COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT CORE: PROJECT SUMMARY The mission of the Community Outreach and Engagement Core (COEC) is to increase public understanding and awareness of the effects of the environment on human health by engaging Center members, identifying and sharing ways to reduce harmful environmental exposures with the public, and linking Center research and scientists with policy makers, communities, schools, public health officials, media, and other professional constituencies. The COEC addresses transportation-related air pollution identified by key Center research in Southern California: significant traffic and poor air quality; emissions from the country's largest marine ports; and health effects from living near busy roads or having children attend schools near freeways. The COEC is integral to the Center's goals and serves as a national leader in and model for engagement with communities—especially those which consist primarily of Latinos and African-Americans living under economic hardship and facing disproportionate adverse health outcomes. By expanding its focus in response to new Center research showing that communities directly under the flight path east of Los Angeles International Airport are heavily impacted by aircraft emissions, the COEC now includes communities under the flight path of airports in addition to its ongoing analysis of impacts from proposed expansions of two freeways Southern California. With active involvement from Center members, the COEC contributes to improving the environmental health literacy of the public, health professionals and policymakers in Los Angeles and California by regularly speaking at public hearings and analyzing environmental impact reports of proposed infrastructure projects (e.g., marine terminals and rail yards); updating stakeholders on the latest science using state-of-the-art communications techniques; and engaging the power of communities in evaluating policies to reduce environmental health burdens. Besides enhancing environmental health literacy, COEC activities have built community capacity resulting in recognition of Center research in policy decision-making, playing a central role in putting EH on the Southern California transportation and urban planning agenda and serving as a respected source of scientific information for stakeholders when developing science-based policies at port, land use regulation and discussion of near-roadway land use.1 In sum, the COEC is an integral function of the Center as demonstrated by its successful outreach methods utilizing local, national and international print and broadcast media; dissemination of information via blogs, website, and social media; innovative engagement and translation methods such as developing infographics and visual presentations of information in understandable terms; and expansion of “citizen science” programs in which youth and community members monitor air pollution.