The threat of extreme weather is disproportionately felt by communities of color, lower-income households, and vulnerable populations Visit disclaimer page as they are more likely to live in “urban heat islands Visit disclaimer page,” and are often unable to afford adequate air conditioning. As we grapple with a summer with above-normal temperatures in most of the country, it is imperative to understand not only the impact of heat stress on the individuals, families, and communities we serve, but how grant recipients can utilize OCS programs and flexibilities to mitigate the impact of extreme weather and heat stress on vulnerable populations.
OCS joined Twitter! Follow us @OCS_ACFgov. Visit disclaimer page
To get LIHEAP cooling assistance, visit energyhelp.us. Visit disclaimer page This website is in Spanish Visit disclaimer page, Traditional Chinese Visit disclaimer page, and Simplified Chinese Visit disclaimer page.
LIHEAP Cooling Animated Video-English
Heat Stress and Extreme Weather Guidance for OCS Grant Recipients
Tools and Resources
LIHEAP Cooling One-Pager (PDF)
Heat Stress Expert Panel Webinar Recording Visit disclaimer page & Slides (PDF)
Grant Recipient Heat Stress Webinar Recording Visit disclaimer page & Slides (PDF)
OCS Grant Recipient Extreme Heat Spotlights
CSBG Disaster Relief Efforts- Wildfires and Heat Domes—An Oregon Spotlight
CSBG Video Description: With a focus on the impact of wildfires and heat domes on low-income communities, this video highlights some of the important services CSBG-funded programs provide to individuals, families, and communities in Oregon.
This video includes interviews with individuals and families served by CSBG as well as CSBG program administrators.
LIHEAP Cooling Assistance: A Washington State Spotlight
This video highlights how Washington State has used Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funds, including American Rescue Plan funds, to implement a cooling assistance program to help mitigate the impact of extreme heat. The program provides LIHEAP-eligible households with air conditioning units and hardship benefits to help pay for the electricity needed to run the units.
Heat Stress Blog from ACF Assistant Secretary January Contreras
Heat Stress Geographic Information System (GIS) Dashboard (English)
On Earth Day, the Office of Community Services (OCS) released a new Heat Stress Geographic Information System (GIS) Dashboard Visit disclaimer page to help our grant recipients and stakeholders track, visualize, and respond to heat stress trends and needs across the country. This tool is part of a larger OCS strategy to provide the necessary training and technical assistance needed to help mitigate the effects of climate change on LIHEAP households. We recommend using either a Google Chrome or a Microsoft Edge browser to ensure all the content can load properly.
Heat Stress Geographic Information System (GIS) Dashboard (Spanish)
OCS recently published a version of the Heat Stress Geographic Information System (GIS) Dashboard in Spanish Visit disclaimer page. Please note that both the English and Spanish Dashboards have the functionality to be automatically translated into 108 other languages using the “Translate” button on the left side of the screen. Stay tuned for further translations of the Dashboard!
Demonstration Videos for Heat Stress GIS Dashboard
This video displays the relationship between extreme heat days and household energy burden using GIS mapping.
This video displays the impact of LIHEAP funds on energy burden for households with low incomes using GIS mapping.
Este mapa muestra la relación entre los días de calor extremo y la carga de alta energía.
Este video de demostración de cómo la financiación del LIHEAP eliminó la carga energética en comunidades de bajos ingresos en todo el país.
Georgetown University Massive Data Institute (MDI) Scholars
OCS is proud to have a standing partnership with Georgetown University’s Massive Data Institute (MDI). Throughout the 2021-2022 academic year, OCS has had the privilege of working with two master’s candidates in Data Science for Public Policy, Alia Abdelkader and Caroline Adams. Their research project for spring 2022 leveraged the statistical and data science methods Alia and Caroline learned as part of their coursework to begin answering the following research questions related to LIHEAP and extreme heat for vulnerable communities:
- How can we define and map the communities placed at highest risk of experiencing the negative effects of extreme heat from climate change across the United States?
- How were 2020 and 2021 LIHEAP benefits distributed to communities placed at higher or lower risk? How does this distribution change based on the definition of “vulnerable” across different frameworks?
The poster below highlights the research and methodology used to initiate the analysis as a response to these questions and provides preliminary case study results (you can click on the poster below to zoom in as needed).
(PDF)