SUMMARY: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CORE The CEC serves as the information and communications nexus for the GC-CPEH. Our overall goal is to assist the communities we serve to achieve optimal environmental health, equity, and justice through a Community- Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach to research that equitably involves community partners in all aspects of the research process. Our Vision is to foster healthy communities by increasing communication and building collaborative relationships to implement research and programming responsive to community needs; develop, adapt, and share innovative strategies for engagement; and improve use of scientific findings to inform environmental health and health policy decisions. Specific Aims to achieve this Vision are: Specific Aim 1: Engage community partners through multi-modal communication strategies that identify community needs and inform Center directions and research and establish avenues for disseminating relevant environmental health sciences (EHS) to collaborators (research to action and policy). Specific Aim 2: Advance the field of community engagement and environmental health communication through innovative engagement strategies and mechanisms that can be adopted as best practices. Specific Aim 3: Translate and disseminate EHS to increase environmental public health understanding and enhance capacity of individuals and organizations to make informed environmental health and policy decisions. Activities thus focus on multi-modal communications, translating and disseminating EHS for our communities, rigorously evaluating program effectiveness, and sharing best practices. CEC collaborators include Center leaders and members and targeted audiences comprising community members including Veterans, and those engaged in EHS policy- and decision making. We seek to increase diversity, inclusion, and equity throughout the Center's spectrum of work, guided by our Plan to Enhance Diverse Perspectives (PEDP). The CEC uses multiple strategies to reach diverse partners and audiences. SCI Café (where Science and Communities Interact) provides a venue for research translation through informal dialogues among scientists and community members. EJ Encuentros, gatherings of community members and investigators for encounter and discovery, provide forums for discussion to identify emerging community environmental health issues that have led to Center research responsive to community needs. A vital Community Advisory Board (CAB) informs Center science and provides a mechanism for communication between and among our investigators and our extensive network of community partners.