On Tuesday, August 25th, SAFE partnered with the North Shore CDC, Resilient Together, the City of Salem, and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council to host our second community conversation on high heat and resiliency hubs in Salem. The event was designed by Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (CREW). The high heat project is funded by the Barr Foundation.
Attendees listening to the presentation
Christian Thiim, Sustainability Project Manager; Neal Duffy, City of Salem Sustainability Director; Francelis Morillo Suarez, Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC)
This time, the event was fully in Spanish with simultaneous English interpretation and was held in the CDC’s beautiful office on Lafayette Street. There were over 60 community members in attendance, who enjoyed good food from local restaurant, El Buen Sabor Dominicano. During the presentation and conversations, childcare was provided in an adjacent room, allowing parents to give their full attention to the night’s activities.
Slides from the presentation about what a resiliency hub is thanks to CREW
Attendees learned about resiliency hubs, what they are, what they do, and how they benefit the community. Residents were asked to share their knowledge on where gathering spaces were in the community and how they got there.
One group’s responses to the discussion questions
They then engaged in conversations about what they felt was needed in the community. Some ideas from residents included more activities for children, English classes, and more events like this one.
Before and after the presentation and conversations, National Grid and Salem Power Choice were at the event to support residents with energy bill checkups. Multiple residents were able to have insightful conversations that helped them with their bills.
Shantel, from the North Shore CDC, leading the presentation in Spanish.
At the end, a raffle was held, and two lucky attendees won window air conditioning units! Other prizes were Chromebooks, and free cooling kits were handed out as well. We look forward to keeping the momentum and continuing to host conversations that put residents in the driver’s seat of building the social and environmental solutions for resiliency in Salem neighborhoods.