Building Organizational Capacity through a Community-Based Citizen Science Program for Monitoring Environmental Contamination in Louisiana Coastal Parishes

Description: BISCO’s mission is to build a powerful, multi-faith, multi-ethnic, multi-issue organization that serves as a voice for the people of Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes in southeastern Louisiana, as well as Grand Isle in southern Jefferson Parish. With this award, BISCO and its partners plan to train coastal Louisiana communities to use citizen science to monitor the environment for contaminants. They intend to pilot a training program designed to develop a citizen scientist network and create sustainable avenues for communication, collaboration, and knowledge exchange. Through community-led citizen science, BISCO and its partners hope to build BISCO’s capacity and enhance community health and resilience in ways that promote equitable cross-boundary collaboration, foster scientific literacy, and encourage community-based action around environmental risks.

Funding Cycle: Capacity Building 1
Funding Organization: National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine: Gulf Research Program

Community Collaboration to Advance Citizen Science: A Success Story in Louisiana

Evaluating the Effectiveness and Feasibility of a Citizen Science Training in Enhancing Community Health and Organizational Capacity in Disaster Response and Recovery