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WE ACT is currently funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) project to train 20 community residents per year for three years on environmental health issues. WE ACT's partners on this project are Columbia University's School of Public Health and the Harlem Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. This partnership evolved out of a longstanding relationship between WE ACT and these two institutions in the Northern Manhattan community. Both WE ACT and these institutions share a common commitment to improving the Northern Manhattan environment and the health of its residents.
The Environmental Justice Movement has illuminated the fact that people of color are disproportionately and excessively exposed to chemical and physical hazards in the environment. While there are egregious localized instances of environmental injustice, in aggregate, urban populations of color exposed to a multitude of hazards represent a sizeable portion of those who are affected by environmentally unjust policies and practices. The goal of this project is to inform and empower the predominantly low income people of color in three urban communities in Northern Manhattan (specifically, Central Harlem, West Harlem, and Washington Heights) about the excess levels of airborne particulate matter and carbon monoxide from heavy car, bus, and truck traffic as well as other environmental pollutants to which they are exposed.
The long term goal of these efforts is to help intervene and reduce exposure to environmental toxicants which are adversely affecting the health of these disadvantaged, medically underserved, predominantly African American and Latino populations in Northern Manhattan. Through careful documentation, evaluation, and dissemination of findings, the model to be developed here can be generalized to other communities and adapted to accommodate regional environmental concerns.
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