BOSTON - Aug. 13, 2024 - The Healey-Driscoll Administration awarded the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) nearly $500,000 to build upon years of work within the region to better prepare for and respond to the impacts of climate-driven heat in Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Revere, and Winthrop. The Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Action Grant will fund MAPC’s “Lower-Mystic Cool Communications to Build Regional Heat Resiliency” project, which will address the lack comprehensive strategies for effectively communicating with vulnerable populations before, during, and after extreme heat events. In addition, it will help inform development of tiered heat warning thresholds and early alert systems that account for disproportionate risks among priority populations.

The project team will work to design a creative and linguistically and culturally relevant heat communications campaign in partnership with community-based organizations, community liaisons, and local artists and designers. The heat resilience communications campaign will leverage existing work by the Mystic River Watershed Association, MAPC, and the Metropolitan Mayors Coalition, including lessons learned through Keeping Metro Boston Cool, the COVID-Safe Cooling program, COVID-19 communications, and other public health campaigns.

"With extreme heat becoming increasingly frequent, MAPC’s leadership in heat resiliency is both timely and critical,” said Secretary Rebecca Tepper of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. “These projects highlight the urgent need for innovative solutions and collaborative action. We’re proud to support this vital work, which is essential for creating a more resilient and adaptive future.”

MAPC Principal Planner Sasha Shyduroff-Gutman added, “Over the long-term, the success of this project will be reflected in the effective and on-going mobilization of trusted messengers and municipal communication infrastructure to engage residents. Sustaining and expanding these efforts will contribute to a reduction in climate-related health outcomes and disparities.”

Through research completed with Wicked Hot Mystic, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Revere, and Winthrop were identified as municipalities with urban heat islands up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than in the coolest parts of the watershed. Many communities living and working in urban heat islands are at increased risk of the health impacts of extreme heat and may lack the resources to adapt and prepare.

“As our summers get longer and hotter, we need to prioritize expanding our public health capacity for communication and surveillance work. That is why receiving the ‘Lower Mystic Cool Communications to Build Regional Heat Resiliency’ MVP program Action Grant is so important,” said Lauren Buck RN, BSN, MPH, chief of health and human services and director of public health with the City of Revere. 

MAPC will work with researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health, including Professor Gregory Wellenius, director of the Center for Climate and Health at Boston University, who previously led an analysis finding a substantial number of excess deaths and emergency department visits on hot days that were not sufficiently hot to trigger heat alerts. The team will obtain and analyze health data from the Massachusetts Center for Health Information Analysis to better understand the regional and local heat exposure thresholds that trigger adverse public health impacts in the focus communities. This analysis will inform the development of updated and regionally-specific heat thresholds, tailored to account for the disproportionate risks faced by priority populations like older adults, young children, and outdoor workers.

“I am thrilled to partner with the MAPC on this essential project. Although the health risks from extreme heat are well known, this effort will help us better understand how heat risk varies from one neighborhood to another and take steps to better protect people in those communities that need help most,” said Professor Wellenius.

The project will take a systems-based and community-driven approach to building climate resilience to extreme heat by strengthening social connectedness and support networks among community members, organizations, and municipalities within the Lower Mystic. Research shows that investments in social infrastructure – the community assets, programs, policies, and communication pathways that facilitate relationships and collective action – builds community resilience.

“Lower-Mystic Cool Communications" will apply best practices from MAPC's previous municipal-community partnerships for climate resilience. The 2022 MAPC MetroWest Climate Equity Project, involving Ashland, Framingham, and Natick took a similar approach: successfully engaging residents and community groups to lead outreach and co-design two climate resilience communication campaigns. This new project will adapt these strategies, including hiring community liaisons and creating culturally resonant emergency resources, to address extreme heat resilience in the Lower Mystic region.