WASHINGTON – Today, the Department of Commerce and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced $4.55 million in funding for two virtual centers of excellence to support community heat monitoring and resilience as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.
These funds will allow the federal interagency National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) to enhance community science observations and data collection on extreme heat, and provide assistance to communities planning for and evaluating equitable heat resilience projects. The federal funding was allocated through the Inflation Reduction Act, which Rep. Grijalva supported and constituted the largest climate investment in American history.
Representative Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07) issued the following statement:
“I applaud President Biden’s efforts to manage the climate crisis. These new centers will help address the worsening effects of climate change that we are already experiencing in Arizona. The heat centers will allow communities to respond more strategically to the urgent threat increasing heat poses to workers, infrastructure and the entire natural ecosystem that our future depends on,” said Rep. Grijalva. “As the leading Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, I will continue to fight for Arizonans and to address the burden of our shared climate crisis.”
Below are additional details about the NIHHIS Centers of Excellence:
California
The Center for Heat Resilient Communities will receive $2.25 million in funding to support communities in determining the best strategies for local heat mitigation and management, leveraging federal investments to enhance heat resilience, and using decision-support tools to develop data-driven and equity-centered heat strategies. This center will develop and implement a Heat Resilient Communities Framework that brings together diverse expertise and knowledge-sharing hubs to identify and evaluate policies, protocols and lessons for heat resilience. With support from the University of California, Los Angeles Luskin Center for Innovation, Arizona State University, and the University of Arizona, this center will directly fund communities and tribal entities across the U.S. It will also develop knowledge and lessons learned that can be applied in the U.S. and internationally.
North Carolina
The Center for Collaborative Heat Monitoring will receive $2.3 million in funding to support community science observations and data collection on extreme heat so communities can observe, monitor and evaluate factors influencing heat risk at a local scale. The center will be based at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, N.C. and will include three additional geographically dispersed sites, each serving a different region of the U.S. This will enable work to engage regional communities and connect with existing networks for public education and engagement. In addition to the Museum of Life and Science, these hubs include the Arizona Science Center, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and the Museum of Science link in Boston. CAPA Strategies, Utah State University, and AQUEHS Corp. will also support the technical capacity of the center.
The virtual centers also advance the goal of Justice40, which is the Biden administration’s set goal that 40 percent of overall benefits from certain federal climate and clean energy investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.
More information on the NOAA funding can be found here.