Environmental Health Capacity Building Project
Rochester Ecology Partners recently completed a project where we sought answers to key questions about Environmental Health in Greater Rochester with support from the University of Rochester Environmental Health Sciences Center. Our intention in doing this work was to build our capacity to collaborate on and address environmental health and justice challenges effectively.
Project Objectives
- Gather information to understand community-level environmental health priorities in Monroe County, with a particular focus on the City of Rochester.
- Provide information and resources about environmental health to the UR Environmental Health Science Center and the broader community
- Use the information and resources gathered to develop future research and action plans in collaboration with community partners
Environmental Health Priorities Identified
Through a community engagement effort that included postcard surveys, online surveys, and community meetings we were able to gather information about the community’s environmental health concerns and priorities. Ninty-two people across twenty-two Monroe County zip codes and 6 municipalities shared their thoughts with us. Eighty-three percent of respondents live in the City of Rochester.
We found the top concerns to be:
- Pollution
- Housing quality & environmental exposures
- Drinking water quality
Open-ended questions and community meetings provided additional information. Many respondents shared personal and collective reflections on the relationship between environmental conditions and public health, emphasizing:
- An understanding of how environmental degradation impacts physical and mental well-being.
- A strong desire for systemic change, including more robust policies and collaborative efforts to address these issues at their root.
“I don’t want my kids to be burdened with more environmental problems.”
– survey respondent
An element of this project was to compare our community-based priorities with those collected from members of the UR Environmental Health Sciences Center Community Advisory Board. Housing quality and environmental exposures were identified in both studies as a top priority. Our open-ended questions and community conversations included Environmental Justice themes, a priority identified by the UR Environmental Health Sciences Center Community Advisory Board.
Read More about the UR EHSC Community Health Priorities
The chart below compares the top priorities identified by both organizations.
| UR Environmental Health Sciences Center Community Advisory Board (City of Roc) | Rochester Ecology Partners |
|---|---|
| Housing quality & environmental exposures The built environment Environmental justice | Pollution Housing quality & environmental exposures Drinking water quality |
Increased Visibility and Functionality of the Environmental Directory
rochesterenvironment.com was redesigned as the Greater Rochester Environmental Community Hub with the addition of a home page, news and events section, and resource pages. In addition to this improved functionality, an effort was made to increase the number of organizations listed in the directory and vistiors to the site. Twenty-two additional organizations were added to the directory and the number of visitors increased by 23% in the second half of 2024.
Future Action and Research
Funding from the University of Rochester Environmental Health Sciences Center has empowered Rochester Ecology Partners to advance its mission by enhancing our organizational capacity to facilitate network-building, model collaborative leadership, and become a trusted source of education and information within the movement.
We have identified three key priorities and next steps to advance our vision of a healthier environment in Rochester:
- Additional research into the concerns of the community is needed, in particular, a better understanding of what specific concerns people have about drinking water quality, pollution, and housing.
- A plan to create an Environmental Justice leadership circle was developed in collaboration with the Flower City and Noire Collective and an application to fund it was submitted to the EPA’s Thriving Communities grant program.
- Continued development of the Greater Rochester Environmental Community Hub as an essential resource for individuals and organizations is essential for growing our collective ability to address the concerns of our community.
Thank you
This project was made possible with funding from the University of Rochester Environmental Health Sciences NIEHS Center Grant P30 ES001247 and we appreciate their support.
We also appreciate the community members who shared their thoughts with us.