Press Release

For Immediate Release
#19-20

NYC EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT’S LATEST ‘PREP TALK’ PODCAST: 
SUMMER HEAT PREPAREDNESS


#PrepTalkNYC {Click to listen to episode 51)


June 12, 2020 — As the weather warms up and the potential risk for heat waves increases, New York City is taking a number of steps to ensure New Yorkers are safe this summer. On the latest episode of “Prep Talk,” Kizzy Charles-Guzman, deputy director at the Mayor’s Office of Resiliency, and Carolyn (Cari) Olson, assistant commissioner of the Bureau of Environmental Surveillance and Policy at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, discuss initiatives to help vulnerable populations beat the heat, specifically in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Charles-Guzman and Olson highlight strategies to ensure vulnerable New Yorkers stay cool and safe at home, create safe summer cooling options, and conserve energy. They also discuss measures neighborhoods can implement to stay cool. You can listen to the latest episode on SoundCloud, iTunes, and Spreaker.

Profile 

Kizzy Charles-Guzman is a deputy director at the NYC Mayor’s Office of Resiliency, leading efforts to strengthen neighborhoods, community organizations, and social infrastructure to ensure their readiness to withstand and emerge stronger from the impacts of climate change. Charles-Guzman engages in citywide sustainability and resiliency planning efforts to ensure that social, public health and environmental justice priorities are integrated into adaptation plans and environmental policies. She led the development of Cool Neighborhoods NYC, the City’s first comprehensive strategy to address the impacts of rising temperatures and heat waves. She received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 2 Environmental Quality Award and a national Champion of Change Award from the U.S. White House in recognition of her work to protect and enhance environmental quality and public health in New York. Charles-Guzman has twice been named “Top 40 under 40 in NY Politics” by City and State New York. She is a graduate of Carleton College and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Carolyn (Cari) Olson, MPH, is the assistant commissioner of the Bureau of Environmental Surveillance and Policy at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The bureau’s multidisciplinary team of researchers, data scientists, and lawyers works to influence environmental health policies and programs through innovative health surveillance, legislative and regulatory action, and informatics across topics ranging from air quality and climate change to child care and restaurant regulation. Olson and her team have been leading multifaceted efforts to combat the health impacts of extreme heat via healthcare system investment, community resiliency, and equitable access to air conditioning. Building on fifteen years with the department, Olson has focused her expertise on the effective use of health data to inform public health practice through collaboration with academic, community and government partners. She received a doctorate in public health from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University.  
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