REACH Center Community Engagement Core

PROJECT SUMMARY - COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CORE The REACH Center Community Engagement Core will develop and apply strategies for catalyzing the co- creation of REACH Center climate and health research projects and study outputs in support of policy decision-making and implementation. By serving as a bridge between REACH Center academic investigators

and multiscale stakeholders, the Core will build trust, transform solutions, speed implementation, and lower resistance to policy change through integration of community input and involvement into Center activities, including its investigator-initiated research projects, pilot projects, and student fellowships. As effective climate

change mitigation and adaptation requires action at all levels of governance and facets of civil society, the CEC will engage with a variety of actors and end-user communities who are positioned to take health-protective action on climate change. This includes civic organizations that represent communities such as mayoral

associations, regional government associations, health and hospital systems, environmental organizations, and disease-focused associations, as well as federal, state, and local governmental agencies. Rather than focusing on a single or small set of community groups, the CEC focuses on providing tools and frameworks

that build capacity for developing targeted, collaborative teams between investigators and end-users that have the knowledge, skills, experiences, and agency to create change. The Core will initiate and facilitate co-design strategies for developing and applying the outputs of scientific investigations that inform climate solutions,

including mitigation or adaptation interventions or policies. To do so, the Core will create researcher/end-user teams by matching REACH Center research project and pilot award academic investigators with relevant community groups, advance scientific literacy and awareness of climate change and human health links

through communication and outreach strategy support, and integrate community engagement across REACH Center Cores. The Core will also evaluate formative REACH Center engagement and communication strategies between investigators and potential end-users of research project outputs in the co-generation of

policy-relevant research questions and products to further advance to a Center of Excellence. This will be accomplished by developing a set of evaluation metrics for select research and pilot project teams based on shared objectives of researchers and end-users, and identifying successful engagement processes and

infrastructure needs for further catalyzing use of REACH Center research products in federal, state, and local policy contexts. The Community Engagement Core will empower REACH Center investigators to develop community-engagement skills and access networks of end-users that allows for the application of scientific

insights and tools in policy decision-making, design and implementation. These activities will establish a pipeline of research activities capable of generating community-centered findings and supporting the implementation of durable climate and environmental health policy solutions.