What is the CHARM Roadmap?
The Roadmap is the culmination of CHARM Lake County, a two-year planning project initiated by the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians and Tracking California to improve communication and coordination between Tribes, county agencies, and non-profit organizations to improve resilience to extreme heat and harmful algal blooms (HABs).
The Roadmap aims to provide a clear framework to understand and assess:
- Impacts of natural hazards in Lake County
- Communities and populations most vulnerable during natural hazards
- Local gaps and challenges that contribute to these disproportionate impacts
- Strategies to address needs and build resilience
We aim for the Roadmap to serve as a practical tool for those working to build a more effective and coordinated response to the growing threats of extreme heat, HABs, and other natural hazards in Lake County.
How can the Roadmap be used?
Users can explore the Roadmap by specific types of natural hazards, by the populations they serve, or through overarching strategies that support more inclusive and effective response strategies. Specifically, it may be useful for:
Informing resilience plans
Planning and improving services
Training staff
Fundraising and grant-writing
Suggested Citation: Tracking California, Public Health Institute. CHARM Roadmap to Resilience [Month/Day/Year] from https://trackingcalifornia.org/projects/charm/roadmap
Why did you focus on vulnerable communities?
Vulnerable communities often face the greatest risks and experience the most severe health and safety impacts during emergencies. By focusing on these groups, we can better develop and target preparedness and response activities that will lead to improved public health outcomes for these communities. At the same time, planning for those most at-risk individuals benefits everyone. If a response plan works for the most vulnerable, it is very likely to work for the broader community as well.
How did you come up with these strategies?
While many Lake County agencies and organizations are doing meaningful work and demonstrating strong capacity—often serving as models for others—some significant gaps remain in terms of emergency preparedness and response, particularly as the challenges facing the community are growing in both scale and complexity.
Many of the Roadmap strategies were identified through the data collection process, directly from Lake County residents. These strategies include both unmet needs or current effective solutions that may not be used by or available to all. Furthermore, some of the issues raised by residents may be possible to address with limited resources, while others are more complex and may require significant resources and coordination to address.
The strategies outlined in this roadmap are not intended to be prescriptive or fully developed action plans. They do not include detailed implementation steps or feasibility assessments. Instead, they are meant to serve as a starting point—to spark ideas, encourage exploration, and help organizations and stakeholders consider how they might contribute to building resilience within their own roles and communities.
Where did you get this information?
The input and data shared here were gathered as a part of the two-year CHARM Lake County project. Data collection methods included convening a Working Group, asset mapping, and conducting surveys and interviews with residents, including members of vulnerable communities.
Due to the extensive nature of the survey and interviews, we were unable to include comprehensive results of the data collection in the Roadmap. Please contact us if you would like to learn about results that were not included here.
What are the aims of CHARM Lake County?
The Climate Health Adaptation and Resiliency Mobilization (CHARM) Lake County project, funded by the National Institutes of Health (2023-2025), was led by the Tracking California program at the Public Health Institute in partnership with the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians and in collaboration with California State and Lake County government agencies, five of the seven county Tribal governments, and non-governmental organizations.
CHARM Lake County’s aims included:
- Improved characterization of the health impacts of HABs and extreme heat events, as well as the available response resources in Lake County, including strengths, assets, gaps, and barriers to deploying these resources during HABs and heat events
- Improved understanding of the awareness, knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about HABs and heat events among community members as well as the effectiveness and accessibility of existing response plans and resources, particularly among Tribal residents and other vulnerable populations
- Increased capacity of project partners and community stakeholders to engage in planning and implementation of formative research on the health impacts of HABs and heat
- Improved communication, coordination, and partnerships among Tribes, emergency response planning agencies, and community stakeholders before, during, and after HABs and heat events