Agricultural Occupational and Environmental Health

Community Partners

Oregon Child Development Coalition (OCDC)

CROET’s main partner in the pesticide studies has been Oregon Child Development Coalition (OCDC). OCDC is the grantee for the Oregon Migrant Head Start program that serves approximately 1800 children in 9 centers throughout the state and has offices located in Wilsonville, Oregon. OCDC also provides childcare, medical, dental and social services, health education and prenatal care programs throughout the migrant season. For the past five years, OCDC staff have been actively involved in the Research Advisory Committee, facilitated access to farmworker families, and made professional and community presentations of the results of the ongoing research. While CROET has helped OCDC build its research capacity, OCDC is heavily involved in steering the direction of the research, collecting data, and strengthening community and research networks.

Creating Roads for Empowerment and Advancement Through Education (CReATe)

CROET’s newest partner is Creating Roads for Empowerment and Advancement through Education (CReATe) located in Forest Grove, Oregon. CReATe targets at-risk youth and their families by providing support, resources and opportunities to encourage educational, vocational and economic successes within the Latino community. This transitional school offers credit recovery programs, GED preparation, and a problem-based learning approach to education. It serves approximately 30 youth and places exceptional emphasis on developing youth as community leaders. CROET introduces CReATe students to the environmental health field by assisting in the development of a science curriculum, providing visits to CROET’s research facilities, and organizing special lectures. CROET offers summer scholarships to one or two promising students who will work closely with CROET staff on the adolescent farmworker projects.

Oregon Migrant Education Program (MEP)

CROET began collaborating with the Oregon Migrant Education Program (MEP) in 1998. The Oregon MEP is dedicated to providing the migrant farmworker community with high-quality and flexible educational services. One of their most successful programs is a summer-long evening English as a Second Language program that targets adolescent migrant farmworkers living in migrant farmworker camps in Washington County. CROET has worked with MEP in three Oregon counties to provide pesticide safety training to students enrolled in various educational programs.

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