Environmental Health Outreach in Latinx Communities

The Latinx community is a growing population in the Washington, DC region—up more than 85,000 individuals from 2010 to 2017, according to the US Census American Communities Survey. It is important that the School of Public Health work with local partners to engage this community and increase their knowledge and awareness about local environmental health issues.  To increase the environmental health literacy of this population, the CEEJH Lab works with Centro de Apoyo Familiar, CHISPA-MD, the Langley Park Civic Association, and the Children’s Environmental Health Network.  In one effort, the CEEJH team has participated in environmental health workshops with CHISPA-MD and the Langley Park Civic Association. The CEEJH team has partnered with Centro De Apoyo Familiar on a project led by Dr. Lesliam Quiros-Alcala to assess exposure of workers in Dominican hair salons to contaminants. In addition, the CEEJH team has worked with School of Public Health faculty, Centro De Apoyo Familiar, and the Children’s Environmental Health Network to provide child care workers in the Latinx community with education and training on environmental health issues in Prince George’s County and Washington, DC and measure contaminant levels in child care settings.