CLIMATE HEALTH EQUITY PLAN SUMMARY
Building a healthier, more equitable Ventura County for today and tomorrow July 2026
Protecting Health Promoting Wellness
Addressing Climate Change Advancing Health Equity
Together for a Resilient, Healthy Ventura County
MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR Ventura County Public Health is proud to introduce its first Climate Health Equity Plan. With Ventura County identified as the fastest-warming county in the contiguous United States, this plan reflects an urgent commitment to protect community health and ensure all residents have the resources needed to thrive in a changing climate. Climate-related hazards such as extreme heat, wildfire smoke, flooding, and poor air quality disproportionately impact historically underserved communities. Centering health equity, the plan draws on guidance from state and national public health authorities and incorporates the best available data to address these disparities. Implementation is already underway through culturally responsive outreach, strengthened climate messaging, expanded community engagement, and ongoing efforts to secure funding. This action-oriented plan provides a framework for prevention, health promotion, and preparedness while aligning with Ventura County’s broader climate goals and Climate Action Plan. Addressing climate-related health impacts requires collaboration across sectors, and Ventura County Public Health invites all partners and residents to join in building a healthier, more resilient, and more equitable future for all.
Rigoberto Vargas, MPH Director Ventura County Public Health
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SUMMARY: CLIMATE HEALTH EQUITY PLAN About this Plan Work on the Climate Health Equity Plan began in 2025 as a project within the Healthy Communities Division at Ventura County Public Health (VCPH). It was created out of a need to ground VCPH’s activities in addressing climate change amidst dynamic funding and programmatic landscapes. This plan aims to solidify climate health equity work across the department, aligned with the urgency of climate change and to provide a tool for tracking progress towards achieving the goals and objectives embedded in the plan. Through a process of internal reviews, the plan has been strengthened by the insight and expertise of numerous staff members. The plan is also influenced by work convened through VCPH’s OneHealth Team, the Public Health Alliance’s Climate Equity Accelerator Workgroup, and the California Department of Public Health’s Climate Change and Health Equity Branch and Community of Practice. This plan is infused with insights from numerous community partners shared informally through their participation in the planning process for developing Ventura County’s Extreme Heat Action Plan, funded through the Governor’s Office of Land Conservation and Climate Innovation, and by partners in the CEO’s Office of Sustainability at Ventura County. The climate science information presented in this plan was sourced from California’s Fourth and Fifth Climate Change Assessments, and a range of peer-reviewed literature and vulnerability assessment tools. This plan is grounded in theory and evidence and is operational in application. It serves as a guide for Ventura County Public Health’s climate health equity work spanning prevention, promotion, and preparedness while establishing a shared understanding of this work among internal and external partners.
“The climate crisis is a health crisis. And it’s not a hypothetical crisis in the future. It’s right here and right now.” – World Health Organization, Director-General, June 1, 2024
Equally important, the plan is not an emergency response plan, a climate mitigation or adaptation plan, or a countywide climate action plan, although it can complement and support these efforts. This plan includes a comprehensive set of implementation activities (Appendix V) organized by objectives and strategies and aligned with ten identified climate-health risks. Each activity was reviewed against the plan's Guiding Values and Principles to ensure a focus on equity, impact, and community needs. Implementation will occur through collaboration with internal and external partners using evidence-informed and practice-based approaches.
Who is the Intended User of this Plan? This plan is primarily intended for use by Ventura County Public Health staff, whose roles require the integration of climate change information and knowledge for planning and delivery of public health services and programs. Additionally, staff in affiliate county departments such as Behavioral and Environmental Health, the Human Services Agency, Sustainability, and others inside health care organizations might find this information useful for cross-sector work. This plan may also inform and serve as a template for other local health jurisdictions in 3 |Page
California who are addressing climate change as a health equity issue. This is not a how-to guide but rather a “how we did it” guide —a localized process for our county’s context. Community-based organizations working at the intersections of health, equity, and climate change can use this plan for insights into VCPH work priorities and as background on public health approaches to climate change. This plan may provide support for policy engagement on climate health equity issues.
Key Climate-Health Risks in Ventura County While Ventura County is home to strong and resilient communities, climate change is one of the most urgent and complex public health challenges facing the region today. For example, residents are already experiencing: • • • • • •
More frequent and intense extreme heat events, including higher nighttime temperatures that limit recovery; Increased wildfire smoke exposure and degraded air quality (ozone and PM2.5 1); Flooding and storm events; Intensifying drought cycles, affecting water supply; Changes in climate sensitive infectious and vector-borne disease transmission and increasing Valley fever risk; and More frequent compound events, such as heat combined with wildfire smoke or post-fire flooding and mudslides.
This plan identifies ten important climate risks for Ventura County residents that threaten not only physical health but also mental health, economic stability, housing security, and access to essential services.
Equity-Centered Approach Additionally, a growing body of evidence demonstrates that the impacts of climate change are not experienced equally across all populations. The same structural inequities that shaped health outcomes during the COVID19 pandemic—such as housing quality, occupational exposure, income, language access, and access to healthcare—also determine climate vulnerability. The pandemic also underscored the value of proactive, datainformed decision-making, the need for clear and trusted communication, and the importance of cross-sector collaboration for centering equity in both response and long-term recovery efforts. These same principles directly inform and strengthen VCPH’s approach to climate change, where timely data, coordinated action, and equitable strategies are essential to reducing health risks and protecting vulnerable populations. In many ways, the experience of COVID-19 also demonstrated the importance of building flexible, equitycentered public health systems capable of responding to rapidly evolving threats. This is equally relevant as climate-related health impacts become more frequent, severe, and unevenly distributed across communities. To ensure equity alignment, this plan is grounded in the Ten Essential Public Health Services to promote and protect public health and embraces the CalBRACE (Building Resilience Against Climate Effects) Framework for planning and partnering.
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Figure 1. Climate and Health Equity in Action in Ventura County. This figure introduces the Climate Health Equity Plan by illustrating the relationship between climate change, health equity, and public health action in Ventura County. It identifies the county's ten priority climate-health risks and emphasizes that while climate hazards affect all residents, existing social, economic, and environmental inequities influence who experiences the greatest health impacts and has the fewest resources to prepare for, respond to, and recover from climate-related events. The figure also highlights the plan's equity-centered approach, which prioritizes culturally and linguistically responsive, accessible, community-informed, and evidence-based strategies to strengthen resilience.
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Implementation & Intended Outcomes This plan is an outline and a blueprint for action, already guiding current work for longterm integration of climate health across the department. It provides scaffolding and structure to guide VCPH’s climate health equity efforts in health prevention, promotion, and preparedness while providing a clear and consistent understanding of the purpose and scope of this work among internal and external partners. Moreover, the plan includes a robust set of Implementation Activities organized under the plan’s Objectives and Strategies and mapped to the Ten Climate-Health Risks. Each Activity has been reviewed for alignment with the plan’s Guiding Values and Principles to ensure a consistent focus on equity and public health impact.
Figure 2. Climate Health Equity Plan Framework. This figure illustrates the organizational framework of the Ventura County Climate Health Equity Plan. The framework is grounded in guiding principles, a shared mission and vision, and alignment with the Ten Essential Public Health Services. These foundational elements inform four strategic focus areas that organize the plan's objectives, strategies, and implementation activities. The framework also defines the scope of work and identifies first- and second-year priorities to guide early implementation and build momentum toward long-term climate resilience and health equity.
Activities are intended to be implemented through a collaborative network of internal and external partners using evidence-informed and practice-based approaches. SMARTIE 2 objectives and outcome measures will help ensure that implementation remains aligned with the plan’s goals and priorities while advancing structural approaches to reducing disparities and protecting populations disproportionately impacted by climate change, and strengthen resilience across communities, the region, and broader public health systems.
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SMARTIE Objectives are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound, Inclusive, and Equitable. 6 |Page
Looking Ahead: Building Community-Centered Climate Resilience Initial implementation focuses on four foundational priorities that establish the capacity, partnerships, and systems needed to integrate climate and health equity into Ventura County Public Health. Early actions emphasize culturally responsive education, coordinated climate risk communication, workforce development, and strategic partnerships and funding. Together, these efforts reduce current climate-related health risks while building the organizational foundation for long-term resilience. As this work evolves, future implementation phases will increasingly center community voice, lived experience, and community-defined priorities in climate-health planning and resilience efforts. Through ongoing collaboration, learning, and meaningful engagement with community partners, Ventura County Public Health will expand beyond internal capacity building to support broader, community-centered resilience initiatives. This iterative approach ensures that climate-health strategies remain equitable, culturally responsive, and grounded in the strengths, needs, and experiences of Ventura County communities.
Figure 3. Climate Health Equity Plan Implementation Framework. This figure illustrates how the four focus areas of the Climate Health Equity Plan organize and guide the implementation of 44 possible climate health activities designed to address Ventura County's ten priority climate-health risks. The framework demonstrates how these activities are implemented through a health equity lens, supported by data, partnerships, workforce capacity, and regional collaboration to improve community resilience. For more information about Ventura County Public Health’s Climate Health Equity Plan and activities, please email HealthEducation@venturacounty.gov
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