Project/Program Dates: 2000 - 2005

Jesus People Against Pollution (JPAP) is a grassroots environmental justice organization located in Columbia, Mississippi. The organization was created in response to an explosion at a local chemical plant that resulted in severe exposure of the community to toxic substances. JPAP has set out to educate and inform the impacted communities about the availability of toxicology and environmental health information so that the community can better understand the relationship between environmental exposure and disease.

Collaboration with the National Library of Medicine has enabled JPAP to purchase computer workstations to increase the community's ability to access the NLM's health information databases. NLM provided JPAP with onsite database training and held workshops to share information about NLM's products and services with other organizations in the Columbia, MS area. JPAP also coordinated two field trips for approximately 20 high school and college students from the Columbia, Mississippi area to attend the Student National Medical Association’s Annual Medical Education Conference. During the trip the students attended NLM database training, but also were given the opportunity to attend the conference and interact with medical school students. When the conference was in Washington, DC, the students also visited the National Library of Medicine.