Equity and Climate Opportunities for Health (ECO-Health) Center: Community Engagement Core

ABSTRACT (CE CORE) The Community Engagement (CE) Core advances the scientific mission of the ECO-Health Center by closing the gap between research and practice through equitably engaging with California’s most disproportionately impacted communities in all aspects of the Center’s research activities. Including communities in research that

seeks to address resources, policies, practices, and programs relevant to their well-being ensures that their experiences and perspectives shape realistic interventions in ways that successfully mitigate the health impacts of climate change. There is growing evidence that CE approaches are effective in the public health

arena. The CE Core will incorporate the Environmental Health Literacy framework to broadly facilitate CE research to advance health equity in the face of a changing climate by advancing the level of literacy across various climate health topics and promoting the mutual and bi-directional exchange of information, ideas, and

expertise between community members and climate health researchers. CE is particularly important for strengthening the ability of scientists and communities to collaborate on climate-health research on the social and structural context, including material need insecurities and the built environment. We will implement three

Specific Aims. Aim 1 will integrate community perspectives into high-impact climate-health research on social and structural factors. To achieve this aim, we will partner with community stakeholders to inform ECO-Health scientists on the most pressing issues to incorporate into climate and health research through a statewide

needs assessment, and develop the ECO-Health Community Advisory Board (CAB) to obtain relevant community input to strengthen the design, implementation, and dissemination of research. Aim 2 will increase community access to high-impact climate-health science on social and structural factors. With support from the

CAB, we will review, synthesize, translate, and disseminate cross-cutting climate and health research findings, products, and approaches to facilitate their application by community members, community-based organizations, healthcare professionals, and policy makers. We will also provide technical assistance, training,

and support to scientists and communities so both may contribute to and apply ECO-Health research findings. Aim 3 will foster community-engaged research. We will support CE research that increases community participation, empowerment, and influence in all phases of research, from design, implementation, and

analysis to dissemination through collaborative, sustainable, and equitable processes. We will support the Community-Partnered Action Research Pilot teams and other ECO-Health scientists through capacity building, including a tailored approach to developing R-level NIH proposals. Through implementing these aims, the CE

Core will support transdisciplinary ECO-Health scientists to thoughtfully engage with communities to formulate and conduct research projects, interpret and disseminate the findings, and foster research that is prioritized by, meaningful to, and respectful of people who are most affected by climate change.