# Community Engagement Core

> **NIH NIH P30** · UNIVERSITY OF IOWA · 2024 · $230,706

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY - COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CORE (CEC)
Rural residents experience numerous health disparities and generally have poorer health than their urban
counterparts. In our Midwestern region, residents across the rural-urban continuum are exposed to
environmental hazards that primarily result from agricultural production, including agrochemicals and pesticides,
depleted water quality, bioaerosols, organic dust and allergens, and antibiotic-resistant pathogens from the
livestock industry. Given the complex socio-political structures that facilitate large-scale agricultural production,
there is a critical need for the EHSRC to engage in robust and participatory community engagement that
enhances environmental health knowledge and empowers rural residents to address environmental health
concerns. The overarching goal of the CEC is to address rural health disparities and enhance the community
engagement of EHSRC research through deep collaboration with rural audiences, building center scientists’
skills in community engagement, creating multi-media environmental health resources that respond to audience
needs, and advancing the field of rural environmental health engagement. The Specific Aims of the CEC are to:
Aim 1) Enhance engagement with rural audiences to develop collaborative relationships that result in the co-
production of environmental health resources and knowledge; Aim 2) strengthen relationships between center
members and rural audiences through mentorship and training; Aim 3) improve rural environmental health
literacy through effective research translation and multi-modal communication strategies; and Aim 4) advance
the field of rural environmental health engagement through rigorous social science assessment of community
engagement strategies. To accomplish these Aims, the CEC will build on past successes and engage in new
initiatives to address audience-identified environmental health concerns. We have expanded our Stakeholder
Advisory Board (SAB) to include organizations that represent our audiences (community members,
policymakers, public health professionals, and educators). We are committed to the equal co-production of
resources and knowledge and work with the SAB as full partners. We will continue our successful Science Café
series, connecting EHSRC researchers with community members and enhancing environmental health
knowledge. We have developed a new Community Engagement Fellowship and CEC Pilot Grant supplement to
mentor center members in community engagement. Finally, we will employ social science methods to develop
rural engagement strategies and models that can be implemented nationally. The EHSRC CEC serves a vital role in
the state and the region, engaging Center scientists in multi-directional communication with our audiences. Going
forward, the CEC will continue to expand the number of stakeholders aware of and engaged with the Center while
continuing to disseminate Center research to audiences across the region.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10818466
- **Project number:** 5P30ES005605-34
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
- **Principal Investigator:** Brandi Janssen
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $230,706
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1997-04-01 → 2027-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10818466

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10818466, Community Engagement Core (5P30ES005605-34). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-01 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10818466. Licensed CC0.

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