About Us

The Salton Sea Forum was created to fulfill the need for a central "data hub" for members of communities surrounding the Salton Sea to access relevant information and resources on anything and everything Salton Sea. Community residents expressed this need during a series of community forum meetings hosted by the University of California Riverside Center for Health Disparities Research (HDR@UCR) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB).

UCR School of Medicine Center for Health Disparities Research (HDR@UCR)

The UCR School of Medicine Center for Health Disparities Research was established with the goal of building the capacity for community-based research in the communities which the UCR School of Medicine serves, with the initial focus being on Latino/Hispanic communities in Inland Southern California. HDR@UCR brings together a wide range of disciplines including anthropological, biomedical, environmental, and social science methods with the intention of studying and eliminating health disparities. Through both research approaches and community engagement, HDR@UCR works with communities to support and uplift them through the research being conducted.

HDR@UCR Mission Statement

The Center for Health Disparities Research at University of California, Riverside (HDR@UCR) is a research center that aims to develop a rich interdisciplinary and collaborative environment for training in and performing health disparities research, infusing community-engaged research methods into the academic culture, and equipping investigators with tools and training for effective community-based research.

Funding Acknowledgement

The Center for Health Disparities Research at UCR (HDR@UCR) was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute for Minority Health and Health disparities (NIMHD) through a U54 - Research Centers at Minority Institutions (RCMI) award. For more information about HDR@UCR, please visit our homepage.

Spanish Translations Team

Spanish translations are carried out by Moises Martinez Cortez, Lead Translator, and Brenda Castruita, Translator for the Community Engagement and Dissemination Core (CEDC) at HDR@UCR. For further inquiries, please contact Selina.Hernandez@medsch.ucr.edu.

California Air Resources Board

The California Air Resources Board (CARB), operating under the California Environmental Protection Agency, is charged with protecting the public from the harmful effects of air pollution and developing programs and actions to fight climate change. Its mission is to “promote and protect public health, welfare, and ecological resources through effective reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and considering effects on the economy. CARB is the lead agency for climate change programs and oversees all air pollution control efforts in California to attain and maintain health-based air quality standards.” In November of 2021, CARB and its partners opened a new state of the art Southern California Headquarters in Riverside, on land donated by the University of California, Riverside (UCR), designed to continue CARB’s acclaimed research and mission.

The Salton Sea is the largest lake in California, and communities surrounding it have long expressed concerns over the environmental decline of the Salton Sea and the human health effects from exposures to windblown contaminated dust. To better understand the health concerns of people living near Salton Sea CARB received United States Environmental Protection Agency funding (US EPA 105) to engage researchers and local communities in this collaborative project. The primary goal of this project was, during a series of community forums, to facilitate communication between these stakeholder groups, and to identify community concerns about Salton Sea Related emissions and where to focus future research. In addition, the project aimed to improve coordination and cooperation in the region by building relationships between academic researchers working on Salton Sea-related projects, representatives of groups active in Salton Sea-area communities, local residents, and CARB.

Organizations represented at the Salton Sea Community Forum Series:

For more information about the California Air Resources Board, please visit their homepage or if you would like the synopsis of the Community Forum Series, you can find it here.