(San Diego) -- On March 25, The California Endowment, the state’s largest health foundation, awarded Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) a $756,000 grant to improve public health by reducing environmental health risks in San Diego’s Barrio Logan/Logan Heights community. The grant will be allotted to EHC over a three-year period.

"The high level of airborne toxins in these neighborhoods pose immediate and personal health hazards, and exacerbate existing health disparities," said Robert K. Ross, M.D., president and CEO of The California Endowment. "It is critical to reduce these residents exposure to harmful toxins to reduce their risk of developing respiratory illnesses and other serious health conditions. The Endowment is committed to reducing the health disparities experienced by the underserved communities of the state."

Diane Takvorian, Executive Director of EHC, said the grant will be used to implement the EHC "Reclaiming Neighborhoods for Environmental Health" project, which seeks to eliminate health hazards like toxic air pollution from industrial and diesel truck emissions. "Common sense tells us that living next door to a chrome plating shop or major truck route is harmful to our health, but current land-use laws allow just that. This project will empower residents through education and community organizing to take back their communities by creating a community plan that reflects the kind of community they want to raise their families in," Takvorian said.

Ralph Inzunza, San Diego City Councilmember for District 8, which includes Barrio Logan/Logan Heights, agreed. "Effective community planning is long overdue for the Logan area. I welcome EHC’s efforts to eliminate mixed-use zoning that allows polluters and residents to be side-by-side," Inzunza said. "No other San Diego community allows this type of land use and our communities shouldn’t either."

Rosa Maria Angeles, a community resident and EHC organizer who has been working to eliminate toxic pollution for over five years, said, "Learning about pollution and its impact on health has been an important part of our work to effectively organize and reduce the toxic hazards in our community. I’m looking forward to learning about land-use regulations and planning in order to help residents create their own community vision."

The "Reclaiming Neighborhoods for Environmental Health" project includes three major elements:

• Education and empowerment: EHC will train residents on the elements of community planning and the relationship between a community plan and community health.

• Community Planning: EHC will work with residents and City officials to develop a new community plan that will include ongoing community involvement.

• Neighborhood restoration: EHC will work with residents to eliminate existing high risk sources of pollution in their neighborhoods, particularly diesel exhaust from high truck and bus traffic and hexavalent chromium emissions from plating shops and shipyards.

Environmental Health Coalition is a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to environmental and social justice. EHC believes that justice is achieved when empowered communities act together to make social change. The San Diego-based group has been organizing and advocating to protect public health and the environment threatened by toxic pollution for more than 20 years. EHC supports efforts that create a just society and that foster a healthy and sustainable quality of life.

The California Endowment was established in 1996 to expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities, and to promote fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians. The Endowment has regional offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Fresno and San Diego with program staff working throughout the state. The Endowment makes grants to organizations and institutions that directly benefit the health and well-being of the people of California. For more information, visit their Web site at www.calendow.org.