It’s Hot Outside. Resilience Hubs Can Help Cool You Down (And Other Headlines)

Step inside some Angelenos’ homes and it may feel like a sauna. Not every person has air conditioning, and when they do, they often have to pay a lot on energy bills. There are public places like libraries people can use to cool down, but the city and county have had a hard time getting people to use them. Also, relying on the power grid to keep the air conditioning flowing as we face worsening heat can also become a problem. Cooling centers can only do so much when faced with outages and natural disasters.

It's hot outside. Resilience hubs can help cool you down.

My colleague Erin Stone wrote about “resilience hubs,” which are trusted and used community buildings retrofitted to have solar panels and battery storage in case a power grid goes out. The hubs also provide safety and climate crisis resources for residents.

Scientists at PSE Healthy Energy, a scientific research institute, are trying to help communities and government agencies pinpoint areas that could potentially serve the most marginalized communities. They look at places like community centers, libraries and churches that could serve as hubs as well as the local populations’ needs. They also examine climate risks in the area.

The city of L.A. is looking to create more sites.

Joey Rodriguez is a program coordinator with the Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory on East César Chávez Avenue, which is on its way to becoming a retrofitted resilience hub in 2024. But they’re already having events to help residents navigate the impacts of the climate crisis, and Rodriguez says it’s already a safe space.

“What's the difference between a nice, fresh gym where you just huddle around and cool off versus this space? This space is made for us. It’s made by us,” said Rodriguez. “It's a cooling space, but it's also a healing space. It’s a healing space because we've made it that way."

But while the conservatory is becoming a hub, the problem of funding enough of them still exists. Read Erin’s story to learn more.

Stay safe and cool, L.A. There’s more news below — just keep reading.

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• The lockdown at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall was lifted Saturday after a night of violence that involved youth and staff on Friday. This is the latest incident in a string of recent troubles at juvenile facilities.
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• Last Friday, Trader Joe’s recalled its frozen falafel products for potentially having rocks in the packaging. This comes soon after the neighborhood grocery store took Almond Windmill Cookies and Dark Chocolate Chunk and Almond Cookies off the shelves. 
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The Top Three Tea-Sipping Trends

An image collage of Brian's travel documents.

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THREE — A first-timer at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 

I’ve written a lot about the male athletes, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t share a sports story about THE GIRLS. Did you know this year is the Philippines’ first World Cup? The women notched their first victory against New Zealand last week (Unfortunately, they lost to Norway yesterday). And since Los Angeles County has the largest Filipino population out of any single county in the U.S. and there’s a player on the Phillipines team that’s actually from Southern California, I want to highlight The Los Angeles Times’ article about the Filipina Latinas getting their chance to kick it on the big field.

TWO — America is a swimming desert. Why? 

It’s summertime, which also means it’s peak jumping-in-the-pool-to-cool-down season, especially with increasingly hotter weather. Two years after initially starting my very FIRST swimming lessons at a local Y, I’ll be getting back in the pool to resume classes. Why? Knowing how to swim can be a matter of life and death, especially as a Black person who grew up with few opportunities to learn. I’m not going to lie, I am terrified of getting back in the pool. But the fact of the matter is an estimated 4,000 people die by drowning every year. Why? Lack of public pools.

The New York Times’ Mara Gay recently wrote an essay advocating for the U.S. to build more public pools to teach people how to swim and CNN’s Nathaniel Meyersohn wrote an article about why our country stopped building them.

ONE — How To L.A. becomes an Online News Association finalist

Shout out to my colleagues on the How To L.A. podcast who just received a nomination from a nonprofit membership organization for digital journalists for excellence in Audio Digital Storytelling, Ongoing Series. They were nominated for host’s Brian De Los Santos' moving story about why he took a trip to his home country of Mexico as an undocumented Angeleno. Make sure you read and listen to his story.