New Initiative Furthers MCW’s Commitment to Health Equity in Climate Change Efforts

As researchers, policymakers and others around the world work to address climate change, an initiative led by the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) is aimed at ensuring that local efforts are centered on those most at-risk — Milwaukee residents that lack access to clean energy and would be most affected by energy-related pollution.

“Historically, we've talked about climate change and the impact of climate change as, ‘How does it impact the polar bears?’” said Langston Verdin, MPH, founder and co-executive director of MKE FreshAir Collective. “We also need to know how it's going to impact this community, how it’s going to impact people on 5th and North Avenue, and 27th and Keefe.”

Verdin and Kirsten Beyer, PhD, MPH, MS, professor of epidemiology in the Institute of Health and Equity at MCW, are co-leaders of the Community Engagement Core (CEC), an MCW-led project that is supporting the new Health-First Climate Action Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The center, established through a $3.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, is a partnership between the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and MCW. The Health-First Climate Action Research Center, led by Principal Investigator Jonathan Patz, MD, MPH, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is one of just a handful of programs in the country aimed at ensuring a health and community-based approach to climate and energy actions.

The aims of the CEC are to use data and feedback from residents and representatives from community-based organizations to influence the direction of the Health-First Climate Action Research Center and to utilize the center’s research to improve policy engagement and build capacity.

“The theme of our work is trying to inform the research so that it better addresses community health disparities that are related to climate change and then to integrate more closely community engagement and data science to offer beneficial impacts for local communities,” Dr. Beyer says.

A key task of the CEC is to establish a community advisory board (CAB) to ensure the center’s efforts and investments align with and respond to community goals for climate action and health equity. Those goals will be discussed during community meetings, pilot projects, sharing of research and other data, and by engaging key decision makers.

“We want to make sure that the community advisory board drives decision-making and has decision-making power, including at the highest level of the center,” Dr. Beyer says. “They're going to be deciding, for example, which one of those climate strategies is going to really have the greatest benefit locally and in an equitable manner for population health in Milwaukee.”

Collaborations that will help the CAB make those decisions include community-generated air quality data collected through the Milwaukee Fresh Air Collective, as well as the Love My Air program.

“Having that type of data could be really beneficial for the community to be able to talk to their policy makers and say, 'You know, can we think about these challenges differently now that we have this information,’” Verdin says.

The CEC hopes the CAB can help them identify key decisions, including where best to invest and prioritize energy changes to reduce air pollution.

“When we were putting together the board initially, we took the time to think about who were the folks who were strong community advocates currently and working in environmental health, but also key, trusted partners within the environmental health space already,” Verdin says.

Another benefit, adds Dr. Beyer, was the fact that many of the partners involved in the CEC and CAB are already working together.

“We are building on the strength of existing partnerships, not just within the community but also community and academic partnerships,” Dr. Beyer says.

Among the first orders of business for the partners will be to begin convening the CAB and conduct outreach to the broader Milwaukee community.

“The center as a whole really aims to bring a community-first focus into the work, and so our core is really vital to the work of the center,” Verdin says. “We cannot be successful as a center without the community and the work of the community advisory board, and I don't think that can be understated.”

Members of the CAB include: August M. Ball, CEO/Founder of Cream City Conservation & Consulting; Yesi Perez, Neighborhood Revitalization Project Manager at Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers; Jennifer Harris, Deputy Director of the Comprehensive Injury Center; Justin Hegarty, Executive Director and Environmental Engineer at Reflo-Sustainable Water Solutions; Sarah Kroening, Environmental Health Program Manager at Children’s Health Alliance of Wisconsin; Kelly Moore Brands, Community Conservation Director at River Revitalization Foundation/Ozaukee Washington Land Trust; Pamela Ritger de la Rosa, Environmental Sustainability Program Manager at Environmental Collaboration Office, City of Milwaukee; and Kim Talarico, Climate Education Coach at Milwaukee Public Schools.