Climate Adaptation Consulting
CAPA provides tailored consulting services to meet your unique needs, from research design and decision-support tools to implementation guidance and assessments. Our consultants have expertise in integrated social-environmental research techniques, translating theory and data to practice, and cross-sector collaboration. Have a specific project in mind or a climate-related topic you would like to explore? Contact us today for a complimentary meeting to discuss your ideas.
Our consulting services are nimble and can take many forms depending on our clients' goals.
Examples of past applications are detailed below.
Tailored decision support tools: from data to action
Forestry practitioners in Los Angeles have struggled to set priorities and distribute limited resources in a city of 99 neighborhoods, many of which are heavily under-canopied. Using a custom neighborhood prioritization process, CAPA helped the City articulate differing degrees of need and community readiness, and identify two pilot neighborhoods for an urban forest equity plan. Engagement and planning activities are currently underway in those two neighborhoods.
Data collection design and management support
The City of Portland and local housing authority Home Forward wanted to measure temperatures inside of public housing units following numerous deaths in an extreme heat event. CAPA designed and managed this project, which included collecting and analyzing temperature data, and conducting workshops with residents focused on data interpretation and solutions. Temperature readings activated real-time support for residents during the summer, and complete findings have informed Home Forward's heat intervention plans for the coming years.
Applied social research and engagement strategies
CAPA is partnering with the US Forest Service to pilot a community forestry framework in two locations: Albuquerque, NM and King County, WA. The approach emphasizes heat mitigation through urban forestry, with attention to community interests and participation. Each two-year project includes stakeholder interviews and context setting, workshops to identify suitable project locations, and localized community engagement to co-develop greening implementation plans for residential, public, and/or commercial property.
Sector-specific assessments
CAPA worked with three County governments in the Portland Metro Region to understand what various health care agencies are currently doing to prepare for summer heat, what gaps in capacity or understanding exist, and what "heat management best practices" could look like for the the health sector. This process involved a series of focus-group style interviews with stakeholders from County and State Health Departments, regional hospitals and coordinated care organizations, and Health Department collaborators including Housing and Emergency Management.
Dana Hellman
Program Manager
Dana manages the implementation of CAPA’s Growing Capacity services. She is an environmental social scientist and earned her PhD in Earth, Environment & Society from Portland State University.