Our mission
“In this country, too many communities of color experience violence, oppression, and toxic trauma due to environmental racism and slavery. We use anti-racist, pro-liberation science to INpower communities who are seeking environmental justice.”
The CEEJH Laboratory was founded by Dr. Sacoby Wilson, full-time professor in the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health, in the Fall 2011. CEEJH’s primary focus is to provide engagement to highly and differentially exposed populations and underserved communities. Our work has included the development of and participation in partnerships with community-based organizations, environmental advocacy groups, health practitioners, and policymakers (federal, state, and local government) to reduce local contamination, improve environmental quality, and enhance community health and sustainability. In 2021, to mark its 10 year anniversary, the CEEJH laboratory relaunched as the Center for Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health (CEEJH). This relaunch is important because of the pressing regional, national, and global environmental justice and health issues that impact low-wealth Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) populations and communities. The scourge of the coronavirus pandemic, the constant threat of climate change, and the global movement for Black Lives has challenged the CEEJH team to step up to help those most impacted by racism, colonialism, state-sanctioned violence, and state-sanctioned environmental oppression.
CEEJH advances environmental justice by developing community-university partnerships, using the community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach, citizen science, community-owned and managed research (COMR) principles, the Science Inpowerment Model, and the Collaborative-Problem Solving Model (CPSM) with a focus on equitable planning, healthy zoning, and sustainable community development. We train residents impacted by local unwanted land uses (LULUs); air, water, and soil pollution; and other environmental hazards to become citizen scientists using these community-based frameworks.
CEEJH has partnerships with community groups and advocates throughout the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Deep South, and Gulf Coast states. For more information our completed and ongoing projects, see Where We Work.