# Community Engagement Core

> **NIH NIH P42** · HARVARD UNIVERSITY D/B/A HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH · 2021 · $96,046

## Abstract

SUMMARY/ ABSTRACT
Communities that are exposed to metals often have limited resources, partnerships, and scientific knowledge
that will aid in mitigating the impact of these metals on later-life health risks. Such limitations challenge the
ability to prioritize, and mitigate community-relevant exposure pathways and possible health risks. An
approach based on bi-directional communication and problem-solving, citizen science, and provision of
practical mitigation systems through a co-implemented intervention could provide lasting value to affected
communities. The Community Engagement Core (CEC) will serve a critical role in the MEMCARE-SRC by
developing a partnership between local residents and stakeholders in rural and urban communities with our
SRC team members and trainees to understand community needs and enhance broad understanding of
metals and metals mixtures, identify exposure pathways and mitigation approaches, and promote education
and public policy to characterize risk and empower community members as advocates of their own health
around metals exposures. CEC’s rural community partnership is based in the San Luis Valley, Colorado, which
is affected by the Nelson Tunnel/Commodore Waste Pile and Summitville mine Superfund sites. In both areas,
groundwater and soil are contaminated with a variety of metals, including arsenic, cadmium, manganese, lead,
and chromium. CEC’s urban community partnership is based at Dimock Community Health Center (DCHC) in
the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, MA. DCHC provides care for individuals living in the surrounding
community, which is challenged with household metal exposures, a high burden of environmental metal
exposures, and high poverty rates. The CEC will: 1) identify concerns of pregnant women regarding exposures
to toxic metals in their community and the impact on offspring health; 2) lead a citizen science effort to
collaboratively collect and assess individual metal and metal mixture levels from drinking water and soil
samples as well as urine and toenails of pregnant women and children from urban and rural communities; and
3) co-implement a remediation intervention using commercially available water filters and innovative new
MEMCARE-SRC developed technologies to reduce community metal exposures, with effectiveness tested by
participating community members. The CEC will use methods and technologies to detect hazardous
substances in the environment as part of a community-based approach to assess and mitigate the risks of
these substances to human health. The CEC is one of the most fundamentally integrated components of the
MEMCARE-SRC as it will partner closely in the research of all for SRC research projects and establish lasting
and productive partnerships with the community, including routine evaluation of this partnership to ensure bi-
directional exchange to provide the community with key information about metal exposures and options for
remediation. In addition the CEC will provide an oppor...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10112919
- **Project number:** 5P42ES030990-02
- **Recipient organization:** HARVARD UNIVERSITY D/B/A HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
- **Principal Investigator:** Tamarra M James-Todd
- **Activity code:** P42 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $96,046
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-02-21 → 2025-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10112919

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10112919, Community Engagement Core (5P42ES030990-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10112919. Licensed CC0.

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