The Project is entitled """"""""Southeast Asian Environmental Health: The Lowell Partnership For Communication."""""""" The ultimate goal of this project is to institutionalize community based efforts to improve environmental health and prevent pollution and reduce toxic use in Lowell's Cambodian and Laotian residents. The faculty and staff from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell's Center For Family, Work and Community (CFWC) plan to work with health care providers and Southeast Asian residents to raise the awareness and identify toxics use and pollution problems. They plan to provide support to residents in carrying out community strategies, focus on collaborative efforts, and institutionalize the program in the community by the fourth year of the grant. Community residents will actively participate with researchers and health care providers in developing responses and setting priorities for intervention strategies. Health care providers will be made aware of the cultural and lifestyle factors that impact on risk concerns, and environmental scientists will design research and intervention strategies in ways that reflect culture. The Lowell Partnership proposes to demonstrate the importance of linking environmental and occupational concerns through partnerships among the University, health care providers, and the community.
