Like many cities across America, the City of Oakland, CA is experiencing climate change in the form of historic droughts, record-breaking heat, and devastating wildfires that have taken lives, displaced community members, and stressed infrastructure. Oakland’s frontline communities have done the least to create the climate crisis, yet they are bearing the greatest burden of its impacts. Oakland is committed to addressing these disparities and becoming a leader in responding to the climate crisis through ambitious policy and racially equitable implementation planning. In 2020, the city approved a new Equitable Climate Action Plan (ECAP). One of the ECAP’s first priorities is to improve community resilience by creating ‘Resilience Hubs’- physical spaces with supportive infrastructure and resources to help people prepare for, reliably serve as places of refuge, and facilitate faster recovery during adverse events such as smoke days, extreme heat, and power outages.
Oakland will partner with FUSE to identify and assess the feasibility of establishing Resilience Hubs in frontline communities, helping residents mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis in ways that improve racial equity across the city. The FUSE Executive Fellow will: engage with stakeholders to gain an understanding of community resilience needs; act as a liaison between city departments and community stakeholders; and assess and recommend plans for pilot resilience hub facilities. This work will help support the city’s goal of ensuring that all of Oakland’s communities are resilient to the foreseeable impacts of climate change by 2030.
