Climate Action Engagement Academy

Climate Action Engagement Academy (CAEA) is a 2-year long research project sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and South Carolina Sea Grant. Year 1 is dedicated to answering the following questions:

1. How can business owners position themselves as reliable leaders of climate preparedness, confronting multiple interacting climate-related stressors?
2. How can community-scale, climate-compatible solutions improve resilience for the women and minority-owned small business community?

The CAEA’s short-term goals for Charleston’s minority and women-owned small businesses focus on addressing climate impacts, industry-specific challenges, and the need for climate-related information, while also enhancing planning, marketing, and advocacy efforts for climate compatibility.

Its long-term goals emphasize resilience education, fostering a sustainable business mindset, developing individualized climate action plans, and creating a peer-learning community with resources like a Climate Action business network and a Web-based Knowledge Hub.

Ongoing collaboration since May 2023

• Serve as Co-Principal Investigator
• Create data visualization tools and graphic design (logo, branding, website, infographics, illustrations)
• Develop Knowledge Hub website (Tools, Training, Community)
• Generate curriculum materials
• Contribute to scholarly articles

We are part of the 2-year CAEA research project. As a member of the core team, VTT is responsible for co-authoring reports and generating products that support the development and execution of the academy. Services include: Co-Principal Investigator, Research, Authorship, Consulting, Graphic Design, Curriculum Development, and Data Visualization.