Oakland, CA

Climate and environment, Community safety and policing, Built environment | 2025

Engaging youth to strengthen community resilience to extreme heat events.

Average maximum annual temperatures in Oakland are projected to rise between 3.3°F and 4.4°F by midcentury, according to California’s Fourth Climate Assessment. As a legacy of disinvestment in communities of color, the built environment in the neighborhoods of Fruitvale and West Oakland is characterized by heat-absorbing building materials and little tree cover, which intensifies urban heat islands. Youth and families affected by foster care, immigration, and the juvenile and criminal legal systems lack access to critical infrastructure and social safety nets for adapting to extreme heat events. Further, studies suggest that hotter temperatures are correlated with increased violent crime, potentially leading to punitive law enforcement in the face of rising temperatures. This finding implies that by shifting public safety funds to community-led climate resilience, governments could improve neighborhood safety while addressing conditions exacerbating extreme heat. 

Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ), an organization led by and serving formerly incarcerated and systems-impacted youth, will engage youth leaders in researching the Fruitvale and West Oakland communities’ experiences with heat and other climate emergencies so residents can play an active role in local climate resilience planning and investment decisions. As one component of this project, entitled HEATED (Homegrown Experts Aiming to Transform Emergencies and Disasters), CURYJ will train young people to survey community members about where they seek information and supports during heat waves and other climate emergencies. Youth leaders will also create short videos documenting their own experiences during climate emergencies. Drawing on both sources of data, HEATED will develop recommendations for local emergency planning priorities. The youth team will share their digital stories, survey results, and recommendations at a screening with community members, local government agency staff, and systems leaders. 

Using the evidence developed in the project, young people in Fruitvale and West Oakland can make a stronger case for shifting public safety resources toward green infrastructure improvements and community-based emergency preparedness and response. Youth leaders will present their recommendations to municipal agencies during next year’s planning process to update the City of Oakland’s Local Hazards Mitigation Plan. In collaboration with other local organizations, CURYJ will also use the data to inform the establishment of a community resilience hub to connect residents with the information and resources they need during climate emergencies.