Transitioning from Vulnerable to Vibrant: Building a Disaster Response Framework that Addresses Climate-Health Threats to Communities

Climate change impacts are exacerbating existing health and social inequities; this in turn increases the disproportionate health burden for vulnerable communities who already experience environmental injustice because of historical discriminatory policies.

This disparity in health impacts continues to widen as extreme weather events driven by climate change become more frequent and severe in places like the U.S. Gulf Coast where many of the nation’s largest refineries and chemicals are produced.

To address this crisis, we seek to analyze the impacts of air toxics exposures contributing to pervasive health disparities in vulnerable communities.

We will characterize concentrations of air toxics after extreme climate-fueled weather disasters in areas identified as experiencing the top 5-10% highest vulnerability using a science-driven assessment of climate, environmental, and health data.

We will evaluate air toxics exposure data with administrative health data from community health centers in vulnerable areas.

Then, in an innovative partnership with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), community-based organizations (CBOs), non-profits, and community health centers (CHCs), we will use the health data to create and implement a community-centered climate disaster response framework.