Somerville Fresco! consists of a team of immigrant parents and grandparents who met regularly throughout the spring and summer to build their knowledge and advocacy skills to protect their neighbors and families from the health impacts of extreme heat.

The team met with healthcare providers, City staff, and an elected official as part of their learning and advocacy journey. They advocated for improvements in local cooling spaces, including parks, and undertook two outreach projects to share their knowledge with the community.

Somerville Fresco! developed and distributed 150 bilingual booklets containing tips, recipes, and information to help families in Somerville find ways to keep cool this summer. They are also distributing cooling kits containing the booklets, hats, insulated water bottles, and small coolers to 100 students participating in a Somerville English Language Learner summer program.

Somerville Housing Authority (SHA) is piloting an Air Conditioner Lending Program that will conclude in the fall. As part of the project, SHA distributed and helped install 18 air conditioning units for families, older adults, and people with disabilities living in low-income housing. The Lending Program complemented other Housing Authority community cooling efforts, including distribution of Keep Cool Toolkits, containing heat safety information. SHA partnered with the Mystic and Clarendon Provider’s Group and Elder Services to conduct outreach to residents in need of cooling assistance.

The Community Action Agency of Somerville (CAAS) distributed 17 air conditioning units and connected people to utility bill assistance and repayment plan programs to help them overcome cost barriers associated with home cooling.

Several households were able to have their AC units shipped to their home address due to either disability or lack of transportation to come pick up the unit. Seven households received utility bill assistance ranging from $165 to $480, allowing these families to pay their balances in full or to a level they could better manage through a repayment program. CAAS leveraged their Housing Advocacy Program and Head Start Programs to identify households in need of cooling assistance. They also partnered with the Cambridge Health Alliance and Somerville Office of Housing Stability on outreach to families.

Clarendon Hill Towers Resident Services Coordinators (RSC) distributed 150 fans via lottery to older adult households. Windows at Clarendon Hill Towers do not accommodate most standard type of air conditioning units, which makes window units prohibitively expensive. The RSC decided to distribute fans to maximize the number of assisted households and to provide residents with a lower-cost option compared to air conditioning, which is more likely to increase households’ utility cost burdens. The RSC also shared heat health safety information with all residents.

Bent/Haus Arts developed and hosted two free, outdoor, and interactive cooling art installations.

These took place on Friday, August 20 at South Street Farm and Sunday, August 29 at Chuckie Harris Park. The interactive artwork, Mistery Machine, incorporated music, cooling mist, and colorful animations that were refracted and reflected in the mist.

A goal of Mistery Machine was to pilot the use of art as a heat resilience strategy. The two events drew a diverse audience, including families with children, and helped spread awareness of Keep Cool Somerville and heat safety information - which accompanied images of the installation on social media – to a much larger audience. Bent/Haus conducted extensive outreach via social media and partnered with the Secret Boston blog, Boston Institute of Nonprofit Journalism, Groundwork Somerville, East Somerville Main Streets, and Friends of Chuckie Harris Park on outreach for the events. Bent/Haus is currently in conversation with potential partners for future Mistery Machine installation events.

The Groundwork Somerville Green Team consists of local youth, ages 14-19, who work at Groundwork’s urban farm and school gardens, learn about environmental justice issues, and develop their advocacy and leadership skills.

This summer, the Green Team focused on heat health issues. They developed and disseminated heat health education and outreach materials, including presentations, flyers, and short videos with testimonials from youth on their experiences with heat and ideas for actions to mitigate heat impacts.

They conducted outreach at a Mistery Machine event they co-hosted with Bent/Haus at the South Street Farm and at the Groundwork mobile market, where they also collected surveys on customers experiences with heat. Collectively, these activities reached an audience of over 200 people. This summer’s heat and moisture created many challenges to keeping crops and youth workers healthy. The Green Team was able to use mini grant funding to purchase equipment to help youth keep cool while working at the farm, such as fan misters, shade structures, and sprinklers. The Green Team also plans to update their crop plan to account for future climate conditions.