Climate & Health Actionable Research and Translation (CHART) Center

Vision

Atlanta’s history, diversity, persistent health disparities, research institutions, and policy and advocacy opportunities make it an ideal location for CHART to develop its central research theme of lowering climate-related disease burdens in under-resourced urban communities.

Mission

CHART’s mission is to generate new knowledge about the health risks associated with climate change in urban areas, particularly those related to heat exposure, and to translate this knowledge into action through equitable partnerships that enhance health.

About

As part of CHART’s Community Engagement Core, Environmental Community Action, Inc. works directly with the Atlanta communities most impacted by climate change to identify local needs and strengthen residents’ capacity to address them.

CHART’s Community Engagement Core Team does this by:

Bringing together Atlanta residents to identify local climate and health concerns.
Establishing a Partner Steering Committee of local environmental justice organizations to direct CHART’s climate research and resilience projects.
Funding community climate projects via our Community Climate Grants program.

CHART Community Engagement Core Team

Aims

Facilitate ongoing dialogue and collaboration on climate, health, and justice with the Atlanta communities most affected by heat and climate hazards.
Enhance community capacity to address local climate change and health concerns.
Guide CHART scientists in community-engaged research.

Check The Heat Risk Index for Your Area and Find Out What You Can Do To Be Safe

The CHART Community Grant Program

The CHART Community Grant Program provides one year of funding for local groups to address climate concerns that can impact their community’s health.

Guidance and/or assistance may be provided to awardees based on project and organizational needs.

The CHART Community Grant has been awarded to three grantees. They are based in and serve different parts of Georgia with various projects all aimed at addressing specific climate concerns in their neighborhoods.

Some of the interventions that they have projected that the funds would be used for include: community plant swap events, climate survival trainings, and tree planting events across various communities in Georgia.

The CHART Youth Summer Program

The participants in the CHART Youth Summer Program engaged in various activities with CHART over the course of the six-week program, like:

In-session climate change and health discussions and knowledge quizzes
Climate change games and activities that illustrated how their day to day choices affect their carbon footprint and the world at large
An online course offered by the UN – “Net Zero” – where they learned what the term Net Zero means, how important it is for our planet and how we can inch towards achieving it (The youth received certification in this course)
Podcasts where they interacted with great minds in the environmental health space as well as Morehouse scholars, and
Presentations about their time at ECO-Action and what they learned.