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EHC is a well-established and respected organization within the environmental justice sector with a track record of successful campaigns and policy victories. The organization has been active for over 40 years and is well-established and respected within the community it serves. The organization has been instrumental in shaping local policy and advocacy efforts. It has thus been recognized by a range of other organizations and institutions, including the California Environmental Protection Agency, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The EHC has proven to be an essential actor within the environmental justice and public health sectors, with a strong record of community organizing, policy advocacy, and credible research.

The EHC functions within the non-profit sector and works to serve the environmental justice and public health fields. As an environmental justice organization, EHC’s mission is to empower communities and promote health and justice through community organizing, policy advocacy, research, and education.

The EHC collaborates with various organizations, including critical collaborators such as The California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA), The San Diego Coalition for Environmental and Social Justice, and The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement. The EHC does not typically criticize or distance itself from other organizations and instead focuses on building collaborative working partnerships to advance its mission and goals.

Several political and discursive currents, including The Environmental Justice Movement, Climate Change, Political and Policy Shifts, and Community Mobilization, influence the EHC. Actors within the organization are attuned to these currents and work to navigate them to promote environmental justice and healthy communities.

1. The dominant discourse within the EHC centers on empowering communities to develop community-led solutions to environmental health and justice issues. The organization's mission emphasizes empowering locals and educating them to identify and address environmental health risks. EHC is focused on equity and social justice, recognizing that ecological health disparities often result from systemic and historical injustice.

 The EHC faces several challenges and concerns in its workplace problem spaces. One barrier is inadequate resources; the EHC's staff and community leaders often meet significant workload demands, hindering the organization's ability to conduct research, organize communities, and engage in policy advocacy. The EHC also deals with political resistance, given that the organization's work often involves analyzing policies they have to take on powerful corporations and government agencies who resist change. Because Environmental Health Risks are complex, it is tough to identify and address. The EHC must often navigate complex scientific and technical information to identify sources of pollution and advocate for practical solutions. Additionally, many of these institutions make it extremely difficult to access such information in the first place, making it harder for low-income communities of color to engage in effective community organizing and advocacy. Historically, other forms of oppression and injustice, such as redlining, segregation, and other discriminatory policies, influenced the environmental health disparities they are dealing with today.

The EHC does not explicitly claim to have a unique way of addressing problems they work on. Still, the nature of their work does include advocating for low-income communities of color in the San Diego/Tijuana region, which does have a significant proportion of undocumented and immigrant residents. They claim that because of racist policies and the prioritization of profits over health, many of the low-income communities of color within the local San Diego region have not had the political power to fight for their rights and thus became burdened with a significant amount of pollution.

The EHC produces and shares a range of data and research which includes; Environmental Health Impact Assessments, which evaluate the potential health impacts of proposed development projects on communities, Community Air Monitoring, by conducting community-based air monitoring to measure air pollution levels in neighborhoods and identify sources of pollution. This data is used to inform advocacy efforts and support community-led solutions. The EHC also has a team of folks who conduct research and analysis on environmental health and justice policies that inform the organization and tailor their advocacy efforts. This team looks at legislation, analyzes policy proposals, and evaluates the effectiveness of existing policies.

This organization works on various initiatives: Climate Justice, Transit For All, Healthy Homes, Healthy Communities, Clean Air, Building Community Power, Voter Empowerment, and Lead-Free Candy. Each of these projects supports a range of diverse environmental justice issues that promote healthy communities, reduce environmental health risks, and advance environmental justice for low-income communities of color.

The EHC has physical offices in San Diego, National City, Barrio Logan, and the Tijuana Border. This is where the organization's staff and board conduct most of their administrative work and is also a location the community can use to mobilize their collective strategies and tactics. The organization also utilizes various forms of social media, including its website, videos, and accounts on multiple platforms, including; Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. Additionally, you can sign up for their newsletter to be one of the first to receive updates on how and when to get involved!