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March
2003 | Volume 1, Number 6
Promoting
the Environmental Justice
& Health Union mission, Catalyst identifies training,
research, policies, events, and funding opportunities that
foster partnerships to eliminate environmental disease in
poor minority communities 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.
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TOOLBOX
Minority environmental leadership
The Minority Environmental Leadership Development Initiative
(MELDI) provides
career and leadership development support for minority students
and environmental professionals.
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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
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The
Next Step...
On April 1, the University of Michigan affirmative
action cases will be argued before the U.S. Supreme
Court. The Association of American Medical Colleges has
filed an amicus
brief supporting the University of Michigan position
that affirmative action is proper and necessary. Dozens
of health care professional and education groups, representing
more than half a million members, supported the brief on
the grounds that "if medical schools cannot consider race
or ethnicity in the admissions process, the already low
number of minority physicians will decrease to critical
levels, leaving this Nation's health care system in a profound
state of crisis." This is due, in part, because minority
health professionals are more
likely to serve minority communities than white health
professionals.
The Court is expected to issue a decision in June. The cases
focus on admissions criteria for the the law
and undergraduate programs. If the university loses,
and affirmative action is halted, then the
percentage of minority students will decline. Educational
resegregation will result.
In addition to the briefs supporting
the University, students associated with BAMN
are expected to march on the Court on April 1 to speak out
for affirmative action. Support for the University and the
students is support for greater diversity in our universities
and the health professionals they produce.
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PARTNERSHIPS
Asthma coalitions
There are dozens of asthma
coalitions nationwide. Such coalitions often share the
traits
of having few paid staff and a local focus on an environmental
justice community.
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ENVIRONMENTAL
HEALTH
Childhood body burdens and illness
EPA has released the second edition of America’s
Children and the Environment. The report indicates a continued decrease in the number of children
with elevated blood lead levels and exposed to secondhand smoke, air pollution, and
contaminated drinking water. However, asthma rates are increasing, many children continue
to have elevated blood lead levels, the potential for mercury
exposure in the womb is of growing concern, and
environmental disease disproportionately threatens low-income
and minority children.
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ENVIRONMENTAL
JUSTICE
Illinois seeks public comments
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has drafted
an environmental
justice policy. Hearings will be conducted soon to gather
public input on the draft policy.
Brown University speaker series
Throughout the spring term,
speakers
will be invited to discuss the development and direction
of the environmental justice movement.
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SUBSCRIBE and PROVIDE
The
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
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CLOSING DATES
March 1
Funding
exchange
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March 1
Occupational
safety and health
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March 15
Foundation
for Change - San Diego
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March 15
Asthma
screening
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March 17
San
Francisco Foundation
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March 18
Climate
justice corps
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March 31
North
american fund for environmental cooperation
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March 31
Beaumont
foundation of america
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March 31
Community
leadership award (S.F. Bay area)
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March 31
Migrant
health scholarship
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April 18
Local
leadership council for community environmental health
resource center
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EVENTS CALENDAR
March 9 - 13, Salt Lake City UT
Society of Toxicology
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March 13 - 15, Bellingham WA
Healthy
children, healthy planet
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March 18 - 19, Washington DC
Advisory
committee on childhood lead poisoning prevention
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March 18 - 19, Eufaula AL
Alabama
Environmental Health Association
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March 19, Pittsburgh PA
Health
and the Urban Environment
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March 19, Washington DC
Unequal
treatment, one year later...
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March 28, Chicago IL
CDC
Chicago summit to eliminate childhood lead poisoning
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March 31 - April 4, Pittsburgh PA
Particulate
matter and human health
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April 1-3, Reston VA
Natural
science and public health: Prescription for a better
environment
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April 11, Cambridge MA
Symposium
on racial/ethnic health disparities research
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April 17, Seattle WA
Community
based participatory research
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April 19, Seattle WA
Community
based solutions for environmental health and justice
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April 24 - 26, Washington DC
Conflict
resolution and urban environmental policy
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April 25 - 27, Austin TX
Toxics
in the age of globalization
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