The Climate and Health Adaptation Initiative (CHAI) is a partnership among state, federal, and academic partners to address community-identified needs to support community health in a changing climate. CHAI supports communities across Washington state who have climate change-related action plans but may need additional resources or capacity to implement those plans.
Advancing climate justice is CHAI’s goal. The initiative is intentionally designed to have a grassroots approach: community and regional partners share their climate and health priorities, and the CHAI planning team works with communities to find resources, funding, staffing capacity, and tangible environmental and community benefits to achieve those priorities. CHAI is specifically focused on protecting and promoting the health of communities who are experiencing the harmful consequences of climate change first and worst.
What the CHAI Planning Team Offers
- Public health and climate expertise.
- Technical assistance with funding opportunities, data needs, and other climate and health priorities.
- Identify resource providers to fund implementation of climate action plans.
- Connect people and partners who are addressing health needs in a changing climate.
- Other needs identified by community and regional partners.