Advancing Community-Engaged Research to Address Climate Driven Health Disparities

ACE-CH Mission 

ACE-CH is a community-engaged alliance that promotes community-driven, sustainable strategies addressing the impact of climate on populations disproportionately affected by social determinants of health and health disparities. ACE-CH evaluates community knowledge of the health impacts of climate stressors and builds partnerships with multiple stakeholders to encourage and build resiliency.

ACE-CH Objectives

• Support community-involved research to understand factors contributing to the impact of climate on health disparities.
• Measure the needs of affected communities across multiple areas (including but not limited to health). 
• Determine community knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about the intersection of climate and health, and examine the benefits of lessening and adapting to changes in climate. 
• Identify, develop, and test effective community-engaged strategies to improve the adoption and use of climate-related health treatments or tools (such as early weather warning systems, disaster response and recovery, etc.). 
• Build trust and strong partnerships with all interested parties to improve awareness of local changes in climate, exchange knowledge, and encourage adaptation.

ACE-CH Awardees

University of Alaska Fairbanks | Alaska Alliance for Community Engagement – Climate and Health (AK ACE-CH) 

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS Stacy Rasmus and Karsten Hueffer 

The AK ACE-CH team focuses on Indigenous knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about climate and its impacts on health and well-being in Alaska. The team is developing and pilot-testing strategies to assess multi-level risk and resilience factors in rural Alaska Native communities in two high-impact regions of the state, the Yukon-Kuskokwim (YK) and the Interior regions. 

AK ACE-CH FOCUS: Food systems impacts, Infectious disease, Mental health

Public Health Institute | Climate Health Adaptation and Resilience Mobilizing (CHARM) Lake County Project

 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR Susan Paulukonis 

The Public Health Institute (PHI) team works to understand the health impacts of harmful algal blooms (HABs) and heat events on disproportionately affected populations.  The team is establishing continuous community engagement structures with local Tribes and community-based organizations to address HABs and extreme heat in Lake County, California. 

CHARM LAKE COUNTY FOCUS: Extreme heat, Harmful algal blooms

University of Colorado School of Public Health | Mountain West ACE-CH Hub: Climate Change Engagement Platform to Support Resilient Rural and Urban Communities (MW ACE-CH) 

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS Katherine Dickinson and Katherine James 

The MW ACE-CH Hub explores how Mountain West’s rural and urban communities are experiencing climate stressors by identifying community-driven priorities and opportunities to understand the relationship between climate and health and build capacity for research and action. The hub engages communities in conversations and collective storytelling to facilitate learning, establishes partnerships and identifies resources to plan for climate resilience, and supports youth engagement to encourage intergenerational capacity. 

MW ACE-CH FOCUS: Poor air quality, Drought, Wildfires, Extreme heat 

University of Southern California | Community-Driven Approaches for Environmental Justice and Health in the Face of the Climate Crisis: Prioritizing Local Action for Climate Equity (PLACE Study) 

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR Jill Johnston

The PLACE Study team focuses on community-driven approaches to  health among individuals and families traditionally experiencing health disparities in historically marginalized areas of Los Angeles and the City of Carson. The team uses spatial approaches to assess neighborhood-scale vulnerability, such as community air-monitoring networks in key  neighborhoods. 

PLACE STUDY FOCUS: Extreme heat, Air pollution, Wildfires