EJSI Summer Institute Culminating Projects and Presentation

On Wednesday July 23 the Environmental Justice Summer Institute drew to a close. The hard work of the student and intern participants was showcased through a presentation at Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas' 2nd District main office during the Environmental Committee meeting of the Empowerment Congress.

The youth gave a presentation (below) and showcased the videos that they made (below) that summarized their EJSI experiences. Committee members listened intently and engaged in a question/answer session with the youth participants, giving them a chance to speak about what they learned and how they think they might utilize the knowledge and experiences gained during the program.  The youth were challenged to articulate not only what they learned, but the lessons they intend on taking away and applying to their lives in the near future.

Some of the lessons learned were:

• With knowledge they have a chance to make a difference. 
• The communities that they live in have higher than average levels of air and noise pollution.
• All it takes is the effort of one person to make a difference to the environment such as walking to the store instead of having one's parents drive them down the street. 
• Some who were already interested in environmental justice felt more equipped with knowledge and confidence to take leadership roles among their peers. One participant intends to start an Environmental Justice club at her school.

Prior to the last day of the program, the participants were visited by Dr. Joseph Lyou, President and CEO of the Coalition for Clean Air and board member of the South Coast Air Quality Management District.  Dr. Lyou spoke about the role of community organizations and future opportunities for the students.









The Environmental Justice Summer Institute program is a partnership of USC Environmental Health,
Asian and Pacific Islander Obesity Prevention Alliance (APIOPA), From Lot to Spot (FLTS), and Social Justice Learning Institute (SJLI). Learn more about the institute in these blog posts and Resource Page:
Environmental Justice Summer Institute: Youth Workshops
Youth Pollution Monitoring Activities across the Southland
Teaching Environmental Justice through Building Model Cities

USC Environmental Health gratefully thanks the NIEHS, U.S. EPA, The Kresge Foundation and The
California Wellness Foundation for their combined support which has allowed the Centers’ participation in these efforts to educate youth about air pollution.

by Wendy Gutschow

Environmental Justice Summer Institute: Youth Workshops

 

Four Southern California groups are excited to announce a new partnership to jointly sponsor an inaugural Environmental Justice Summer Institute (EJSI):

• USC Environmental Health,
• Asian and Pacific Islander Obesity Prevention Alliance (APIOPA),
• From Lot to Spot (FLTS),
• Social Justice Learning Institute (SJLI).

This five week, 14-session summer program will begin on June 26, 2014. ESJI was created to engage a diverse group of 15 local high school youth from Lennox, Hawthorne and Inglewood, around environmental health and environmental justice issues.

This EJSI curriculum is focused on educating, engaging, and empowering the youth to be agents of change in their own neighborhoods.
• Educate: Youth will learn about environmental justice and its disproportionate impact on people of color communities through workshops, presentations, and community tours.
• Engage: Youth will participate in an interactive workshop with urban planner James Rojas and conduct on-the-ground monitoring and mapping.  With partner USC the youth will develop hands-on experience to not only map out and identify highly polluted locations in their own neighborhoods, but to also have an opportunity to use air and noise monitoring equipment to track pollution levels.
• Empower: Throughout the program, the youth will work with Digital Rain Factory on digital storytelling to educate and engage their communities around the environmental concerns they have. The digital stories they create will also be used to advocate to their local elected officials, for changes they identify are needed through their summer program.

Curriculum to be covered:
• Researching environmental justice in our community
• Becoming environmental justice youth leaders
• Learning how to make videos for a cause
• Monitoring air and noise levels
• Informing public policy 101: The low down on our local policies
• Being a dynamic speaker
• Engaging the Community

Stay tuned for more exciting details of this pilot program! Search #EJSIFellows on Twitter to keep up on the latest developments, photos and more.

Learn more about the institute in these blog posts and Resource Page:
Environmental Justice Summer Institute: Youth Workshops
Youth Pollution Monitoring Activities across the Southland
Teaching Environmental Justice through Building Model Cities

The EJSI is partially supported by USC’s Children’s Environmental Health Center, which is funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences  and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Additional support for staff participation is provided by grants from the Kresge Foundation and the California Wellness Foundation. 

Environmental Justice Summer Institute partner organizations on Twitter:
@USC_EH_Outreach
@fightAPIobesity
@SJLI_CA
@fromlottospot

Establishing a GEOHealth Hub for East Africa

L-R: Ratnam, Howland and Tefera on the roof of USC's Soto Street Building as they disassemble an air pollution monitor.

Worku Tefera is a researcher visiting USC Environmental Health this week to learn about the types of air pollution monitoring conducted as part of the Children’s Health Study. The training will kick-start a similar air pollution monitoring network that will be set up in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. “Pollution is boundary-less," said Tefera, who is also studying for a PhD at USC under the direction of Dr. Frank Gilliland.

Training is being provided by USC staff Suresh Ratnam and Steve Howland and faculty members Kiros Berhane, Frank Gilliland and Scott Fruin. “It’s been a busy week” training Worku and documenting all the equipment procedures, says Ratnam. 

Tefera will be bringing exposure monitoring equipment back to Ethiopia with him to begin a study, as part of the Global Environmental Health initiative of the SCEHSC and part of the global health activities of the Institute for Global Health.

Tefera is co-investigator of a planning grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Fogarty International Center designed to establish a “GEOHealth Hub for East Africa." GEOHealth stands for "Global Environmental and Occupational Health," with the Hub covering Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. He is also a co-investigator on a proposal with Environmental Health faculty on "Effects of Clean Cookstoves on Child Survival in Ethiopia."

by Kiros Berhane and Carla Truax