Planning: CRISES: Climate Adaptation Solutions Accelerator (CASA) through School-Community Hubs

大学、规划机构和非营利组织都是开创性的举措，帮助历史上服务不足和脆弱的社区应对与气候影响有关的环境变化，如海平面上升、与风暴相关的洪水、更长的热浪和越来越多的野火。然而，在快速和广泛的气候适应推广方面存在令人望而生畏的障碍。传统形式的征求公众意见往往不能在历来服务不足的社区中产生生产性社区参与，通过新的社区组织建立信任可能需要数年时间。研究表明，公立学校是社区信任的社区机构，学校已经被成功地用于提供其他类型的社区服务。该项目是一项新颖的研究工作，旨在调查学校如何发挥中心作用，在历史上服务不足、最容易受到气候变化影响的社区中促进社区气候适应。该项目支持与加州三所公立学校建立学校-社区气候适应中心的伙伴关系。每个中心利用以学校为基础的活动来支持脆弱社区的气候适应，将居民与特定于当地情况的创新适应解决方案联系起来，并在社区成员和相关市县适应规划者之间建立关系。这项赠款下的活动培养学生制定气候解决方案的能力，改善学校的学习成果，在历史上服务不足的社区培养社区气候能力，并推进公正和有效的适应规划。对三个学校-社区气候适应中心的案例研究分析支持为一个新中心编写一份提案：通过学校-社区中心的气候适应解决方案加速器(CASA)。在适应气候变化的背景下，在气候紧急情况下，学校已经被动员起来作为社区中心，但它们也可以支持快速和广泛的气候准备。通过学校将社区和规划过程联系起来，CASA将建设研究能力和基础设施，以便快速和广泛地推广公正和有效的气候适应解决方案。CASA的探索性研究活动集中在三个关键领域。首先，该项目确定了现有的和需要的资源，用于绘制加州10,000所K-12公立学校之一所在的每个社区所面临的交叉气候风险。这些数据与学校共享，并用于定制适应创新资源。其次，该项目开发了一个系统，用于识别加州首创的以社区为基础的创新气候适应倡议。第三，该项目与三所公立学校和三家气候适应创新者合作，从四个利益攸关方群体的角度调查了通过学校-社区中心加快气候适应解决方案的机遇和挑战：历史上服务不足的易受气候变化影响的社区、对推广其解决方案活动感兴趣的气候适应创新者、学校行政和教学人员以及负责气候适应的市县规划者。通过案例研究方法收集的数据被分析，以确定确定社区偏好和需求的有效战略，扩展创新适应解决方案的主要障碍，学校-社区适应中心的潜在组织模板，以及当地政策制定者的需求和偏好。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Universities, planning agencies, and non-profit groups are pioneering initiatives to help historically underserved and vulnerable communities cope with environmental changes related to climate impacts, such as rising sea levels, storm-related flooding, longer heat waves, and increasing numbers of wildfires. However, there are daunting barriers to rapid and broad-based climate adaptation outreach. Traditional forms of soliciting public input often do not generate productive community engagement in historically underserved communities, and establishing trust through new community organizations can take years. Research demonstrates that public schools are neighborhood institutions that are trusted by communities and that schools have been used successfully to deliver other types of community services. This project is a novel research effort proposing to investigate how schools can function as hubs for fostering community climate adaptation in the historically underserved communities most vulnerable to climate change. The project supports partnerships with three California public schools to establish school-community climate adaptation hubs. Each hub uses school-based activities to support climate adaptation in a vulnerable neighborhood, to connect residents to innovative adaptation solutions specific to the local context, and to build relationships between community members relevant city and county adaptation planner. The activities under this grant build students’ capacity to develop climate solutions, improve school learning outcomes, foster community climate capabilities in historically underserved communities, and advance just and effective adaptation planning. Case studies analyses of the three school-community climate adaptation hubs support preparation of a proposal for a new center: the Climate Adaptation Solutions Accelerator (CASA) through School-Community Hubs. In the context of climate change adaptation, schools have already been mobilized as community centers during climate emergencies, but they can also support rapid and broad-based climate preparedness. Working through schools to connect communities and planning processes, CASA will build research capacity and infrastructure for the rapid and broad-based scaling of just and effective climate adaptation solutions. Exploratory research activities for CASA focus on three key areas. First, the project identifies existing and needed resources for mapping the intersecting climate risks facing each neighborhood that is home to one of California’s 10,000 K-12 public schools. These data are shared with schools and used to customize adaptation innovation resources. Second, the project develops a system for identifying innovative community-based climate adaptation initiatives being pioneered in California. Third, working in collaboration with three public schools and three climate adaptation innovators, the project investigates the opportunities and challenges of accelerating climate adaptation solutions through school-community hubs from the perspective of four stakeholder groups: historically underserved communities vulnerable to climate change, climate adaptation innovators interested in scaling their solutions activities, school administrative and teaching personnel, and city and county planners responsible for climate adaptation. Data collected via case study methods are analyzed to identify effective strategies for ascertaining community preferences and needs, key obstacles to scaling innovative adaptation solutions, potential organizational templates for school-community adaptation hubs, and the needs and preferences of local policymakers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.