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Abstract
Background: As part of the Charleston Area Pollution Prevention Partnership (CAPs), studies have been performed to address environmental health issues using various techniques including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping. Most of the mapping has been conducted by academic team members; however, there is a need for more community-based mapping to ensure the sustainability and effectiveness of community-driven efforts to eliminate environmental hazards and health disparities. The emergence of public participatory GIS (PPGIS) has been shown as a way to democratize science, build community capacity, and empower local citizens to address environmental health issues.
Purpose: This article describes the development of the Environmental Justice (EJ) Radar, a PPGIS tool that provides stakeholders in South Carolina with a way to raise environmental awareness and improve citizen participation in local environmental decision-making. We describe the functionality of EJ Radar and discuss feedback received from stakeholders to improve the utility of the PPGIS tool.
Keywords
Environmental health, health occupations, communitybased participatory research, community health partnerships health disparities, environmental justice, geographic information systems
In South Carolina, residents living in communities impacted by a high burden of environmental hazards have expressed interest in obtaining training in GIS to increase environmental awareness and build community capacity to address local environmental health issues. Community leaders from neighborhoods in Charleston, SC established the CAPs, a community-university-government partnership between the Low Country Alliance for Model Communities (LAMC), Rosemont, University of South Carolina (USC), University of Maryland-College Park, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) and other groups1-3 to address local environmental hazards through research, community capacity building, and action.
The partnership was initiated by community concerns about an Environmental Impact Statement about the proposed expansion of the Port of Charleston. Residents of Charleston sought help from USC researchers, who provided technical assistance related to assessing environmental pollution in the community. The community-university-government partnership emerged as result of efforts to help the community implement the mitigation plan agreement between LAMC, the South Carolina State Port Authority, and the City of North Charleston. Partners received funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in 2009 through a Research to Action grant. This grant provided resources for the partnership to eliminate exposure to environmental stressors in the region. More details...