakeholders to learn about CEED science and capabilities to address community concerns. This communication forms the basis for PEH research that addresses issues of concern to communities with the goal of targeted intervention and prevention strategies to reduce exposures and/or prevent adverse health effects. A major goal of CoEC is to empower environmental justice (EJ), vulnerable, and exposed communities to effect complex systems changes that improve environmental health.
The specific aims of CoEC are to 1) Translate and disseminate Center research to communities, health professionals, and policymakers through joint activities, projects, and the Stakeholder Advisory Board (SAB); 2) Promote bi-directional communication between stakeholders and Center researchers through meetings and development of stakeholder-driven information tools, including print materials, and interactive social media; 3) Facilitate community-engaged research by fostering stakeholder and CEED researcher interaction.; 4) Empower communities, health professionals, and policymakers to better assess environmental health risks using evidence-based, effective, and economically-sound interventions. CoEC translates and disseminates scientific knowledge and research findings that are responsive to community needs and that inform decisions by health care providers, stakeholders, policy makers and regulators.
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