The Community Outreach and Education Program (COEP) Resource Center is maintained by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). It was developed in 2001 to support the efforts of the NIEHS-supported COEPs in making environmental health research more accessible to the general public.

• What is the NIEHS?
• What are COEPs?

The Resource Center has two primary objectives:

• to facilitate communication and information exchange among COEPs
• to increase public awareness about NIEHS-supported outreach efforts

Resource Center Components

The Resource Center has two components:

• a physical library, and
• this Web site.

Library

The library, located in Durham, North Carolina, is the central repository of all hard copy materials produced by the COEPs. It houses a comprehensive collection of materials produced by and used by COEPs that aid in educational and outreach efforts.

Web Site

This Web site provides access to a database containing bibliographic information on all materials in the library, as well as full-text, downloadable electronic versions of all materials that are freely copiable. The Web site also offers other kinds of information and services that will help achieve the Resource Center's objectives, such as links to related sites (including individual COEP web sites), a calendar of COEP-related events, and a bulletin board (for use by COEP members only).

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Background

What is the NIEHS?

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) is one of the 27 Institutes and Centers that are part of the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Kenneth Olden is the Director of the NIEHS.

Go to the NIEHS Web site *.

NIEHS Mission Statement
Human health and human disease result from three interactive elements: environmental factors, individual susceptibility and age. The mission of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) is to reduce the burden of human illness and dysfunction from environmental causes by understanding each of these elements and how they interrelate. The NIEHS achieves its mission through multidisciplinary biomedical research programs, prevention and intervention efforts, and communication strategies that encompass training, education, technology transfer, and community outreach.

NIEHS Centers Program
NIEHS, through its Division of Extramural Research and Training, uses a variety of award programs to accomplish its mission of studying the mechanisms and effects of environmental agents on human health. Among these are Environmental Health Sciences Center Grants, a program of core center support. The objective of this program is to provide core support for an administrative structure, scientific leadership, and shared core equipment to groups of productive scientists with programs in environmental health.

The NIEHS currently supports 22 Environmental Health Sciences Centers, one Developmental Center, and four Marine and Freshwater Biomedical Sciences Centers.

Learn more about the NIEHS Centers Program *.

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What are COEPs?

The NIEHS requires each Center to develop and maintain a COEP to promote community outreach and education activities related to environmental health issues. As a part of this effort, each NIEHS Center defines the community and/or region that it serves and develops productive outreach efforts that are specifically designed to address environmental health issues and problems of greatest concern to that community. It is particularly important to deal with such issues when they arise in a population that may be more susceptible to environmental insults, e.g., children, elderly, or socio-economically disadvantaged communities. NIEHS Centers are encouraged to sponsor local efforts through community organizations and to collaborate with other existing outreach programs in their area, e.g., those supported by other NIH institutes, other federal agencies (NIOSH, CDC, ATSDR), state or local agencies or health departments.

The objective of the COEP is the translation of research results into knowledge applied to public health. Appropriate activities may consist of:

• Continuing professional education, disease prevention programs,
• Education (primary, secondary, and/or college), information dissemination, and
• Community issue programs, public awareness seminars, etc.

Learn more about NIEHS COEPs *.

*Note: An asterisk (*) indicates a link to a site outside the COEP Resource Center. If you follow such a link, use your browser's "Back" button to return to the COEP Resource Center. For more information, read our disclaimer about links to other sites.

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Last revised: July 2002