"Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth" (Stride Toward Freedom, Dr. King 1958)
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The Center stands with the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as they are enduring guides for the future of our country. Dr. King’s teachings opened paths for America’s first African American President to be elected-twice, for a female Vice President of color to be elected, and for our nation to be currently engaged in a profound inquiry and remediation of structural and systemic racism.
The focus of the Center's research is to benefit children’s health in the communities of color in New York City where children suffer disproportionately from pollution, toxic chemicals and stress due to poverty. To protect children’s environmental health we work within a justice framework. Today as we honor Dr. King’s teachings, the Center’s research and work persists, keeping in mind the teachings of leaders like Dr. King to guide us as we strive towards health equity for all children and families.
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Dr. King's experience and teachings parallels recent events, find the following excerpt from the chapter, The Violence of Desperate Men, Stride Toward Freedom for reflection.
Weeks of threatening calls and letters followed after the success of the Montgomery bus boycott and failure of the ‘get-tough’ policy. On January 30, 1956, Martin Luther King’s Jr's home was bombed, his family unharmed. A crowd gathered at his home-- neighbors, supporters, and the police.
Mayor Gayle and Commissioner Sellers expressed their regret to Dr. King by saying: “this unfortunate event has taken place in our city.”
A trustee of Rev. King’s church, replied to Mr. Gayle and Mr. Sellers saying: “You may express your regrets, but you must face the fact that your public statements created the atmosphere for this bombing. This is the end result of your ‘get-tough’ policy.”
Tensions were high among the crowd at his home but Dr. King derailed further violence. Later, he contemplated the events, he felt overwhelming rage as he realized that his wife and baby could have been killed. In conclusion he thought, “These men are not bad men. They are misguided. They say these things and treat us as they do because they have been taught these things from cradle to grave, it is instilled in them….their parents probably taught them that, their schools, the books they read,… and above all the concept of segregation teaches them that….the whole cultural tradition… more than 250 years of slavery and more than 90 years of segregation."
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Center for Children's Environmental Health Research |
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What If NYC’s Cleaner Pandemic-Era Air Continued? Health Day News for Earlier Living, Jan 5, 2021- In their new study, Columbia University researchers asked, “What if air quality improvements in New York City during the spring 2020 COVID-19 shutdown were sustained for five years without the economic and health costs of the pandemic?” “Air quality improvements from the shutdown happened as the result of a tragic situation,” said study first author Frederica Perera, professor of environmental health sciences at the university’s Mailman School of Public Health. READ MORE
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Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health developed a national infectious disease early warning system that extends coverage to areas that lack health clinics participating in infectious disease surveillance. The approach compensates for existing surveillance gaps by optimally assigning surveillance sites that support better observation and prediction of the spread of an outbreak, including to areas remaining without surveillance. Details are published in the journal Nature Communications.
The research team, including Jeffrey Shaman and Sen Pei, have been at the forefront of forecasting and analyzing the spread of COVID-19. READ MORE
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As part of the ECHO (Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes) National Institutes of Health research initiative, Dr. Julie Herbstman is part of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion working group that values insights from the field. We are proud to share thoughts from our study participants and staff in the next few monthly newsletters.
(Entry #3)
I am an afro-Latina and a life-long resident of the Northern Manhattan community. As a research worker at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health, I have had the opportunity to work in a longitudinal study with participants that primarily reside in Northern Manhattan, and the South Bronx: "Low-income communities of color." These communities have often been burdened with disparate exposures to harmful chemicals, poor health outcomes, and less access to resources and education. There is regularly an association of need, and powerlessness ascribed to these communities, to my community, yet there is also tremendous strength here. READ MORE
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Support Columbia's Center for Children's
Environmental Health
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Help us create a world in which every child has a healthy start.
The Center’s research is powering action to reduce the impacts of climate change, air pollution, and toxic chemicals on children and families.
Your support is yielding both immediate and long-term benefits to children’s health today and in the future. Your gift will protect the gains that we have achieved together.
We hope you will make a tax-free gift donation to the Center in order to continue this important work.
With Gratitude
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Julie Herbstman, PhD
Director, Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health
Frederica P. Perera, DrPH, PhD
Director of Translational Research and Founding Director
Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health
Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health
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