April - May 2004 | Volume 2, Number 7

Promoting the Environmental Justice & Health Union mission, Catalyst identifies training, research, policies, events, and funding opportunities that foster partnerships to eliminate environmental disease in low-income communities of color within the United States. To do that, Catalyst depends on information submitted by an advisory board of environmental health professionals and environmental justice activists as well as our readers.

TOOLBOX

Technology help by zipcode
TechSoup and N-Ten have developed Techfinder, a tool that locates technology providers working with non-profit groups by zipcode.

OTHER REPORTS OF INTEREST

Power plant emissions
Toxic Neighbors, a report by Clear the Air, found that electric utilities continue to be the largest air polluters and that technology is available and in use by some utilities that could dramatically reduce emissions if applied nationwide.

ADVISORY BOARD

Lynn Battle
Executive Director, Citizen's Lead Education & Poisoning Prevention (Birmingham, AL)

Michael Green
Executive Director, Center for Environmental Health (Oakland, CA)

Swati Prakash
Environmental Health Director, West Harlem Environmental Action (New York, NY)

Alejandra Tres
Executive Director, Association of Environmental Health Academic Programs (Portland, OR)

The Environmental Justice and Health Union is an independent project of the Center for Environmental Health

SUBSCRIBE and PROVIDE

Catalyst is an online newsletter sent monthly to Environmental Justice & Health Union members. Groups with annual budgets of less than $200,000 receive free EJHU membership. The EJHU website (www.ejhu.org) includes information for activists and professionals about training, research, and policies, EJHU membership, and past issues of Catalyst.

If you want to provide information to be considered for inclusion in Catalyst, include a contact name, website, and e-mail address. Please forward the information to ejhu@ejhu.org or the following address:
Max Weintraub - Director
Environmental Justice and Health Union
528 61st Street, Suite A
Oakland, CA 94609

SPREAD THE WORD! - Free membership for community groups will be discontinued after April 15, 2004. Sign up now!

The Next Step...

The near tripling in the rates of asthma mortality witnessed during the 80's appear to have leveled off. However, the racial disparities in asthma remain a threat to environmental health and environmental justice. Dramatic racial differences in access to healthcare and treatment remain for children and adults. African-Americans remain three times more likely to die from asthma than do Whites.

As discussed in past issues of Catalyst, power plants are a source of air pollution that disproportionately threaten communities of color. Yet, far more has been written about the home environment. For example, the Alliance For Healthy Homes and the Center for Healthy Housing have developed recommendations for creating healthy home environments. While acknowledging the severe problem of quality affordable housing, it does not capture the extent of the problem detailed by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Part of the problem is wealth. Most people in the U.S. have their wealth in their home. Racial discrimination in lending practices hinder home ownership in communities of color. And renters do not acquire the home equity that can be accessed in an emergency to pay for healthcare or home maintenance. While many tools are available to help renters and landlords maintain healthy homes, little has been written about how home ownership will eliminate disparities in environmental health. If we are going to focus on asthma solutions in the home, home ownership should be considered as one solution.

PARTNERSHIPS

Local groups and government
The International City/County Management Association report Not Business As Usual: Using Collaborative Partnerships to Address Environmental Justice Issues uses case study examples to provide guidance on successful partnerships between local government agencies and environmental justice groups

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

Fish Advisories
The EPA produces a Fish and Wildlife Advisory newsletter that includes information on new advisories, research, and events. The newsletter also includes detailed federal guidance on fish consumption related to mercury, PBDE's, and other toxins.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

California
Several environmental justice groups produced Building Healthy Communities from the Ground Up, a survey of current challenges to environmental justice in California and recommendations to overcome them.

Return to EJHU or Catalyst homepage

CLOSING DATES

April 1
Bedford Community Health Foundation - Virginia
$20,000
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April 9
Northwest Health Foundation - Northwest
$70,000
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April 15
Sentara Health Foundation - VA
$10,000
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April 16
Center for Third World Organizing summer activist training
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April 23
Wilberforce Foundation - West
$15,000
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April 30
Patagonia
$8,000
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April 30
US EPA environmental justice
$25,000
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May 14
Community Technology Foundation - CA
$50,000

EVENTS CALENDAR

April 2 - 4, Berkeley CA
National pesticide forum
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April 3, Boston MA
Bridging health disparities
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April 5 - 11, Nationwide
National public health week on disparities
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April 9, Nationwide
Local responsibility for national environmental health
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April 13 - 16, New Orleans LA
National environmental justice advisory committee
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April 14 - 16, Atlanta GA
National asthma conference
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April 24 - 25, Seattle WA
Community-based solutions for environmental health & justice
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April 26 - 27, Washington DC
National Low Income Housing Coalition
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April 28 - 30, Boston MA
Mobilizing trust to reduce disparities
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April 28 - 30, Tampa FL
Mercury: medical and public health issues
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April 29, Sacramento CA
NIEHS/UC Davis air pollution symposium
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April 30 - May 1, Miami FL
National farmworker health conference
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May 7, Davis CA
Autism, genes, and environment
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May 9 - 12, Anchorage AK
National Environmental Health Association
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May 11, Boston MA
Children and the environment
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May 24 -26, Boston MA
Science of environmental justice
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May 25, Cambridge MA
Dispute resolution and environmental justice
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May 27 -30, Black Mountain NC
National Organizers Alliance