About the Community Outreach & Education
Core
Mission & Goals The mission of the COEC is to promote
environmental health (EH) science literacy and to serve
as a non-biased source of scientific information, to provide
educational resources and to support connections between
SWEHSC investigators and the community. The Community Outreach
and Education Core (COEC) chose to focus on two of the
required target audiences:
The specific focus of work with health professionals has been with nurses, pharmacy students, and high school students interested in health careers. The COEC continues to disseminate EH information aligned with the research themes of the SWEHSC and of interest to the target audiences, lung disease, the health effects of UV exposure, arsenic, trichloroethylene, and other chemicals. Lead poisoning awareness materials have been especially important this year, as this topic has engaged the interest of the public related to the many recalls of toys. To accomplish the mission specific aims were established in 1997 and persist in this funding period to increase the awareness, appreciation, knowledge and understanding of EH sciences and research within members of the target audiences and to guide COEC projects, activities, and services. They continue to be:
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Synergistic Cascading Model of Outreach In addition, COEC developed the Synergistic Cascading Model of Outreach. Based on this model,
COEC builds on past accomplishments and capitalizes on
existing partnerships and materials to create activities.
New projects are created based on components that complement
each other and expand the reach and impact of the environmental
health message. These activities reach people at appropriate
levels of intensity and intimacy based
on their preexisting information and interest levels. Intensity means
the amount of information delivered. Intimacy relates
to the degree of closeness between the audience and the
COEC staff. This model promotes multiple uses of materials,
over time and many venues. It leverages the accomplishments
of one project to meet the goals of other activities
with additional audiences.
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