As sunny days and warmer weather return to Washington state, so too do the risks of wildfire season. Rural communities across central Washington know these realities all too well: in 2021, over 50% of the acres burned in wildfires across the entire state happened in Chelan and Okanogan counties alone. Yet, many communities lacked access to responsive, accessible health messaging around what to do or how to stay safe during wildfires.
With support from EarthLab’s Innovation Grants Program, a collaborative team in partnership with Wenatchee CAFE and other regional leaders brought together community stakeholders across north-central Washington to identify best practices and fill these knowledge gaps around climate communication messaging. By November 2024, the project team successfully launched the Community and Climate Impact (CCI) Hub—a coalition of community-based organizations, public health experts, and local stakeholders working together to address climate-related health risks in Chelan, Okanogan, Grant, and Douglas counties.
“EarthLab’s support allowed us to build trust, host meaningful conversations, and amplify the voices of community organizations,” the project team shared. “It also enabled student involvement, fostering ongoing engagement with the community.”
Although this team completed EarthLab’s formal grant process in fall 2024, the CCI Hub continues to meet and evolve as part of Wenatchee CAFE’s ongoing Climate Taskforce, ensuring this work doesn’t end with the grant.
Two Tangible Resources to Know About Before Wildfire Season, Created by the Team
- The Best Practices Toolkit
Co-created with CCI Hub members, this toolkit offers step-by-step best practices for impactful climate messaging. It’s designed to guide organizations on how to strengthen community engagement and improve both the access to and content of heat and smoke related messaging. This toolkit has interactive checklists on how to develop this kind of messaging, and a how-to section that introduces the CCI Resource Hootboard. - The CCI Resource Hootboard
This interactive digital platform is a communal space that houses all factsheets, resources, and tools from the project. The goal of this resource board is to help residents, educators, and community leaders easily find and share climate and health information, which we encourage you to use and share as well. Here, you can find educational tools, graphics, and messaging about how to stay safe during periods of extreme heat and wildfire smoke—especially for at-risk populations like children, older adults, and outdoor workers.
Stay Connected
Visit the CCI Resource Hootboard to explore and share materials with your network. If you’re part of an organization looking to improve climate communication or better prepare your community for extreme weather, the Best Practices Toolkit is an excellent place to start.