UCLA’s Luskin Center for Innovation will be a founding partner of a knowledge-sharing hub to identify and evaluate policies, protocols and lessons for heat resilience, the university announced Monday.
The hub, known as the Center of Excellence for Heat Resilient Communities, is funded by a $2.25 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It will focus on strategies for local, data-driven heat mitigation and management in disadvantaged communities, according to the school.
Rising temperatures and more frequent, prolonged heat waves present a growing and inequitable threat to the health, economies, and security of communities everywhere, UCLA officials said.
“Some communities have begun to plan for heat, but most lack the capacity or resources to engage in comprehensive planning,” Luskin Center for Innovation associate director V. Kelly Turner said in a statement. “With this grant, we can help the federal government establish a robust, actionable and durable plan to support those efforts.”
UCLA will lead the effort in collaboration with Arizona State University, the University of Arizona and more than 50 other partners.
The grant will enable the creation of an international network of heat scholars and practitioners. One outcome will be a framework to identify and evaluate policies, protocols and lessons for heat resilience that can be applied in the U.S. and internationally, according to the school.
The Center of Excellence for Heat Resilient Communities is part of President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda, university officials said. The complementary Center for Collaborative Heat Monitoring will assist community organizations in conducting local climate and health studies.
“The impacts of extreme heat caused by climate change are an increasing threat to our health, ecosystems and economy,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said. “Thanks to President Biden’s ambitious climate agenda, this investment will support new NIHHIS Centers of Excellence to help protect historically excluded communities from the dangers of extreme heat, boost climate resilience, and increase awareness on best practices to tackle the climate crisis.”
Thirty communities and tribal entities will be selected for direct technical assistance and comprehensive educational support during the three-year grant period.
The Center for Excellence will fund historically excluded communities and help see through the Biden administration’s goals under Justice40, an executive order that directs 40% of the government’s investments in climate and clean infrastructure to benefit people in disadvantaged communities, the school said.
The ultimate goal is to protect public health and well-being from acute and chronic heat dangers through equity-centered, data-informed, whole-of-government approaches to mitigate and manage heat in diverse communities and heat-exposure settings, according to UCLA officials.