Women's Health and Environmental Justice
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: This conference seeks to bring together health professionals, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, public health officials, and leaders in environmental justice, policy, and advocacy to learn about the impact of environmental toxins on breast cancer and reproductive health. The conference will focus on breast cancer, environmental justice, and reproductive health to identify gaps in research, legislation, and community advocacy. Attendees will be given a “call to action” to help mobilize them to use the information they will gain at the conference to further work in addressing breast cancer and reproductive health through an environmental justice perspective. The disparities faced by low-income communities in their exposure to toxins will be addressed with an urgency in order to narrow the health-wealth gap. Examining how poor air, soil, and water quality can contribute to breast cancer and reproductive health problems will provide the framework for our plenary speaker presentation and workshops. 
 
 
 Description of event structure and intended audience: 
 The event will be structured with two plenary sessions followed by three workshop choices and conclude with a luncheon panel. The plenary sessions will be led by leading experts who can speak to the biological, social, and environmental components of breast cancer and reproductive health. The workshops will offer conference attendees the opportunity to attend a workshop on poor air, soil, or water quality and how they relate to breast cancer and reproductive health. The luncheon panel will summarize the three workshops and offer concrete steps for creating cross-sector collaborations to build on the momentum established at the conference. The intended audience will be made up of representatives of women’s health clinicians, researchers, public health educators, grassroots environmental justice advocates, and promotors who work in their own neighborhoods teaching residents about healthy behaviors. We will have both English and Spanish-speaking attendees, accommodated by interpretation services. 
 
 
 Innovative elements of the event and potential to generate new ideas/facilitate collaboration:
 This event seeks to create an intersectional dialogue around women’s health and environmental justice. Introducing breast cancer into this discussion is an innovative component which will attract the interest both of survivors and advocates. Breast cancer is often not discussed in the context of environmental justice, allowing this conference to shed new light on how thinking about these topics together can further research, policy, and healthcare. 
 
 New advocacy strategies will be introduced by the diverse range of attendees who can offer peer-to-peer learning about their individual work. Bringing together leaders who all share the same goal of promoting women’s health in Los Angeles County creates the opportunity to discuss innovative approaches to meeting the needs of our communities. Attendees will be able to hear different perspectives they may not have previously considered, as well as form relationships with other organizations doing complementary work which can lead to new collaborations. At the conference, we will promote upcoming collaborative meetings of the attendees and share upcoming events on an ongoing basis through email notices with the attendees. The Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center will serve as a clearinghouse for attendees to send updates on their work they would like to be shared with others. 
 
 
 Advocacy involvement:
 Our Reproductive Health and the Environment conference planning committee will serve this same function for the Women’s Health and Environmental Justice conference. Members include Physicians for Social Responsibility- Los Angeles, California Black Women’s Health Project, LA County Department of Public Health, Black Women for Wellness, UCSF Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, Esperanza Community Housing Corporation, the Los Angeles Breast Cancer Alliance, among others. They are supportive of our decision to expand the topic of our conference beyond reproductive health and the environment and including breast cancer as well.