West LA Times

The Luskin Center for Innovation at UCLA will serve as a founding partner of the Center of Excellence for Heat Resilient Communities, a knowledge-sharing hub designed to identify and evaluate policies, protocols, and lessons for heat resilience. The center, which is funded by a $2.25 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will concentrate on strategies for local, data-driven heat mitigation and management in disadvantaged communities.

UCLA will spearhead this initiative in collaboration with Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, and over 50 other partners. This move comes as rising temperatures and increasingly frequent, prolonged heat waves pose an escalating and inequitable threat to the health, economies, and security of communities worldwide.

The Luskin Center for Innovation has received a $2.25 million grant to establish the Center of Excellence for Heat Resilient Communities. The new center is one of two federal centers established with $4.55 million in financing from the Inflation Reduction Act.

"Some communities have begun to plan for heat, but most lack the capacity or resources to engage in comprehensive planning," said V. Kelly Turner, associate director of the center who leads its heat equity research. Turner has long advocated for a coordinated national approach to heat resilience.

Turner's co-leads for this project are Sara Meerow at Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation and Ladd Keith at the University of Arizona’s Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy. The grant will facilitate the creation of an international network of heat scholars and practitioners.

Thirty communities and tribal entities will receive direct technical assistance and comprehensive educational support during the three-year grant period. By prioritizing equity in its approach, the Center for Excellence aims to work systematically with historically excluded communities.

The ultimate goal is to protect public health from acute and chronic heat dangers through equity-centered approaches that use data-informed strategies across various government levels to mitigate and manage heat in diverse communities.

The Center of Excellence for Heat Resilient Communities is part of President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda. A complementary center, the Center for Collaborative Heat Monitoring, will be led by the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, N.C.

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."