The Community Engagement Core
The Community Engagement Core (CEC) aims to enhance and expand existing relationships between HERCULES and community partners to resolve environmental health issues in the community using exposome principles. We do this by:
Creating conversations between the Atlanta community and HERCULES
Increasing the capacity of local communities to address their environmental health concerns
Guiding and supporting HERCULES scientists in community engagement
Our Approach
By developing partnerships and building capacity among community members and scientists, the CEC aims to incorporate community concerns into the long-term research efforts of HERCULES investigators.
To achieve these aims, we use the following approaches:
Stakeholder Advisory Board
Our Board, which includes local residents, non-profits, and government agencies, guides CEC activities and ensures community concerns about environmental health issues are incorporated into HERCULES.
Research Translations
We create and provide summaries of HERCULES research relevant to the local community.
Roadshow and Grant Program
We conduct workshops with local communities to share the exposome concept, identify communities’ exposome-related perspectives and concerns and include those perspectives in future exposome science. We then provide grants for communities to address those concerns.
Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR)
We support HERUCLES scientists who are interested in integrating community-engaged approaches into their research, facilitate community-scientists partnerships when appropriate, and prepare future scientists for community-engaged research.
Community Engagement Highlights
- Clarence “Shaheed” Dubois Community Grant Program highlighted in Emory’s Public Health Magazine
- Results of 2013/2014 Mini-Grant “Proctor Creek Watershed Watch: A Photovoice Project” presented at 2015 U.S. EPA Community Involvement Training Conference
- Proctor Creek Coalition January 2015 Meeting Updates
- Clarence “Shaheed” Dubois Community Grant Program
- CEC activities in the news!
- Atlanta Community Forum: Environment, Health and Action
Community Engagement Activities
Proctor Creek Health Survey identifies potential health concerns
The Proctor Creek Collaborative Health Survey was funded in spring of 2014 as the first community-based pilot study for the HERCULES Center. The pilot project was a product of a strong collaboration...
Community collaborations bring first park to English Avenue
In collaboration with The Conservation Fund, HERCULES’ partners have been working with the Proctor Creek communities. Partners include West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, Community Improvement...
Student Research Experiences – Spring 2015
In addition to offering a couple students the opportunity to participate in pilot project research, the HERCULES Center also connected students with some of our investigators to assist in working on...
