Community Public Health
On this page:
- Environmental Justice Research
- Tribal Environmental Health Research
- The Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program
Our researchers provide information, data, tools, and other resources to Agency program offices, states, public health officials, and other partners to support decisions and actions that advance healthy, sustainable, and prosperous communities. Working in multi-disciplinary teams that unite experts across the full spectrum of environmental, physical, public health, and social sciences, they are illuminating the complex links between environmental, social, and economic impacts on community public health.
Research activities include:
- Exploring health disparities across communities and life stages
- Mining large national databases to develop indicators and understand key factors and health outcomes of concern
- Quantifying exposure and risk to priority issues such as lead and radon, at the local scale
- Integrating chemical and nonchemical stressors for cumulative risk assessment
- Conducting Health Impact Assessment (HIA) case studies related to transportation, buildings, and other sectors.
Environmental Justice Research
Many studies have established that sources of environmental hazards are disproportionately located in communities that have a majority population of people of color, low-income residents, or indigenous peoples. EPA environmental justice research is aimed at strengthening the scientific foundation for actions that address such environmental and health inequalities.
Tribal Environmental Health Research
EPA advances Tribal Environmental Health through its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grants program, supporting research designed to better understand the health effects of environmental contaminants on tribal populations. The STAR grants program has awarded funding in various research areas that explore such environmental risks, particularly cumulative chemical exposure and global climate change affecting tribes.
The Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program
Advancing community health is a major component of EPA’s Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program. The program takes a systems approach to integrate the full range of available data from public health, physical, natural, and social sciences, toxicology, engineering, and ecosystems research to support Agency priorities and empower communities to make scientifically informed decision.