This virtual roundtable is part of the Planet Texas 2050 Resilience Roundtable series, Academic-Community Partnerships for Adaptation and Resilience.
The event features Jaimie Hicks Masterson, director of Texas Target communities at Texas A&M, and John T. Cooper, former director of Texas Target Communities.
Since 2014, Texas Target Communities at Texas A&M University (TAMU) has worked alongside the Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services, a Houston nonprofit, to jointly investigate and document vulnerabilities stemming from chronic pollution, natural hazards, and chemical and nonchemical stressors. Engaging local high school students and teachers, the partnership has collected data on a range of complex environmental issues, educated residents on risks, and developed solutions to reduce exposure and contamination.
The project, which was initially sponsored by university start-up funds, allowed TAMU and Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services to build trust, engage the community, and explore community needs before developing proposals for additional funding. This work, along with over 30 partnerships with community partners, led to the book Engaged Research for Community Resilience to Climate Change and helped in the development of rules of thumb for authentically engaging communities.