The City of San Antonio has experienced extreme heat that has become more frequent and severe. Scientists projected that the City would experience 75 days with high temperatures above 100 in 2050; however, this occurred in 2023. To mitigate the Urban Heat Island Effect and the cascading impacts of climate change, the City has initiated several programmatic and capital investments in San Antonio’s most disadvantaged and at-risk neighborhoods.
This session will provide an overview of the City of San Antonio’s Climate Ready Neighborhoods Program that has two components: a Cool Neighborhoods Program and the Climate Ready Neighborhoods Network. These programs have been developed to mitigate extreme heat and increase community resilience through a grassroots engagement model. This session will discuss how Climate Ready Neighborhoods enhance climate preparedness and resilience throughout San Antonio by leveraging and empowering community and faith-based organizations to serve as trusted community spaces and that serve as Points of Distribution (PODs) related to communications, shelter, and resources. These hubs support residents before, during, and after emergencies and promote long-term resilience, addressing climate impacts and historical inequities.
Participants will gain insight to how the Cool Neighborhoods Program utilizes a data-driven approach to identify the city’s hottest and most vulnerable neighborhoods. They’ll learn community-engaged mitigation strategies to be implemented once the data-driven approach has been utilized to analyze contributing factors to heat vulnerability, such as poverty levels, extreme heat, transportation access, and health indicators. This session will help participants identify priority areas that allow their cities and partner agencies to leverage and target resources in specific areas to maximize efficiency and measure impact.
Support is provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.
