On October 28, 2019 the Healthy Urban Environments (HUE) initiative held its Fall 2019 Solutions Workshop. This workshop served to formally convene the HUE Network of Concerned Parties — a diverse working group focused on collaboratively working towards advancing urban heat and air quality mitigation solutions. Going forward, the Network will support working groups engaged in planning and action around specific intervention opportunities, communicating best practices, and training future practitioners.

During the Solutions workshop, 39 attendees representing 26 different local groups came together to discuss local heat and air quality solution opportunities. This included a variety of local and regional municipalities, agencies, private entities, businesses, non-profits, and community groups. The meeting started with an overview of HUE's goals and updates from HUE leadership and project leads on HUE's current portfolio of solutions activities. Following these updates, a "listening" session gave our Network members a chance to share their expertise and important insights on how the Network can successfully support regional heat and air quality solutions. Additionally, this interactive listening session gave participants the opportunity to “pitch” potential collaborative project ideas to the audience that HUE could support in future rounds of funding as well as strategies to strengthen current HUE projects.

HUE would like to sincerely thank all of the Fall 2019 Solutions Workshop attendees for their valuable contributions to advancing strategies and solutions to address heat and air quality issues in Maricopa County. Going forward, HUE will be providing more information to the Network and its stakeholders regarding funding and collaboration opportunities in early 2020.

For more information about HUE, or to join the HUE Network of Concerned Parties, please visit the HUE Website to learn more and get in contact.