The mission of the COEC is to:

• promote environmental health science literacy
• to serve as a non-biased source of scientific information to the public
• to provide environmental health educational resources
• to support connections between SWEHSC investigators and the community.

The Community Outreach and Education Core (COEC) chose to focus on the required target audiences of Community through projects such as:

• high school student internships with SWEHSC members
• information and outreach campaigns in American Indian Communities
• education and outreach projects with Community Action Boards for Superfund and Brownfields sites
• promoting environmental health literacy among student pharmacists, who assist with outreach and education activities

The specific focus of work with the community was with American Indian and Hispanic communities, high school students interested in biomedical research, and with schools interested in focusing on teaching science and health through environmental health topics

The COEC disseminates environmental health 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.

To promote environmental health outreach with communities, the COEC:

• continues to build collaborations in American Indian communities to address environmental health concerns raised by members, community leaders, and environmental quality and public health professionals
• assesses the environmental health information needs of Arizona communities to identify topics for outreach campaigns in new areas
• collaborates with SWEHSC members to disseminate their findings to partners and community members
• collaborates with other University of Arizona and NIEHS outreach groups to improve the resources and information available to communities

To promote environmental health education, the COEC:

• identifies and disseminates environmental health education resources
• provides environmental health sciences information and expertise
• develops new environmental health materials in partnerships