About This Project
The seven neighborhoods associated with the Lowcountry Alliance for Model Communities in N. Charleston were able to demonstrate that their neighborhoods bore a disproportionate share of the region's air, water, and land-based pollution. These communities were formally identified as environmental justice populations and will be the center of research.
I will assess the current environmental justice outreach efforts and create targeted material based on the effectiveness which will be implemented.
Ask the Scientists
Join The DiscussionWhat is the context of this research?
The Lowcountry Alliance for Model Communities (LAMC) aims to reflect transparency on focused communities by providing environmental justice (EJ) outreach materials specific to each of their focused 7 communities. This organization focuses on the improvement of the environment, education, housing, and neighborhood revitalization of their targeted communities. EJ is the forefront of their mission due to the burden it carries on the community in the form of environmental and human health conditions. I will conduct my research as their community engagement unpaid intern.
What is the significance of this project?
The residents of these seven communities have disproportionately held the burden of air, land and water pollution that has been studied to cause increases in human health issues. Environmental contamination is very significant due to the human health risk it causes. By being able to conduct assessments of the effectiveness of outreach efforts in the targeted communities, it serves as a foundation for people to know their environmental condition. By knowing the environmental burdens, it will allow for residents to hone their voice for measurable change to ultimately break the cycle for environmental and economic growth.
What are the goals of the project?
- Conduct interviews of the seven community leaders associated with LMAC
- Conduct focus groups with community members
- Create outreach material based on informational sessions with community leaders and members as well as random sampling
- Specify the best outreach methods and tailor to the seven communities associated with LAMC
- Assess the effectiveness of outreach efforts after the implementation through survey methodology
- Increase capacity of EJ concepts and studies
Budget
Transportation will provide me with gas money so I can either drive my personal vehicle or an USC university vehicle to and from North Charleston to conduct interviews. The mileage is based on the standard federal milage rate of .56 per mile for overnight trips as well as day trips to and from. Lodging will cover the 4 separate hotel stays in town. Each stay will be 3 days and 2 nights. The lodging will also allow me to attend cultural event to allow more bearing within the North Charleston community culture. Editing Software consists of Adobe Creative cloud primarily Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom to edit outreach tools for public engagement. Anaylsis software consist of Minitab for statistical analysis to crunch metrics from the initial and 6 month analysis. USC offers discounted rates to students for fiscal years so since the fiscal year ends in June, I will need to purchase 2 years worth. Miscellaneous costs include office supplies, snacks for meetings, etc.
Endorsed by
Meet the Team
Team Bio
I am a Masters of Earth and Environmental Resource Management graduate student at the University of South Carolina. I am specifically interested in working with environmental justice organization due to the importance it has in the community and aiding underrepresented populations. I believe that offering resources for the greater good only improves communities in development but revitalization on all fronts. I became interested in the environmental realm at the end of my freshman year of college, trying to merge my love for photography and portraying stories with environmental impacts but ultimately community involvement through service. After creating and executing various creative projects with environmental messages such as an environmental exhibition and public art collective, I knew my creative abilities belonged in the environmental realm. My interest in community development and environmentalism sparked a journey to creatively assess the effectiveness of outreach efforts to better inform and prompt members to hone their voice. By being able to better assess the outreach methods in communities of environmental justice issues in their back yards allows the promotion of involvement through various avenues. This prompted my desire to create and execute this project.
Lab Notes
Nothing posted yet.
Project Backers
- 22Backers
- 101%Funded
- $1,528Total Donations
- $34.73Average Donation