This curriculum grew out of the Green Coalition's commitment to ensure public participation that will preserve, protect, and restore the environment and reduce risks to human health.

Background
We maintain that having a voice in decision-making relevant to our environment is inherent to democracy. Yet making informed decisions about human health and the environment involves often highly complex issues with data that is difficult to obtain and interpret. Ohio's under-resourced communities are further disadvantaged by their limited access to health care and education, political disillusionment, low socioeconomic status, and racial and minority group ethnicity. In effect, these communities of concern are unable to effect change and create solutions for the broad range of problems they experience, which include a disproportionate exposure to environmental assaults.

The Coalition proposes to facilitate their access to the decision-making process by environmental education via a network of the professions already engaged with these communities: counseling, social work, medicine, nursing, public health, and education. The Assess Don't Guess curriculum provides the tools for understanding environmental threats, related health issues, the environmental regulatory agencies, the basics of risk prioritization, and resolving environmental disputes.