Wed, August 27

72 hours.

That’s how long the city had before the next heat dome would hit. Three days. Forecasted highs: 113°F, then 117°F. Then no dip below 100 for the next week.

And in South Fresno, where the air gets thicker with dust and diesel from the industrial corridor, 72 hours felt more like a deadline than a forecast. Grandmothers without air conditioning. Kids trying to sleep on tile floors. Construction workers praying for cloud cover.

This wasn’t just weather. It was a crisis with a countdown clock. And the city? It didn’t have a coordinated heat plan. No permanent cooling centers. No public hydration stations. No community-wide alert system in Spanish.

• By hour 6, I was on a call with a city councilmember.

• By hour 12, I was on a plane.

• By hour 24, I had a grant strategy.

And by hour 72? Let’s just say Fresno wasn’t facing the heat alone.

🌡️ A City on the Edge of Overheating

Fresno isn’t the first place most people think of when they hear “climate frontline.” But it should be.

The city sits in California’s Central Valley—one of the hottest, most polluted, and most economically stretched regions in the country. The area’s legacy of redlining and environmental racism has created pockets of intense vulnerability, especially in South and West Fresno, where tree canopy is scarce, housing is old, and air quality is among the worst in the U.S.

And now, thanks to climate change, the city is enduring more extreme heat days than ever before.

What that means on the ground:

• Ambulance calls surge

• Outdoor workers collapse

• Poorly insulated apartments turn into ovens

• And people die alone in homes with no AC, no family, and no warning system

The moment wasn’t just ripe for change. It was demanding it.

🧭 Meet the Heat Fighters

This all started with a coalition called Fresno HeatWatch—a scrappy but strategic crew led by:

• Councilwoman Olivia Ramirez, a former school principal turned climate justice bulldog

• Greenbelt Commons, a nonprofit focused on community health and climate equity

• Young organizers from Fresno State’s Environmental Justice Lab

• Several faith-based groups tired of watching elders suffer every summer

Their dream? Launch a citywide Heat Resilience Network that would:

• Retrofit city buildings into solar-powered cooling hubs

• Distribute bilingual heat safety toolkits

• Launch a “Cool Map” app showing shade, hydration, and help

• Train volunteers as neighborhood heat responders checking on vulnerable residents and distributing supplies

They had urgency. They had stories. What they didn’t have was $5 million—and a game plan to make that ask stick.

That’s when my inbox lit up.

🧠 From Chaos to Cohesion

When I landed in Fresno, it was 109°F at 9:00 AM.

I met the team in a borrowed church rec room where fans buzzed louder than the conversation. They handed me a binder labeled “Heatwave Plan — Emergency Draft.” Inside: brilliant ideas, scattered notes, and three Post-Its that said: “Figure out funding!!”

Here’s what I told them:

“You don’t have a funding problem. You have a story structure problem. And that’s my specialty.”

We got to work. I helped them map out a multi-pronged strategy:

• Anchor ask: FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant

• Supplemental funding:

  • EPA’s Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Grant

  • California’s Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program

  • PG&E’s Climate Action Fund (for local utility match)

• Equity alignment: Used CalEnviroScreen to show Fresno ranked among top 5% for environmental burden

• Health data: ER visits, asthma rates, school absenteeism linked to heat

It wasn’t just a plan. It was a climate resilience accelerator—rooted in real lives and ready to scale.

📝 How We Framed the Application

Here’s what we led with:

“In South Fresno, the hottest days aren’t just uncomfortable—they’re deadly. And the people most at risk are the ones least likely to be heard. We’re changing that.”

We backed it up with hard data:

• 43,000+ Fresno households lack central air

• Heat-related ER visits have doubled in 5 years

• Tree canopy in North Fresno: 23%. In South Fresno? 2.7%

Then we gave it heart:

• A construction worker who tapes wet towels inside his hard hat

• A mom who walks her toddler around Walmart to stay cool

• An 82-year-old who ran out of water during the last heat wave and waited five hours for help

We showed that this wasn’t just about survival—it was about dignity.
About building a system before the next countdown begins.

🔓 When the Doors Opened

Let me tell you something: funders may be slow to move on some things, but they do understand heat.

Fresno’s application hit all the right notes—equity, urgency, replicability, and readiness.

The results?

• ✅ FEMA BRIC grant: $2.5 million

• ✅ EPA EJ grant: $500,000

• ✅ California Resilience Program: $1.2 million

• ✅ PG&E match: $450,000 in solar tech and storage

Within 10 months:

• Five city-owned buildings upgraded into 24/7 cooling hubs

• “Cool Map Fresno” launched with live shade and hydration data

• 120+ trained volunteers deployed across heat-prone neighborhoods

• Public Health Department reported a 12% drop in heat-related emergency calls that summer

And best of all?

Ms. Lena, age 89—who lived through the Dust Bowl—got a call from her heat responder volunteer just before another spike. They brought a cooling vest, fresh water, and a phone preloaded with the app.

“I didn’t think anybody remembered us out here,” she said. “Now I know you do.”

🔑 Mr. Grant Money’s Fresno Lessons

Here’s what this project taught me:

1. Don’t wait for perfect. Start with urgent.
   The team didn’t have a polished proposal. They had a problem worth solving. That’s where funding begins.

2. Stack grants like building blocks.
   You don’t need a miracle grant. You need a layered strategy that builds momentum.

3. Stories seal the deal.
   We didn’t just show heat maps. We showed Ms. Lena’s resilience. That made funders care.

4. Heat isn’t just weather—it’s an equity emergency.
   If your city doesn’t have a heat plan, it’s time to write—or fund—one.

☀️ Who Needs You to Cool Things Down?

There’s a heatwave coming somewhere. Maybe in your city. Maybe in your neighborhood.

Someone’s grandma is still boiling water for warmth. Someone’s baby is sleeping on tile to survive the night.

You don’t need all the answers. You need a plan.
You bring the urgency. I’ll bring the grant map.

Let’s beat the heat—before the countdown hits zero.

— Mr. Grant Money

🛍 Explore More

• Browse the Mr. Grant Money Blog for more funding breakthroughs

• Support the mission through the Mr. Grant Money Store

• Tune into Mr. Grant Money Music for soundtrack-worthy storytelling

💬 Discussion Questions

1. How does your city or neighborhood currently respond to extreme heat—and who might be falling through the cracks?

2. What would a true “heat resilience plan” look like where you live? Who should be leading it, and what support would they need?

3. Have you or someone you know experienced a dangerous heatwave? What could have made the difference in that moment?

4. What community spaces (churches, schools, rec centers) could double as cooling hubs if they had the right funding and upgrades?

5. If you could pitch one small but high-impact idea for heat safety in your neighborhood, what would it be—and how would you fund it?