This presentation will discuss solutions toward a framework to identify, understand, and fill weather and climate data coverage and messaging gaps, sharing insights from work over the past year with variety of Federal agencies. We will discuss concepts to develop a meaningful community engagement framework that pairs weather forecast and observation network data with socioeconomic, health, and community census data. This framework recognizes that productive engagement with an identified wider variety of stakeholders, including historically underserved and socially vulnerable communities, requires the knowledge and ability to apply techniques that are best suited for each community.
Our discussion will share insights from the current work we perform today with the Department of Justice (DOJ), the public health community, and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to understand the individual needs and most effective approaches to reach underserved communities. We will build on the concept of impact messages from the National Weather Service, state DOTs, and public health organizations where weather data are translated and packaged to quickly answer urgent questions (“How does this affect me?”, “What do I need to do to keep my family safe?”). Our goal is to present messages expanding the usefulness and reach of impact messages to vulnerable communities.
Ultimately, such a framework incorporating physical and social science will enable a better understanding of hazard information, knowledge, and impacts to develop more comprehensive, resilient, and adaptable views to better inform where sensing needs can be optimized towards most meaningful climate services stakeholder engagement and delivery.

