In October, LIIF released an in-depth report around climate threats to Harris County, Texas, early care and education (ECE) facilities. This aligns with LIIF’s efforts around climate justice: Our organization offers expertise on the intersection of child care and the climate emergency.
As the facilities fund manager for SHINE, LIIF is tackling work tailored to meet the unique needs of Greater Houston and beyond. While the first report established a baseline, a new complementary report has just been released. This comprehensive research outlines a framework and considerations for leaders in Harris County as they seek to mitigate existing risks of natural disasters and address root causes of climate change to better prevent and prepare for future storms in the bustling region.
LIIF’s analysis in this report is meant to help inform the County’s inaugural strategic plan for Fiscal Years 2025-2029. The plan includes various goals around climate resilience, disaster recovery, and economic vitality in the Greater Houston area.
Using the same key datasets from the first report – Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Risk Index (NRI) and child care licensing records from the Texas Workforce Commission — LIIF deploys a mapping analysis to identify hotspots of child care supply and climate risk, as highlighted in the map below. This type of review should help the County plan around child care facilities as anchors for rolling out large-scale climate-mitigation efforts.
Applying data in such a way hones focus, especially when resources prove scarce. This ensures the use of funds aligns with actual risks and builds on existing characteristics of neighborhoods. This framework and mapping analysis holds promise for identifying patterns across the county, which could inform future action and intervention.
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Stay tuned: In the final installment of this three-part series, LIIF will again return to the neighborhood clusters used in the first two research reports to consider policymaking and funding implications of the framework outlined in this paper, specifically using the Harris County Strategic Plan as a coordinating document for action.
Our organization offers expertise on the intersection of child care and the climate emergency.