Community-based prevention research has been advocated to develop, deliver, and evaluate culturally appropriate interventions, in order to address growing health disparities in the United States. Such an approach is particularly appropriate for addressing the environmental and occupational health problem of pesticide exposure among seasonal and migrant farmworkers. However, common conceptual and theoretical development in this field of research is needed. The conference proposed here, """"""""Farmworkers and Pesticides: Community-Based Environmental Health Research"""""""", will bring together academic and community research partnerships to address three issues central to the success of these partnerships in reducing pesticide exposure among farmworkers and to developing common models and theories: (1) the value of a community-based approach for pesticide exposure reduction, (2) different models of academic and community partnerships, and (3) problems and solutions in achieving community and academic goals. The proposed conference will be held preceding the American Public Health Association annual meeting in November 1999, in Chicago. The one-day session will include a keynote address, three panel presentations by members of academic-community research partnerships currently funded by NIEHS, an interactive group discussion, and a concluding summation. The core group of participants will consist of representatives from three current research projects funded by NIEHS under the """"""""Community-Based Prevention and Intervention Research Program"""""""" and two centers funded through the """"""""Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research"""""""" initiative. All five share a common focus on pesticides and farmworkers. The conference is expected to attract participation from public health researchers and practitioners interested in increasing their knowledge and skills in approaches to community-based research. Following the conference, the organizing committee with coordinate the rapid publication of an edited volume of papers based on presentations and discussion. This publication will be a resource to both researchers and practitioners in the field of environmental health.
