Environmental Health Watch

For over 25 years (since 1980) Environmental Health Watch (EHW) has played a unique role in Northeast Ohio , helping the public and policy-makers address critical health concerns related to our urban and industrial environment. EHW helps devise, assess, demonstrate and promote programs to prevent and reduce exposures to harmful substances indoors and outdoors that cause or aggravate serious health conditions. Our program activities are in four functional areas: 1) information and direct services, 2) training and technical consulting, 3) research and demonstration, and 4) policy development and advocacy. Activities are concentrated in two substantive areas: 1) indoor environments and 2) outdoor environments.

•  Indoor Environments Program   

In the indoor environment, where most people spend the majority of their time, pollutant levels are often many times higher than outdoors, making indoor exposures a critical concern for health. The EHW Indoor Environments Program focuses on hazards such as lead, mold, pests, pesticides, and combustion by-products in home, school and childcare settings, with particular emphasis on lead poisoning prevention and asthma control methods targeted towards the most vulnerable populations (mainly children and the elderly).      

Our approach to indoor environmental health hazards is based on a recognition of a division-of-responsibility between families, building owners and local government and has three components:  

1. teaching people to take self-protective actions;
2. helping people make or secure needed building repairs; and
3. influencing public policy to increase resources and improve regulatory tools.

We accomplish goal #1, self-protection, through small group- and home visit-based education; by direct hazard reduction assistance; and through information provided via printed material, our website and public presentations.

For tenants, we facilitate #2, getting needed repairs, through partnership with the Cleveland Tenants Organization that help people use the Ohio Landlord-Tenant Law, along with joint action, to get building owners to make the needed repairs. EHW also educates building owners and managers (of residential, childcare and school facilities) about the connection between indoor environments and health, their legal obligations, and cost-effective strategies for hazard remediation. For home-owners, we work on goal #2 by information and assistance on hazard assessment, low-cost repairs, and subsidy programs.

For goal#3, advocacy, we develop policy recommendations, provide leadership to advocacy coalitions, and lobby regulatory agencies and legislative bodies (within the IRS limits).

The EHW program staff of six provide direct service via group and home-visit-based contacts throughout Cuyahoga County to 400-500 families annually. Services are targeted to low-income, inner-city Cleveland neighborhoods with a high prevalence of substandard housing, rife with toxic substances (e.g., lead, pesticides), toxins (e.g., mold), lung irritants (e.g., combustion by-products) and allergens (e.g., cockroaches and mice), associated with serious health conditions such as lead poisoning and asthma. Young children and the elderly are the primary focus of interventions since they are at greatest risk from indoor hazards due to the amount of time they spend indoors and their increased vulnerability due to immature and/or compromised immune systems.

•  Outdoor Environments Program   

The focus of the EHW Outdoor Environments Program is air pollution, including greenhouse gases, common pollutants (e.g., ozone and particulates) and hazardous pollutants (e.g., mercury). Our concern is both ambient air pollution from point sources, area sources, and transportation and accidental releases from chemical facilities and from truck and rail hazardous cargo.   

EHW's primary role has been to provide active and sustained leadership to numerous on-going and ad hoc coalitions working on outdoor air pollution and greenhouse gas reduction and chemical accident prevention. These groups include the Cleveland Clean Air Century Campaign, the Air Pollution and Health Task Group, the Cleveland Sustainability Advisory Committee, the Step-It Up Coalition, and the Cuyahoga County Local Emergency Planning Committee. As an active member, EHW has assisted these coalitions in conducting outreach activities to educate the general public and raise awareness regarding outdoor air pollution and encourage industry toward safer practices.   

Vision, Mission and Strategy   

EHW's mission is to offer information, assistance and advocacy to help people protect themselves from serious environmental threats and to influence corporate, government and personal actions to promote human health and sustain the natural environment, avoiding both imprudent complacency and unnecessary alarm. The organization's vision is to help create a healthy, sustainable environment for the residents of Northeast Ohio and generations to come.   

EHW's general strategy is to collaborate with other organizations to develop and test practical and effective model programs, based on social equity, precautionary principles and environmental stewardship that can then be adopted and sustained by the partner organization (see attached list of recent projects and program partners). In addition to direct service demonstration projects, EHW also engages in practice-focused field research projects with university-based partners. These direct services and research activities provide the foundation for local policy development and advocacy efforts.  

Awards
2007: Agency of the Year – Greater Cleveland Lead Advisory Council

2006: Social Justice Activism Award - May Dugan Multi-Service Center Board

2005: Howard Metzenbaum Citizen Action Award – Ohio Citizen Action

2004: Social Justice Member of the Year – Greater Cleveland Community Shares

2002: Professional Excellence Award – Ohio Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program

1998: Partner in Mission Award - Sustainable Cleveland Partnership, Earth Day Coalition

1993: 14th Telly Award for Lead Poisoning Public Service Announcement

1992: Fortitude Award – Lead Hazard Abatement Center – Cleveland Department of Personnel & Human Resources

Contact Information:
Environmental Health Watch
Cleveland Environmental Center
3500 Lorain Avenue #302
Cleveland, Ohio 44113

(216) 961-4646  Phone
(216) 961-7179  Fax
e-h-w@ehw.org  Email
www.ehw.org  Web site

Board and Staff
Activities
Donations, Funding and Financial Accountability
History
EHW on the Web